Autumn Catch Up... - Magic Rock Brewing
Expansion…
Lots of stuff happening at the brewery at the moment, not least the ongoing saga of our expansion. The good news is we have found new premises (very close to the original site which we failed to agree a lease on) and are confident we can make it a reality.
The plan as before is to install a larger brew kit, brew house floor, steam boiler, canning line, larger cold and dry storage facilities, new offices and public tap room. All of which meaning you should hopefully see more of our beer out and about.
The planning permission has been submitted and we are close to agreeing the lease with the potential landlord. Most of our new 50hl brew kit has been delivered and is in storage ready for us to commission it as soon as we get sorted.
At the moment I’d estimate we’ll be in some time next Spring but more news as soon as we have things nailed down…
Collaboration…
We were very happy to host Brian from Stillwater Artisinal for a brew at the brewery prior to Indymanbeercon a couple of weeks ago. The beer we decided to brew together was a a fairly unusual Sour Saison flavoured with Pineapple, with the loose idea being to mimic the characteristic Pineapple aroma of Brettanomyces Claussenii (a wild yeast strain) with various additions of the fruit during the process, (and because Pineapples are delicious).
The wort was pre-soured to a desired PH before being boiled with Pineapple pulp and them fermented with a mixed Saison/Brettanomyces strain. The entire batch of beer will then be secondary fermented in white wine barrels to develop the Brettanomyces character. No idea when it’ll be ready at this stage but we’d expect it will be at least 6 months and it will most likely need longer to develop the Brettanomyces character. The beer will then either be dry hopped or blended with hoppy beer before packaging. Look out for ‘Piña Collision’ in bottles and keg (maybe at the new tap room?) at some point in 2015.
Festivals…
Our busiest year of festivals so far is drawing to a close but we still have 3 festivals to go. The first is the inaugural ‘Craft Beer Calling’ in Newcastle this weekend (Friday 24th – Sunday 26th) loads of great breweries/beer/food & dj’s in attendance. Some tickets are sold out but there is still availability for Friday and Sunday sessions, click here
The second is ‘What’s Brewing’ in Stavanger, Norway 31st October – 1st November hosted by our friends at Lervig Aktiebryggeri. This is also the first time for this festival and they’ve gathered together a really great list of breweries from around the world, curiously the complicated Norwegian alcohol law prevents the festival from advertising the participating breweries officially but there’s a write up here. Stu and Joe from the brewery will be in attendance over the weekend.
Last but by no means least is our US importer Shelton Bros. ‘The Festival’ hosted at Brouwerij West at the Port of Los Angeles on Saturday 8th/Sunday 9th November. The third time Shelton have run ‘The Festival’, all the breweries they import to America from around the world are invited to participate and the list of attending breweries needs to be seen to be believed… see for yourself here. Myself (Rich) and ‘our man in San Diego’ Jonathan will be there all weekend with massive smiles on our faces.
If you’re by any chance anywhere near, there are (unbelievably) still tickets available here, you should buy some, it will be fantastic.
UK Events…
We also have a few events planned over the next month worth telling you about. Head Brewer Stu will be at Harrogate Tap this Thursday 23rd October for a tap takeover/meet the brewer. There are no tickets needed you can just turn up on the night to drink tasty beer and ask Stu difficult questions.
There are two events over the Halloween weekend with North Bar once again hosting the excellent ‘Magic Circus’ on Friday the 31st October, featuring a tap takeover from yours truly plus ‘fire eaters, fancy dress, horror films and in their own words ‘general all over heebie jeebies’. North never do things by halves and its always a really fun night so if you can get down there…
The second Halloween party is with our friends at Siren Craft Brew on Saturday 1st November. Beers from Siren, Magic Rock and Buxton will be on the bar, burger experts ‘The Patty Men’ will be flipping burgers and there’ll be fancy dress and a pumpkin carving competition, for more info click here please note this event is ticketed so don’t forget to buy your tickets in advance here
US Events…
Thursday 6th November just before ‘The Festival’ we have a tap event with our friends at Churchill’s, San Marcos, San Diego County. An amazing bar right in the heart of what is one one of the best brewing areas in the world. We are incredibly proud that just under 2 years since we first visited the area on a beer pilgrimage our beers will be available there, a big thanks to Joseph and Tony at Churchill’s for putting us on the taps.
The following Tuesday 11th November we will be In attendance at Tørst, Brooklyn for the final launch of this years International Rainbow Project beers. Our beer for the project ‘Pogonophobia’ was brewed in collaboration with part owner Jeppe from Evil Twin Brewing and we’ll both be around on the night along with our friends from Buxton Brewery to introduce the beers/answer any questions. If you’re in Brooklyn come down and say hello!
That’s about it for now, told you we were busy… back with more information on our expansion soon *fingers crossed*…