Fresh Excitement! (Roosters)

At this time, just before the new year, the alcohol industry faces a bit of uncertainty and unrest about what the new year will bring. We all know that next year will bring more pub closures.... breweries will be moved and shut.... and of course beer and all things alcoholic will be increased in price by millions of pounds! (especially if that beer is over 7.5%!!) The government will keep trying to find ways to ban alcohol (as an A class drug) but then raise taxes massively on the stuff. People will continue to argue the toss about hops, sparklers, full measures, clear and cloudy 'cask ale', keg vs cask, 'cascadian dark ale'(or Black IPA to us in the UK) and fight amongst ourselves..... I could go on but I shan't (all-though I love a bit of drama/confrontational debate) Add in all this to the economical unrest , unemployment figures and governments making decisions which they said would be very unpopular - it's enough to make one feel a little down about next year.

BUT I SAY UNTO THE PEOPLE!; Fear not! for I tell thou it is the time of great change, great productivity and we should be greatly optimistic! Yes times they are a changing, but change doesn't mean bad, it just means things will be different. We should all be looking forward to the next years challenges and changes because to be fair, were they much worse than the year before? We got through that one didn't we?

It is because of our resilience that I urge people to look forward to some great changes, rather than constantly see the 'little Daily Mail' bad side to every walk of life. I have some great examples of the kind of thing we can expect and hope for in the new year which have occurred to us in the past couple of weeks;

- We all cry about Leeds Tetley's Brewery which will be closed and moved down south, which will be a big loss for the city, don't get me wrong, but we should rejoice in the fact that within 10 miles of the city there are up to 40 breweries growing up and going strong (a few of which are popping up right on our doorsteps.) I've loved Tetley's beer before and I will again I know, but when people say were loosing part of our history I can't help but laugh. You can't lose your history, you keep it forever. We can remember Tetley's for what it was, made first in Leeds. It has had it's history, now we are building our own! A new start, new craft breweries which people will look back on in 100 years and say, how good was that, isn't that worth building for?

- Breweries and pubs will close and move as I said before, but the main point is they are always remembered. And another main point is that something new will always fill the hole they left. The same applies to brewers. No one could ever replace Kelly at Thornbridge brewery and he's not really gone, but look at the list of expertise they got on board to fill the void he left. I expect good and interesting things from those guys  in the new year.

- New exiting things are coming in every week from abroad. We can all appreciate the the union of beer styles and flavours from all over the world, we can only get stronger for it. Just look at some breweries in Belgium - Saison Dupont the epic brewery that it is, have made a new beer! (well an ancient recipe style they found in there cellars) 'Monk stout' is a new beer for the world beer market, and it may be a few months before we get a try but it's definitely something to look forward to. So YES if those Belgians can brew new beers why can't we?

My final bit of inspiration comes from a small brewery in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. The brewery in question is no other than Roosters.  

Now the brewery is know round these parts for it's awesome cask range of beers but if you look below, there is something a little out of the ordinary for them.

Roosters do not normally bottle there beers but when they do, they sure know how to hit the mark. (I've even heard crazy stories of brewers there filling the bottles with nitrogen before filling them with beer to expel the risk of oxidisation!) These are 4 new beers we've received at the shop, and everything about them screams 'we're looking toward our future!'

GCB - (good cheer beer) - a fantastic pale ale which spits in the face of anyone that says that flavoursome beer needs to be high in %!

Oxymoronic - A black IPA which makes "your eyes say stout, but your taste buds scream IPA" 

-on bottle label- "OX-Y-MO-RON

                           -noun

                           A rhetorical figure in which

                           contradictory terms are

                           combined. as in a deafening

                           silence and a mournful optimist.

Mournful optimist - We should all be more like that!

2XS IPA - A big bad massively hopped IPA (100+IBU's.) At 7.1% it's not for the faint hearted tinny drinker! (Thats 7.1% 'mr accountant!')

XS - American Pale Ale - I drink this beer as I write and all I can say is that it's like I've slapped my lips on the tap of the fermentation vessel! Beers of 5.5% and flavour such as this will win awards next year, I'm sure of it. If Roosters can push above there expectations and wow the market with beers such as these why can't anyone else? Power to the innovators!

So in the new year I plead to people; be positive, see the good in things, it will all be worth it in the end. We've all got a lot of good things coming, so don't focus on the bad times, we all don't need the extra stress, so just remember to..... 

Smile and embrace it!!!

(it's gonna be great.)