Sign of the times

If you go down to the woods today (Wallop's that is) you will see a bright new sign outside the brewery. If the sun is shining, the Bow changes colour from bright gold to a sort of grey, depending where you view it from, spooky.....

Pump up the volume

Swift One is out there! For the past few days we've been delivering to the growing number of pubs that stock our beer. Things are still a little embryonic with the delivery days but I'm sure that a structure will soon develop. The final marketing bit is now in place with the delivery of the pump clips, an example of which can be viewed on the 'Our Beers' page of this site.

Talking of which, it's time for a bit of long over due thanks.For what seems like many moons ago, Heather at the Hampshire Bowman introduced us to the people who have produced all of her business cards, menus and all of the other stuff that requires an artistic eye. They are a company called Inca Design, very local and very, very talented, they were extremely keen to do the same sort of things for us. Our logo is their design as are the business cards, the compliment slips, the headed notepaper and now, as the crowning glory, the pump clips. These are highly professional people (although one of them is Antipodean) with some very major clients but they were also happy to support us right the way back in the planning stage. If you ever need anything to do with graphic design then contact these people. There's a link at the foot of the 'Our Beers' page.

We are very optimistic about the Quiver Bitter that was brewed a couple of days ago. It's going to be 4.5% and a little darker than the Swift One. Trying a sample from the base of the fermenter shows that it has a wonderful aroma with a full and complex flavour. Lets see how this develops over the fermentation and the following maturation. Obviously more on this to follow.

Good things

It's been wonderfully rewarding to see how well the Test Tipple has been received. The only adverse comments seem to be that it does have a slightly aggressive bitter finish but we've toned that down for our standard bitter "Swift One". Having said that, a number of people have commented that it is just this bitter finish that makes the beer so bloody good.

I feel that we did the right thing by selling Test Tipple. It did involve a lot of soul searching because it would have been perfect to have started selling a standard beer instead of a one off. The thing is that it actually doesn't seem to have detracted from the forthcoming Swift One. It's just given everyone a taste of what's to come! Swift One will be released at the end of this week.

Don't forget to keep an eye on the beer finder section of this site to find where the beers are being sold. It's probably a good idea to give the pub you are visiting a ring to make sure that they have the good stuff on tap. Mind you, all the pubs we are selling to are worth a visit, Bowman Ales or not. And now.... It's Wallops Wood Nature Watch

Can anyone suggest a collective noun for Pied Wagtails? They seem to hunting about in small gangs of four or more birds. Ever so pretty and ever so dapper, they have taken to picking over some of the rubble and hard core at the front of the brewery. It's soon to be landscaped so they need to get in there quick.

There have been small flocks of Fieldfares chuckling about in the hedgerows and trees. They are voracious consumers of berries but are also drawn to the crab apples that dot the ground like so many brilliant yellow pebbles. It has been so stupidly mild that the poor Fieldfares must wonder what the hell has happened to winter. In the dawn there has been a definate increase in bird song, especially from the Blackbirds and Robins. Somebody should tell them that Spring is not yet here and that we have the dreadful and unpredictable month of February to get through.

It's Out There

The first sup of Bowman Ales in a Pub
Click for Larger Image and really see the beauty of the beer

The first barrel of Bowman Ales was delivered to the Hampshire Bowman yesterday and was consumed today by a small band of privileged people (me amongst them). It was the beer on limited release, "Test Tipple". It was crystal clear and amber in colour (take a look at the picture, it doesn't lie), a slightly bitter front which seems to disappear as you get past the first swallow or two, plenty of flavour in the back, but Martin has already described this beer in more eloquent terms in the previous blog. As a layman, I can only say, it was a great beer to drink. The guys took the brave decision to wait until the beer was ready, rather than rush it out for New Year's Eve. It must have been good because seventy-two pints of it were consumed in three hours or less. A second barrel is up and settling as I write this. So people tonight will get to drink it. Ray and Martin already knew this wasn't the beer they would release as one of their standard offerings, but thought it was good enough to drink, and they were not wrong. A beer for people who like their bitter, bitter. It was well worth the wait, and brew number two (out next week?) promises to be even better. Can't wait. Test Tipple will find its way into three or four pubs, keep an eye on the Beer Finder page and be sure to drink some. A nice start to 2007, great job chaps!

Booz Newz

So, with delight and a certain amount of trepidation, we have been sampling the first brew (or Nigel). There really is an enormous temptation to rush things along but we have learnt from past experience that there are things that you just cannot hurry. It was certainly tempting to transfer from the fermentation vessel to the conditioning vessel after only 24 hours cooling but common sense prevailed, and I'm sure that the beer has benefited from that further period of rest. Likewise we were tempted to rack off a firkin immediately to see just what we were dealing with, but we left it for a couple of days in the C.V. to mature and I'm glad we did. It never ceases to amaze me how a beer can change over such a short period of time. When first tasted the hop notes were aggressive, especially in the finish and it is only today that all the flavours have become rounded and satisfying with no sharp edges. The hop flavours are strong without being sharp and the nose has come through with some delightful floral notes.

What do we have then? We have a good quaffing ale that is a pleasing straw colour, fragrant and well hopped. At 3.8% it is bursting with flavour and appears to be well liked by all that have had a taste, even the hard to please ones who know what they are talking about! Having said all of this, we feel that it still needs some tweaking to approach the standard we have set ourselves. There's nothing at all wrong with it, it's just that it's only 95% right if we want to produce it as a permanent brew. We also feel that it would be a crying shame to chuck it down the drain. To that end, we have decided to release it in a very limited way and it will be called "Test Tipple". It should appear in a very few pubs in the next few days. Keep an eye on the "Beer Finder" to see where.

There is a second brew that will be transferred to conditioning vessel tomorrow and early reports are very favourable. We hope that this one will be our first proper brew called "Swift One", which we hope will be our standard bitter. It's been an exceedingly interesting couple of days and I look forward to hearing how the trial brew is received.

There's still poor old Neil in the brewery, working away at the cooling controls. Thanks Mate! Another missive in a couple of days.......