The following is an extract from Hopsteiner’s  Crop & Market Update – June 2011, which popped up today in my Email Inbox. As much as I hate to say, it pretty much confirms what I said in my post last week “Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch and seeing a man about a hop!” about the availability of Amarillo, Citra and Simcoe hops. To that mix I think you can now also add Ahtanum.

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Last week I retweeted a couple of stories about Flying Dog Brewery.

The first – dated June 6^th concerned Flying Dog Brewery CEO, Jim Caruso, announcing that the company was halting distribution in five U.S.states. Caruso said they would re-consider these markets later in 2011 and in a letter to distributors wrote:

“As local demand for Flying Dog beers continues to soar, we are concentrating our distribution in our home markets and Flying Dog beers will not be available in your territory for some unknown period of time.

This is no doubt disappointing news, but it is a necessary decision and consistent with the new age of craft beer and the focus on local markets.” (more…)

Picture yourself in a sun soaked Cumbrian village on a Friday in late March; with the weekend beckoning and just about to head into a Spring Beer Festival with 50+ beers waiting, all on hand pull to include the SIBA 2011 Champion beers. Life does not get much better.

As a keen Lake District walker I have known about the village of Staveley for many years, first as pain in the arse village to drive through; this before being bypassed as part of the A591 improvement works, then more recently as the location of the excellent Eagle & Child pub which our walking group found courtesy of The Good Beer Guide a good few years back and finally as the location of the new offices of our Brewery Accountants. 

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The 24th Wigan Beer Festival for the second year forms part of the Wigan Food and Drink Festival. The beer festival is organised by the Wigan branch of CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale).

The beer festival runs from Thursday 3^rd March to Saturday 5^th March and the Food and Drink Festival from March 3rd to March 13th inclusive and there are events every day.

The venue is Robin Park Arena, Loire Drive, Newtown, Wigan WN5 0UH; opposite the DW Stadium. (more…)

The Bent and Bongs Charitable Trust, in association with CAMRA, is holding the 22nd Bent and Bongs Beer Bash, from January 27 – January 29, 2011.

The venue is Formby Hall, Atherton, Manchester, M46 9EY. Click here for a map. The closest railway station is Atherton, shown on the above map (top right corner). Walking time from the station to the venue is 5 minutes, although the return trip can take much longer! A good place to check the train times is at The Train Line.  

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Back in early September I wrote about the wonderful Citra hop, under the post; On the Citra hops bandwagon! I mentioned that All Gates were on it. Since then a good number of other brewers have also jumped on it; believing this is a hop that will automatically make all a good brewer, not!

Sierra Nevada Brewery in the U.S.A. (and two other breweries) originally funded the research and development of this hop variety and own most of the acreage available in the world.  

I first heard about it late in 2009 and then saw it and more importantly had my first whiff of its wonderful aromas at Charles Faram’s stand at the SIBA Annual conference in Stratford-upon-Avon earlier this year and resolved immediately that I just had to have some.   

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Back in early September and late October respectively I wrote about the wonderful Citra and Apollo hops, the former under the post; On the Citra hops bandwagon! I mentioned that All Gates were on it and was pleased for a change to be a leader not a follower.

I have recently been completing our brew schedule for 2011 and wishing to remain a leader but still wanting to continue a partial theme of one hop beers I have now looked nearer to home than the U.S.A., this time East to Poland. Again we are not quite at the forefront as I know that in 2009 the excellent Acorn Brewery  mashed a series of twelve European single hop variety IPA’s to include a number of Polish hop varieties.

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Back in early September I wrote about the wonderful Citra hop under the post; On the Citra hops bandwagon! I mentioned that All Gates were on it and was pleased for a change to be a leader not a follower.

Again with the Apollo hop, we are not quite a leader but close. I think the excellent Crouch Vale brewery was the leader here, the first brewery in the UK to use Apollo back in May with their single hop variety beer, Apollo, ABV 4.3%. This was pale amber, an insanely hoppy beer and just wonderful stuff. Around this same time though Stu at  The Crown Brewery at The Hillsborough Hotel, Sheffield was I know also experimenting with Apollo hops in his American Pale Ale, Brooklyn Heights, so I may be wrong. I am sure somebody will tell me if I am.

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Yes All Gates are on it and I am pleased to say, for a change, at the forefront. I have a very good friend whose adage on life in general; is never be a leader; always a follower. I have always disagreed with him and can’t see the point of living your life effectively in other people’s shadows.

As for the Citra hop I think the excellent Oakham brewery was the leader, the first brewery in the UK to use Citra back in April with the first of their single hop variety beers; Citra.  The beer proved so popular I understand that they will now be brewing it permanently from January 2011. Their description; a light refreshing beer with pungent grapefruit, lychee and gooseberry aromas leading to a dry, bitter finish.   

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