We have managed to track down and purchase a supply of mini party kegs. Sorry I mean party mini kegs making it the keg rather than the party that is smaller than one would expect. They hold an impressive 8.80281690140845 pints or five litres as it’s sometimes referred to in places that have deviated from the path of common sense and learning. It was a bit of a laugh getting them here because they came on Chris's trailer along with two giant bales of straw for Wattie's hens and ducks. Calmac required us to fill in a dangerous goods certificate, as required by the Merchant Shipping Act to alert the crew and officers of the good ship Lord of the Isles that we were carrying a dangerous cargo. The straw that is not the kegs. As so often with Calmac it turned into a bit of a saga as the ticket staff at Oban revealed they did not keep stocks of this form but they were available at nearby printers. It was Sunday, we pointed out, the Oban printers day of rest. We also pointed out that the cupboard she was standing in front of was packed to the roof with these forms (black for the use of). She said she would check with her supervisor. A form was eventually handed over and handed back nicely filled in. The tall chap taking the tickets on the pier asked what had taken so long and when told of the story remarked: "Sometimes Calmac seem to go out of their way to make things difficult." This same man who was once heard to opine: "There is nothing more stupid that the British public when travelling." Obviously the pier head philosopher.
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Glasgow Farmers Market, July 14, 2007 - Reporting fro mthe front line of beverage retailing. How odd - for the first time we take a sensible quantity of lager to Glasgow and it sells well, as one would expect. However the IPA goes much faster and seems much better received.
This annying little man came up and asked if we would do a deal on four bottles as outr beer is more than the beer he buys in his local supermarket. I patiently explain to him the costs involved in making beer on an island mean one can't compete on price so we aim to compete on quality. Unimpressed he continues to witter on about a beer from the borders that he really likes that a pound a gallon on somesuch in Morrisons, which is apprently a supermarket. Tactic? Couldn't be sure, perhaps knock something off and win a customer for life. Be even more patient and go to further lengths to explain the difficulty of brewing two and a hlaf hours from the mainland.
OR face reality and realise he ain't listening and serve the next person. That plan prevailed. Bet he was tee toal and just wanting a wind up. He did buy some of Barry's chutney thought, he'll be back next market complaing the nettles were not stingy enough or something,.
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There is allegedly a review of our IPA in the Scotman newspaper today. Can't find it online and so will have to wait til tomorrow if there is one spare in the shop.
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Our third farmers market in Glasgow tomorrow and for the first time we actually have supplies of lager to go. The first two were lagerless so it will be interesting to see how it goes. We bottled the latest lager brew yesterday and the opinion of Chris, Bo and David is that it is the best yet. Keith would have agreed however he is in NYC at the moment.
So stand by Partick - your lager's on its way.
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The following is reproduced without coment from a highly regarded online beer commentator:
The BeerCast
08 July 2007
Lagerboy Speaks
Beer fancying isn't just about a competition to find the darkest, strongest, most pungeant brew you can. Most beer websites and blogs do tend to concentrate on that end of the spectrum, but only because they tend to be the most interesting and flavoursome. Even the most ardent lagerfan would probably admit the lack of taste the lighter-coloured stuff suffers from. But less taste doesn't mean no taste (unless you opt for certain lagers), there shouldn't be a stigma against drinking good lager - after all, it was invented by the Czechs, and they know more or less everything good about brewing.
So amongst the BeerCast's regular malty, hoppy, caramelly (Podcast no.1 was brought to you in conjunction with that particular word) offerings, this committed Lagerboy will now and again pop up with a few drinks from the world of beers that you can actually see though. But just as 'real ale' suffers from an image problem, so does lager - one of popularity. In 2005, the UK lager market was worth £11.3bn - nine out of the top ten takehome beer brands were lagers (Guinness being the other). 42% of British adults now buy and drink it. By 2010, 80% of all UK beers sold are expected to be lager. Yikes.
But most of the major brands out there are the same old suspects - Stella, Carlsberg, Carling, Fosters. They don't taste of much, they are fairly cheap, you can buy them in any off-licence or pub. But it doesn't make them any good. Take Stella, the UK's most popular lager (it has a third of the market), due to recent issues of 'branding', producer InBev added more boutique beers to the stable, a wheatbeer called Peeterman, and a 6% super lager called Bock, which someone bought by mistake the other week and nobody would drink it. Fosters, brewed in Edinburgh, is the typical Australian lager - except I lived there for almost a year and hardly ever saw it.
You have to search them out, but local lagers are available. They cost more than the mass-produced types (although Stella recently went up again, by 12p a pint), but are infinately nicer, with more taste - and you get a pompous air of smugness to have sought out something regional that the other lagerboys will have never heard of. Take Colonsay Lager. Produced by a small new microbrewery from the tiny Scottish island of 120 people, they knock out this 4.4%abv gem using local ingredients and a slower fermentation process. That means the lager has a touch of the wheatbeer about it, and is a dark apricot, almost amber colour. Incredibly refreshing, and with a packed taste, it blows the Carlings of this world out of the water. Which can only be a good thing.
Colonsay Brewery
Posted by Richard at 12:09 PM
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