Thursday 28th July
We will shortly be launching a Mail Order Service in response to the many requests. We will be offering a range of British Beers on this service. We are unable to offer the full range of products held in the shop due to restricted storage space and the size of the shop - we are a small shop and not a distribution warehouse! We will however try to be as flexible as we can. We welcome enquiries prior to the launch, please bear with us as we prepare the service. We will be using Parcel Force as the carrier and will offer their 48hr service. Payment will be through PayPal.
Tuesday 27th July
Well, back to reality, our short holiday's over. As planned we were able to bring back some of the beers that we are unable to source back in Cheshire. Our first visit was to the tiny brewery Mighty Hop located in the back garden of Mark Jenkin in Lyme Regis, Dorset. Here we purchased three of his four beers available, we would have had the Ginger Beer but we already have several in the shop. The three that we did bring back are "Black Pearl Porter" 4.4%, a smooth dark ale with a gentle roast and a hint of chocolate in the taste - "Mighty Red" 3.8%, a low abv IPA that combines 3 types of malted barley with 3 different hop varieties to produce a light hoppy Pale Ale - "Golden Cap" at 4.0% is a golden "session" style Bitter, very drinkable! Mark's new brewery only began producing beers in June this year so we wish him luck.
We did pay a visit to another new micro, Town Mill Brewey in Lyme Regis during our stay but they are not yet producing enough beer to distribute out of the local area.
Town Mill Brewery
On the return trip home we called at Moor Brewing Co. found in the picturesque Somerset village of Long Sutton. Here we met Justin and collected five different beers (3 are pictured) from his brewery - "Merlin's Magic" 4.5%, a light amber rich malty bitter with a bittersweet hop finish - "Somerland Gold" 5.5%, a full-bodied golden beer full of fruity / citrus hop flavour - "Peat Porter" 4.7%, a rich brown colour with a rich chocolate / bitter coffee taste - "Old Freddy Walker" 7.5%, described as a rich dark Old Ale, full of rich spicy fruit taste and one of Roger Protz's "300 beers to try before you die" - "Fusion" 8.0%, this beer is the jewel in the crown of the beers brought back from the brewery. Only 700 bottles of this superb beer were produced, so thanks Justin for allowing us to have one of the last cases. This beer is a blend of ales matured in Somerset Cider Brandy Casks.
Moor Brewery & some of their many awards
The visit to Moor Brewery also enabled us to collect four different beers from Cheddar Ales again thanks to Justin for allowing Cheddar Ales to drop off the beers at his brewery earlier in the week. The four beers are "Goat's Leap" 5.7%, a classic IPA - "Gorge Best" 4.2% a Best Bitter with a clean crisp bitter finish - "Totty Pot" 4.7%, is an award-winning Porter with a creamy malt finish and roast coffee flavours -"Pot Holer" 4.5% another award-winning beer, a golden zesty / fruity beer with a good hoppy finish.
Note; all of the beers brought back are Bottle-Conditioned
Friday 16th July
A quick reminder that we are closed next Monday through to Thursday, re-opening Friday & Saturday as usual.
We plan to return from our mini-break with beers from Cheddar Ales & Moor Beer Co. (Old Freddy Walker, Fusion etc.) and hopefully, space permitting in the van, from a tiny new micro in Lyme Regis.
An update on a few new British beers already in stock. From Orkney brewery we have Skull Splitter 8.5% & Dark Island Reserve 10.0%.
From Mayfield brewery in Leominster, Herefordshire we have Auntie Myrtle's 4.5% a dark copper-coloured smooth premium bitter & Ducking Stool 4.4% a golden beer with citrus and fruity overtones and a nice bitter finish. Both are filitered beers.
From Derventio brewery in Derbyshire we have 4 beers (all filtered) - Venus 5.0% a hoppy pale ale, Et Tu Brutus 4.5% a dark copper coloured beer, smooth tasting with a long bitter finish, Caesar 6.0% a premium ale with a well-rounded fullness of malt and deep strength of hop bitterness & Emperor's Whim 4.2% a golden hoppy beer with a long bitter finish.
From Wild Walker Brewing Co., Buxton we have a Bottle-Conditioned "New Age IPA" Remergence 7.0% a multi-hopped IPA that includes chinook hops.
From Stonehouse brewery in Oswestry, Shropshire we have 4 beers - Station Bitter 3.9% a full-bodied fruity, hoppy bitter, Cambrian Gold 4.2% a deep golden fruity beer with a subtle dry finish, Off the Rails 4.8% a rich malty premium bitter with a classic British hop flavour & KPA 4.6% Kiwi Pale Ale is a crisp Pale Ale made with distinctive Green Bullet hops from New Zealand. All are Bottle-Conditioned
Sorry no photos on this update - batteries flat (the camera's not mine!)
Monday 21st June
A big "thank you" to Brad from Lymestone Brewery for making the "Meet the Brewer" day such a success on Saturday. A big thank you as well to the ale fans who turned up to sample Brads' beers and to chat about the brewery etc.- we actually sold out of the "Ein Stein" on the day!
Monday 7th June
Time to take a deep breath and to reflect on what has been a busy week one way or another. Now that the event of the year is over (the eldest daughters wedding) we can concentrate again on beer! The planned trip to the Stockport Beer Festival on Saturday was abandoned as we ran out of time and missed the train and I didn't fancy driving up there just to stand like a lemon with a Jaipur shandy! Had a full & detailed account of the festival on Sunday from several worst-for-wear looking friends - at least what they could remember.
Several new guest beers to mention - Summer Ale 4.2% from Wapping Brewery in Liverpool is a straw coloured light bitter full of citrus flavour. From Buxton Brewery we have Moor Top 3.6%, a light Summer blonde ale dry hopped with Chinook hops - Cheers Geoff. We also currently have 3 Brewdog beers in - Dogma / Bashah / Rip Tide
Tuesday 25th May
Just arrived from Thornbridge - Bottle-Conditioned Jaipur. Still at 5.9% but now in sensible 50cl bottles.
Here's a photo that may come back to haunt the Conservatives - outgoing Tory MP Anne Widdecombe and our new Tory MP Fiona Bruce endorsing our in-house special "Taxed to Death" beer. Let's hope they bear this in mind when the emergency budget is announced in a couple of weeks!
Tuesday 18th May
Well we've just had the shop window replaced so we don't look like a war zone anymore - some half wit scrote broke the window late at night on Friday 7th. But on to better news - we are now open on Mondays 10.30 to 6pm. The reason for this is a) to recoupe the expense of the window and b) to stop me from spending too much time in the pub on Mondays carrying out tasting duties! So the good news is that on Monday after a good weekend at home in the garden drinking your favourite Rattler Cyder or Thornbridge Halcyon, you can now pop down to the emporium and top up supplies - simple.
New guest beer in from Northern Brewery - Blakemere Gold. As the name suggests, a 4.3% golden bitter.
Thursday 6th May
It's not often that when we put an order in to Marble Brewery in Manchester that they have a full list of their bottled range available - so today has become a red letter delivery day for us. We now have their ; Manchester Bitter, Lagonda IPA, Chocolate Stout, Tawny Bitter & Ginger Ale in stock together for the first time, we even had another 6 bottles of the superb Decadence Imperial Stout delivered. The Marble Special Barley Wine is still selling strong & with Fathers Day just next month these beers are sure to be popular.
Frodsham Brewery have just brought out their World Cup beer "Amandla" pronounced "Amanja", which means " Freedom with Power" in South African. It's a 4.0% blonde beer full of citrus, hop & fruit flavour. Another new guest beer in the shop is from Bewdley Brewery - "Worcestershire Way." This is another light summer style beer weighing in at 3.6%
Wednesday 28th April
Bollington beers are selling well, we've just had our second delivery of the Bollington Best, White Nancy& Happy Valley plus two new from the brewery - Dinner Ale 4.3% a copper coloured bitter & Bollington Nights 3.9% a traditional dark ruby Mild. New to the shop is a range of beers from Acorn Brewery of Barnsley. We have Barnsley Bitter 3.8%, Barnsley Gold 4.3%, Blonde 4.0%, Old Moor Porter 4.4% and Gorlovka Imperial Stout 6.0%.
Another range of beer new to us is from Backyard Brewery in Brownhills Staffs. We have - The Hoard 4.1%, Nipin 4.8%, Pipin 5.3% & East India 6.5%
Just as I thought I'd finished the news page update Thornbridge have just delivered their Halcyon 7.7% IPA & St Petersburg 7.7% Russian Imperial Stout
Friday 9th April
Great news, we've just had our first delivery of beers from Bollington Brewery. Their beers are much in demand, so much so that they've not had time to produce enough bottles to supply us in the past. The bottles are Bollington Best 4.2% (champion beer of Cheshire 2009) a golden hoopy bitter , Happy Valley 4.0% another golden bitter, White Nancy 4.1% a pale light bodied bitter & Oat Mill Stout 5.0% a dark sweetish oat infused stout
Thursday 1st April
We currently have a good selection of local Cheshire beers available, they include; Woodlands - New Leaf, Generals Tipple, Oak Beauty & Midnight Stout. Storm - Desert Storm, Bosley Cloud & Ale Force. Frodsham - Maidens Cross, 1st Lite & Frodsham 800. Dunham Massey - Deer Beer, Porter, Milk Stout & Stout. Weetwood - Eastgate Ale. Beartown - Bruins Ruin, Polar Eclipse & Kodiak Gold.
Our exclusive labelled beers are proving popular - Taxed to Death, Westminster Scandal & St George for England.
Parish Brewerys' - Bazs' Bonce Blower 12.0% is also back in stock!
Tuesday 2nd March
As regular visitors to our site will have noticed we have had some serious problems with the website recently due to problems with our server. Hopefully this has now been resolved and we can now begin correcting the loss of images on the site. Apologies to those who contacted us through the email link, as that seemed to have been affected too.
New beers just arrived include; From Old Bear Brewery in West Yorks Capstan F.S. (Full Strength) 12.5% 33cl, Black Monk 7.0% 33cl from Empire Brewing Co., also West Yorks and Dark Stars' Russian Imperial Stout 10.5% 33cl from Sussex. Also in the wee bottle size range, we have three specials in from Spire Brewery Derbyshire. Well worth a look, they are Braveheart Wee Heavy 7.5% 275cl, Prince Igor 8.5% 275cl another Russian Imperial Stout and X - tinguisher 12.0% 275cl a limited edition Barley Wine with numbered and signed labels
The new beer from Titanic Brewery in Burslem. A 4.8% bitter to celebrate the Centenary of Stoke-on-Trent. A donation is made for every bottle sold to the Lord Mayors Charity
