Its that time of year - we are brewing at full capacity now - we are firming up on a third draught account (details still under wraps) and the hotel and Port Charlotte going like fairs mean that the island brewers have been rudely awoken from their usual slumbers.
More news soon....must go and add the hops.
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Well may you take a second look at the headline. We have had a number of celebrity bottlers over the last couple of years but Joanna ---- in the shop!
There is a story in the Times today saying some crofting guy in Oban says Ghurkas wanting to settle in Britain should be given highland and island crofts. The story is beefed up with our own crofting supremo Pede saying there are vacant crofts and Ghurkas would be most welcome.
So its only a step before the Ghurkas move to Colonsay - Joanna comnes to visit and does a shift or two in the shop.
A less reputable news outlet than the blog, or indeed the Times, would justify the headline with an anonymous quote like: An islander said: "We saw a people carrier with blackout windows waiting outsaide the brewery shop and there was a blonde woman in it."
(must be short of blog material again....ed)
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For the first time ever all four directors of the brewery are off the island at the same time leaving the only male child of drinking age in charge of the brewery. What a chance for a young guy - - -the keys for his very own brewery. Suffice to say the standard of service at the brewery has actually increased over the weekend to the extent that one customer anxious to get a couple of kegs of IPA actually sent a fast rib to Colonsay meaning the youth with the key had to come down at 10 o'clock on Friday night and hump the kegs to the slip --- or as we say in the brewery Keir took the Beer to the Pier. It amuses us.
The directors have travelled far and wide and in keeping with the class distinctions that so troubled Karl Marx all those years ago there is a divergence in destination of the quartet. The managing director is living it up in the palatial surroundings of a luxury hotel in the Italian lakes - the rest of us are staying in cheap accommodation on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Come the revolution.
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Brewery Island km² Population
Colonsay Colonsay 40 100
Cooks Lager Rarotonga 65 14.200
Föroya Bjór Borðoy 95 5.000
Royal Beer Tongatapu 257 66.000
Ventnor Isle of Wight 380 140.000
Arran Isle of Arran 432 5.000
Texelse Texel 463 13.600
Sinclair Orkney Mainland 523 15.000
Okells Isle of Man 572 80.000
Islay Ales Islay 620 3.400
Coral Madeira 828 245.000
Isle of Mull Isle of Mull 875 2.600
Black Robin Chatham Is. 900 700
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You may recall a recent post of the visit by some Germans to present us with a certificate for being the world's smallest brewery --- well at last we have made contact again and got the full story.
They are a group called Aktion Guttes Bier - just what is says Action for Good Beer - and they decided to find which brewery in the world serves the smallest population - it obviously had to be an isalnd one.,..and yes you have guessed it --- Colonsay Brewery is the smallest in the world - that's official.
Let Ludger tell the tale:
"Last year we sat together talking about holidays, and sunny islands, and drinking beer on sunny islands. Me and my wife had just returned from a trip to Greece, from an island, where only Heineken was available. Somebody brought up the question how many islands might have a brewery of its own, an island where pubs do not sell Heineken or Tuborg, but the local beer, as fresh and cool as the morning dew (as we say in German) The next question was: What is the smallest island that has a brewery of its own? Where is it?
You already know that Colonsay is the winner of this contest. We investigated that very accurately. Otherwise we would not have made that trip.
To be clear: The Colonsay Brewery is not the smallest brewery on an island. That is impossible to figure out. First because there are so many islands (everything smaller than Australia is an island, that includes Great Britain). Second, you cannot detect the size of most small breweries, because they do not publish any figures, and some are run just as a sideline job.
But we were happy to certify that Colonsay is the smallest island in the world that has a brewery of its own. Smallest in terms of population and in terms of area. The list is attached to the certificate as an attachment so you can publish it on your website."
Full List to follow:
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