And a........

Very Happy New Year to one and all. A little belated I know, but heart felt.

The greatest news of late 2008 and early 2009 is that we have, at long last, beer in BOTTLES! It's taken a long time to get to this point, what with the label design which has to be pretty exact to satisfy trading standards regulations, then there's finding somebody to bottle it for us as we just don't have the time at the moment, then there's the whole distribution thing as well. We've started off pretty low key to begin with, so at present the only beer available in bottled form is Quiver Bitter. We are selling these direct from the brewery either singly or in a very attractive gift pack and also from an increasing number of off licences and village stores. The people that are buying case after case are The Naked Grape in Alresford, Meonstoke Post Office and Village Store in Corhampton, Abbotts Ann Post Office and Village Store in yes, you guessed it, Abbotts Ann near Andover, Bakers Wine Merchants in Bishops Waltham and of course your designated real ale off licence, Bitter Virtue in Southampton. We haven't really started trying to sell it yet so this list will just grow and grow. The next one to go into bottle will be Nutz, our 5% winter ale. Watch this space......

Other news is that we are now supplying another pub in Southampton called The Rover in Shirley Road. I've never been in there but hope to pop in at the weekend) but from their web site it looks very good with an excellent range of beers and a selection of Belgian bottled beers for the more adventurous amongst you.

Another pub that's due to come on line soon is The Nelson Tavern at Mudeford near Christchurch. A fantastic watering hole with many accolades, not only for the pub but also for the restaurant which serves up exquisite Thai food. For those of you that don't know Mudeford, it's a small fishing village at the entrance to Christchurch harbour. There's a fish shop where you can buy fish, fresh in from the local boats and there's a ferry across to Hengistbury Head where you can walk for miles and miles. I shall be down there with the dog on Saturday morning. Also down around those parts is The Bold Forester at Marchwood on the edge of the New Forest. A good pub with new owners who are trying very hard to increase the profile of good beer in the pub. All power to their elbows!

In Winchester, we have Swift One in one of my old stamping grounds, The Green Man in Southgate Street. In my wayward student days this was the place where I used to spend most of my student grant. It's a bloody good boozer and perfectly placed for a few beers before and after the performances at the cinema just across the road. Winchester just keeps getting better and better.

The Bitterne Park Hotel in yes, Bitterne Park, Southampton has taken it's first Swift One. I can remember this place when my Father had his boat moored up at Dyers Boatyard just off Cobden Bridge. He also used to know another boatyard owner called John Bluff and I would sit outside the Bitterne Park Hotel having the statutory half pint of shandy and a packet of crisps while Dad and John Bluff drank inside.

Up in the north of the region is The Whitchurch Sports and Social Club. They've taken a selection of our beers and what good news this is for the drinking folk of Whitchurch. I've always been surprised by the amount of pubs in the town. There must be a good steady clientele to feed so many houses and I just wish I could say the same about other places of a similar size. There are just too many boarded up pubs about at the moment, something that has to change. I draw your attention to a rather excellent piece of writing by Hilaire Belloc.

From the towns all Inns have been driven: from the villages most....

Change your hearts or you will lose your Inns and you will deserve to have lost them.

But when you have lost your Inns drown your empty selves, for you will have lost the last of England.


In the brewery we've placed an order for a fourth fermenter in the expectation that this coming summer will be even busier than this one and if the sales over the festive season were anything to go by, we will definitely need it. And now......

Whether you believe the old wives tales or not, this is a good berry year. The hedgerows are full of the hips of the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) and the haws of the Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), with strands of scarlet Bryony (Tamus communis)entwined amongst the sloes (Prunus spinosa) and the Spindle (Euonymus europaeus). Out weighing everything is the Ivy (Hedera helix). This year the hedgerows are laden with ripening berries which I'm sure will, once consumed, decorate any drying laundry that gets put out on a washing line. The past few weeks have been very cold with temperatures below zero for days on end and the berries are a very valuable form of sustenance to, not only the birds, but also the small mammals and some of the larger ones as well. When things get hard proud badger and sly fox are only too willing to dine at the same trough as the mouse and the thrush.

Another page in the Buzzard book has been written. I was out for a short walk with the dog the other Sunday. A beautiful crisp day with no chilling wind and a cerulean blue sky with not a cloud to be seen. As we walked around the end of Beacon Hill, I looked down into the Meon Valley and at the base of the hill a couple of Buzzards flew up from a small tree. Within seconds they were joined by two more and as they found a thermal and started to spiral upwards, were joined by others, until eight of them were swirling just above me. I've never seen so many grouped together and wonder what triggered this display. Could it be something to do with the sub zero temperatures or was it just a family get together? Suggestions on an email please.

Never call me......

Darling. So, the strangely eyebrowed person has done it again and cranked up the duty on beer. This is happening with monotonous regularity and in massive amounts each time. If this is an attempt to counter the supposedly growing tide of alcohol fuelled problems that besiege our town centers, then this bloody stupid government is going about things entirely the wrong way. Target the problem where it lies, not by some ridiculously blunt weapon that affects all the wrong people.

Slap vast amounts of duty on the mass produced premium lagers that are known amongst us as "wife beater". It's this chemical crap that causes people to get violent, NOT a nice pint of decent ale down your local.

Load the duty up on the ridiculously strong ciders that are sold in supermarkets for crazy prices and are then drunk by yobs to pre-load before they go out on the town to beat seven colours of shit out of each other and innocent passers by as well.

By all means tax out of existence the filthy, vile tasting alchopops that are made to taste all sweet and bubblegummy to appeal to the young and to send them off the rails before they've even had a chance to acquaint themselves with a proper pint.

Raise the duty on Vodka by a thousand percent for all I care and get rid of the squalid bars that prey on the shot drinking, new to alcohol crowd, but for God's sake leave us alone to brew good beer to be drunk and appreciated by sensible people. I will say this to you Mr. Darling:

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HEARD OF AN INCIDENCE OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AT A BEER FESTIVAL?

Limpid......

Poole! We heard last week that Swift One came in second at the Poole Beer Festival. Of course, it would have been nice to get first place two years in a row (see previous blog) but we came runner up to a worthy beer, namely Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild. A delicious and very serious beer and definitely deserving of the many awards it's received. Well done to the good people up in Dudley.

A good bit of news is that The Hinton Arms at Hinton Ampner is taking a full range of our beers. This is a great place to stop at after visiting the very nearby Hinton Ampner House and Gardens, which is a great pile owned by The National Trust. They have a series of open days before Christmas and it's well worth a visit. So just get along there, have a look around, buy some Christmas goodies and then dive into the pub for a well earned pint and some of the wonderful food they dish out.

New to us is Campbells Bar in Horndean. I haven't had a chance to pop in there so can't say too much about it. It's almost in the shadow of the old Gales brewery and the mischievous part of me wants to say that it's great that Horndean gets some decent beer after the closure of Gales by Fullers, but I only said I wanted to say it. I haven't really said it! And now.....


Having driven around with Jack for the past few weeks I haven't had much of a chance to get out walking and rambling. While the said Jack was sleeping on Sunday morning, I grabbed a couple of hours and drove down to a favourite walk around Warsash at the mouth of the river Hamble. It's only about four miles but takes in some pasture, woodland and sea shore, which means there's always something to see. Starting with the hedgerows surrounding some fields I found that the Wrens, and believe the name or not, (Troglodytes troglodytes), were incredibly vocal. It staggers me to think that such a loud song can come from such a tiny bird. It's not just their fluid melodious call that's loud. Their alarm call is pretty ear damaging as well, and sounds like the ticking of some huge and deranged watch.

Further down the trail you get into some pleasant mature woodland and inevitably are chaperoned by the watchman of the forest, a Jay (Garrulus glandarius). Not liked very much by some, and gamekeepers in particular, for their liking for eggs and chicks, they are very pretty birds indeed. As vocal as the Wren but in a jarring grating sort of way. They do have a tendency to follow you about which means that you don't see too much else as it's all been frightened off.

Out now onto a path that cuts across some reed beds where there's all sorts of calling and fluttering about by various small brown jobs which is about as much as I can say about them. I'd love to think that it would be something really rare and interesting but they are all so secretive.

Onto the gravel shore with the Solent on one side and fields and a lake on the other. This is good duck and wader territory and there's always an Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) patrolling the shoreline. A biggish wader, their striking black and white plummage and their shocking scarlet bill makes them unmistakable. Their strident pipping cry always reminds me of family holidays on the boat, moored up in Newtown Harbour on the Isle of Wight. Small groups of Turnstones (Arenaria interpres) are often dithering about the fore shore and occasionally, just occasionally there's a Curlew (Numenius arquata) messing about on the muddy bits. This is Europe's largest wader and together with its haunting warbling cry and curved bill means it's an easy bird to identify. This bird also reminds me of family holidays and I have some wonderful recollections of sitting outside on the deck with Mum late into the night, star watching and just listening to the gentle lapping of water on the hull and the sad and lonely warbling of the Curlew. Mmmm. We had some great times over on the island and Newtown Harbour was, and still is, a great refuge for wildlife. It was also great fun to watch the grotty yachties trying to get through the tiny harbour mouth as the tide ripped out. Full of bravado and totally unwilling to accept defeat and allow themselves to be swept out into the Solent, they would gun their poor little engines until the keel hit the bottom and slowly, oh so slowly, the whole yacht would fall over until it came to rest at a rather more than 45 degree angle. Lots of sniggering from our side and lots of embarrassed drinking of gin and tonics on a impossibly tilted deck on their side. More next week...

As far as I can count, only two exclamation marks this week. Sparse, very sparse.