Are you hangin' up your stocking on the wall....

It's the time of year that Santa has a ball... And yes folks he rides a red nose raindeer. Before i go off at a tangent and start warbling like Noddy Holder, It's time to bring you upto date on the last few crazy weeks at "Britains Quirkiest Brewery"

We have been flat out in the brewhouse keeping up with demand making Piddle, Jimmy Riddle, Silent Slasher, Yogi, Thunderbox, Legwarmer and of course Santa's Potty. It will be a shame to see this one disappear from the pumps in the next few weeks. The thing with beers for annual occasions, is the occassion passes and we have to wait another year for it to come round again, obvious i know, but i have become very fond of Santa over the last couple of months. In true Piddle style we dont just stick a fancy label on a pint of best and knock up a festive pump clip we actually care about the beer and it's identity and have spent a fair amount of time and effort testing, tasting and developing this special beer. This is the only brew I make using Brown malt and complementing this biscuity malt base is a duo of hops. The overall result is a lovely caramel beer with nutty insinuations. I fully intend to quaff a few of these beauties over the Christmas break, maybe cracking a few hazel nuts and some old rehashed jokes at the same time. At 3.9% a few can be had in the afternoon in true session beer style. Rob our leader has judged production levels to the kind of accuracy NASA aspire to. We have barely a dozen cases sat on a lone pallet in the corner of the cold store. I wonder what will happen to them if they don't go out on the van in the next few days, well i'm sure all my hard working thirsty workmates at Team Piddle will find a solution to this tricky problem, especially with our youngest team member Ashley turning 18 on Christmas Eve!
This week is always going to be a funny week in the brewery, I brewed the last one of the year on Thursday, it was our own cheeky rascal Jimmy Riddle, I think it must be the oats that give him his bold charachter and flavoursome mouth feel that is more fitting to an ale of a much higher Abv. This whole experience encapsultes the legend of Jimmy Riddle, next time you are lucky enough to be in a pub with Jimmy on draught, have a look at the pump clip and see exactly how many watches the chirpy blighter has about his person, and why does he have those grass stains on his knees? We marked this monumental event with the type of behaviour I grew up watching on Tizwas, my only dissapointment was Paul my other big boss has a rotten cold and couldn't join in the foam party. He loves a good party and silly shenanigans, but the good news is he is on the mend just in time for christmas, So look out Piddle Valley and the Blackmore Vale Mr Goldsack is fully recharged and ready to go, don't be suprised to wake up a bit jaded and wonder why exactly did i end up with my pants on my head " I only popped out for a quick pint", and of course "what fun those Piddle fellows are."

I intend on brewing Thunderbox a few more times this season, I think brewing Porters should follow the lead of our cidermaking chums and use the first cuckoo of the year as an integeral part of our calender and continue brewing upto this point. I may get strung up for this but I have been known to enjoy a Thunderbox from the fridge. "Stout from the fridge!!" i hear you cry, Are you mad? Well yes I am, never denied it, never will. The thing is everyone should get the optimun enjoyment from their beer, we work hard enough to buy it, a few lucky ones like myself work hard to make it so why not have it as you want it? Stout or Porter, (whatever is your persuation on this age old debate)from the refridgerator is being extremely contraversial, Personally i feel this enhances the blackcurrant flavourings gleed from the Bramling Cross hop, but this does bring me on to a real quandry i have. What is the reason for not putting your ale in the fridge? we are all told by people who really know about this stuff beer should be served at exactly 12-13 degrees C. Simply writing these ramblings of an errant brewer has made me go and grab a cold Slasher from the fridge, my mouth is positlively bursting with floral flavours now, giving way to a bitterness and finishing with a sweet aftertaste. None of the flavours have been lost in this chilling, yes it tastes different from an ambient temperatured one, but I can honestly say i love it both ways and if only I had picked up more than one from The Cerne Abbas stores I would conduct a back to back test myself right now, And yes I buy the beer I make from the village shop, I see it as my part in the circle of life, Paul and Rob pay me, I give my money to Andrew in the shop, he buys beer from Piddle brewery, he gives them money and it comes back to me again, and so the never ending story unfolds. I am interested to know your feeling on "cold ones" feel free to leave your thoughts on here, or facebook. Its all feedback that will help me on my way to producing the nirvana of beer perfection, or as it will be known "Goldsacks"
Until the next installment my happy piddlers, I wish you a happy and healthy christmas and all the very best for 2012. Dont forget the tickets for next years beerex are on sale now.... www.beerex.co.uk
Bottoms Up
Vic the brewer

Red, Gold and Green

Well it's all been happening at Piddle Towers in the last couple of weeks. I have finished brewing Little Willy, this scoundrel will add some colour to your cheeks in the coming winter months, he even comes with an "approach with caution" warning on the side of the bottle also the obligitory 5.9% bit too, he has the deepest of red colouring in his midst, this picture accentuates the colour due to the combination of digital media and Rob's old anglepoise lamp!

Following on from the success of Little Willy an impromtu meeting was held and it was decided the arrival of 6.9 Big Willy will be upon us soon. The rainbow brought with it the return of Leg Warmer from the bottling plant. This remarkable event was carried out in an unexpected break from the lashing rain, just long enough to unload the lorry and get them all safely nestled in the warehouse and then the beer gods bathed the warehouse in dazzling sun rays, this created the most perfect of rainbows. I snatched a quick shot with my phone and then set about the important job in hand of tasting this eagerly awaited ginger beauty

What happened next can only be described as an angel dancing on your tastebuds, the subtle increase in the ginger has made this beer even tastier than before, The plan was to pour into the cylinders, take gravities, ph reading, pontificate a bit about clarity, aroma, calculate the abv with mathmatical pricision to two decimal places etc.etc. The reality was handing the vessel to my trusted assistant Simon after my first mouthfull, while trying to remain poker faced and guage his reaction, watching about a third of it disappear down this throat to the biggest smile appear across his face, handing me back the vessel without a word, i promptly swallowed half of what was left, handed it back to him to complete the job. At this point we thought it was best to take a glass upstairs to our leader. In all the time i have worked for Rob and Paul I can count on one hand the amount of times I've heard Rob use the "F" word (and that includes the 3 PH probes i have broken in the last two months)"F*@&ing Hell Vic that is beautiful" "Thats an awesome award winning beer" At that point i mentioned the testing process carried out two minutes prior to this, he fully understood and gave a fully belly laugh, I once again thanked him for giving me the best job in the world and I headed back to the brewhouse a very happy man.

The Thunderbox has been going well, We took a small cask to The Dorchester Open Commerce group meeting last week, where we did a little talk to the gathering about ourselves and what we do, this is a great organisation of business people in the local area, who actively help each other with recommendations and assist each other with knowledge and shared experiences. I must admit I possibly chose an unusual time to update Rob on the progress I have made regarding the imminent growing of Maris Otter at The Farm. But thats another massive story to big to go into right now. Sally was my designated driver that evening, so when she suggested popping into The Giant in Cerne Abbas and treating me to a pint, how could I refuse? I took advantage of one(read 4) of the few remaining pints of Green Reaper. You have to be quick getting this down the hatch as everyone wants to talk about it, and come up with many ideas to help grow our business, my personal one involves St. Patricks day and New York.....

Cheers xx

Green Reaper and Little Willie

Its been another busy week at Dorset's award wining brewery. Our Leg Warmer is currently in its maturation tanks at the bottling plant so this should be ready to be quaffed within a week or so. I have brewed another Thunderbox for cask, this porter has completely knocked my socks off. Not only is it a dark ale yet suprisingly fruity, the aroma wafting from my brewhouse has caused Pete the saddler to stop what he was doing and comment that i must love doing what i do. I must admit brewing T.box has been a revelation, fermentation has been a dream, as you know a good brewer will nurture his/her brews upto the point they get put into cask or bottle, fastidiously documenting all stages of the process. With all gravities as we wished for I set up my finings trials at the end of the day and returned the following morning to ascertain what amount isinglass i would plump for. It was at this point Rob went scrabbling around behind the bookcase in Clare's office and came back clutching an old anglepoise lamp and with a glint in his eye like a naughty schoolboy, plugged it in and switched it on behind the cylinders. The deepest ruby red appeared from within this black beer like some kind of mystical magic. The next time you are lucky enough to have a pint of this spectacular beer in your hand put it up to a light and see for yourself.

The next exciting creation from within the brewhouse is the evoloution of Little Willie, this has graduated from 4.9% to a hefty 5.9. I have to admit the extra 20 percent of grist was an interesting experience for myself and the mash tun, but we both coped quite well and he is currently residing in the big tank, flocculation today started suddenly, and i opted to open one of the big lids and leave over night, so it will be interesting to see what we are greeted with in the morning, i will make sure i have charged the camera as i am guessing this will be quite special!

And finally....The Green Reaper.. this is our GREEN BEER and by a green beer i do not mean a greeen beer made with the first cuttings of the freshed hops from this years crop, brewed directly from bine to copper, like our very own Green Pea, (more about that beauty in future blogs) but a beer that is actually Green. You can see pictures of this wonderfull creation on our facebook page. It is actually Green! You can find this locally in The Giant Inn in Cerne Abbas over this weekend and in various JDW pubs and Free Houses,feel free to email or call the brewery and the piddle team will point you in the direction of your nearest establishment serving the "Evil twin of Silent Slasher"
Thats it for this installment be nice to each other, or as Charles Allen once said "You can make more friends in a month by being interested in them than in ten years by trying to get them interested in you."
Happy Piddling
Vic

sooner than i thought..

It was only yesterday I posted our 1st blog, but those of you who know Piddleworld will realise 24 hours is a long time. Rob, our noble leader has met with Jamie the designer and has previewed the new designs for Little Willie and Yogi, so keep your eyes on facebook and twitter for these. The big news that has got me back infront of this screen displaying my two finger typing to my loyal assistant Simon (Running Rebel) is the arrival back of THUNDERBOX PORTER- IN A BOTTLE. This eagerly awaited delivery back from our bottlers was amazing. Thunderbox Porter has been described as "Black Ruby and full bodied" and "packed with light zingy floral and blackcurrant hops for flavour and aroma" and not forgetting "Perfectly Pukka winter drinking" by you know who!

Anyway folks I must dash as coincidently i am brewing Thunderbox for cask today and have to put my Off-boils in and rake over, and if you are familiar with Bramling cross you will know this is a joy to behold, I love my job.

Happy piddling
Vic

p.s. we've had a call from lapland today.....

The first blog

Hello Piddlers,

This is the inaugral blog from The Dorset Piddle Brewery, Our aim with this blog is to keep you informaly informed on what is happening in "Piddleworld" mainly focussing on the most important thing and that is our beer. Today I have been creating another batch of our award winning Leg Warmer. This is made with over 20 kilos of fresh finely sliced root ginger. Today our blender decided it was the day to retire to it box forever and grind to whirring halt 2/3rds of the way through, so we finished off by hand, after the initial swearing this actually became quite soulfull, and an oportunity to bond with our new apprentice, one day he will look back on this hour of his life quite fondly, Possibly on his imminent 18th birthday when this golden ginger ale passes his lips for the very first time.

Thats it for todays blog, I have just added my off-boil hops and am now on stand for 45 minutes. So I've got to dash and get my fermentation vessel ready
Happy Piddling
Vic