New Year 2024

Happy New Year to you all!

I’m not partaking in dry January and am, in fact, sipping a Gentleman Jack Daniels & Coke as this is being written 😉 Bellies & bodies still recovering from shameless overindulging during the festive period, anyone?

Highlights

- Rachel and I had an incredible holiday in Hawaii and West Coast US in Autumn. Sipping Kona Longboard Lager and various Mai Tais on golden beaches in a tropical paradise was bliss. On the Californian side, our road trip itinerary across National Parks fortuitously included many brewery stops, including Russian River, Sierra Nevada, Sea Quake, Urban Roots, Lost Coast & more! Russian River’s STS Pils was my favourite and Lost Coast’s Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Stout was Rachel’s - she has demanded I make something similar soon.

- Our gunpowder green tea=infused saison was an absolute blast to brew with UEA Bio students Poppy & Hannah. On the gunpowder theme, we released this brew on Guy Fawke’s weekend with a rather explosive accompanying video. Shooting shaken cans of fizzy pop and Dad’s beer was a childhood delight. Men & their toys hey . . . .

- Christmas sales were strong and we sold almost all stock. Now to brew & restock!

Headaches

-  Leaks! On Christmas day I was delighted to find a leak in the brewery, just two days after the washing machine decided to leak too. There are three things guaranteed in life: death, taxes and leaks from a flat roof. Further, four days after Christmas, our roof leaked into the office – not on the electronics, thankfully.

Horizons

- The immediate priority is to restock some of our usual core beers and then focus on a few Experimentals. My apologies to those ordering early 2024 who might be miffed at the lack of selection – we’re working on it.

- As abovementioned, Rachel commands a dairy-themed stout that is full-bodied and rich but without the sickly, cloying mouthfeel that some lactose-infused stouts exhibit. I’ve actually never made a stout, so am very excited to try something new. There are too many other ideas for Experimental Series releases this year so it will be a case of prioritising. This is the best part of brewing!

General musings

In a few pubs, I have seen a certain cider tap spouting three variants: blood orange, cloudy lemonade, regular and the like. The same base cider is infused with in-line syrups – akin to how fizzy pop works on pump. What if this model of serving was applied to a generic base pale ale or IPA? One could infuse the base beer with various in-line adjuncts, such as hop extracts; fruit, spice & herbal infusions; colourants; syrups; pH and turbidity adjusters etc. The simplicity of the current cider model may not translate to beer for various reasons, but the high volume of beer sales makes it a good playground to trial the approach. Just imagine, in three hits, {insert multinational brewing corp} could quench a lager, pale ale and dessert stout-drinker all in one!

Thanks for reading. If you have any thoughts on the above, I would love to hear from you. Write to us at biochemistbrewery@gmail.com.

Best,

Luke & Rachel