The latest update from our beer people:

If you’ve been doing Dry January, you’ve really missed out, I hope you feel guilty and unfulfilled. The beer-drinking public have guzzled their way through some awesome beer in the last couple of weeks, NVB/3BM‘s Kongorong Red (with a slightly controversial alternative working-title of ‘Can You Tell What it is Yet?) got absolutely demolished possibly due to the silver lining of the England cricket team’s 4-1 one-day-series victory. Cricket results almost certainly drive beer sales by our measures. Both Nomadic beers went down very well, after all you’re not selling beer if you can’t sell a Citra SV. Northern Whisper’s Chinwag also didn’t last long, so we’ll aim to get some more of their stuff as and when it becomes available.

Coming up this week:

The second collaboration between our good friends at Nene Valley Brewery and Three Blind Mice, Cuprum, a stout-inspired fruity ruby ale, is tasting great at the moment. Simple Pleasures from NVB will also be making an appearance towards the end of the week, it never lasts long though, so we’ve ordered some Manahattan Project (originally a Royal Standard / Cambridge Blue / NVB collaboration which apparently sold so well it’s now a semi-permanent beer… just saying…) in case it runs out, but if not, that will be on in a week or so from now. The always-excellent Dark Star have had to re-brew their annual Hophead tinkerage, this time with Loral hops, due to huge popular demand. There was literally not enough to go around the first time so they’re on their second, if not third brew of this now. Also on the hoppy side, if we’re really busy, we might bring out a couple of ‘new-to-the-Blue’ Salopian beers. We’ll be tapping ours ready for the weekend. Also making a welcome return is Newby Wyke brewery, we’ve got a 100% Citra 5%er called Mighty Mo and a fruity 5.4% stout called The Deep, which must be a reference to the levels of flavour it has. It being winter, we continue in the ways of the dark side with Colchester (another old favourite of ours) Double Brown and the classic St Peter’s Old Style Porter.

Despite the best efforts of ‘The Fun Police’ to curtail drinking habits in January, you’ve all smashed our keg lineup, with emergency backup being required this week. Tragically, we had to hold back on the Wiper and True‘s ‘Autobahn 4’, so that didn’t go on last week, however that’s good because it means we can drink it very soon indeed! Everything else got smashed last week. Totally new lineup featuring the delights of Wild Weather’s Pirate Captain, a Jester-hopped IPA mad with oats and wheat, making it wonderfully reminiscent of our collab with 3BM Juice Loosener. Speaking of 3BM, there’s a Wild  Weather//3BM collab in the pipeline, and guess where you’re going to be able to drink it when it gets released?! Also fresh on today is NVB’s Egyptian Cream on keg, a rarity since it’s usually present in our cask lineup, so definitely worth a try there. MAD RESPECT to Lost+Found brewery for listing us as a stockist on their website, along with a link to this very humble website! Nothing makes a beer-driven pub want to work with a brewery more than when it takes an interest in where their beer is going, it’s this sort of attention to detail and care for their beer that is evident in their beer. We’ve got their A.BL: American Pale Ale R3.5 Fomo – Saic on right now which is great; crisp, yet still smooth and refreshing with a good level of carbonation (but it’s not a pain to pour, yet more bonus points to these guys, I feel like Sandi Toksvig on QI), not too citrussy straight away, thirst-quenching and building to a tart bitter finish, and perfectly *hic* sessionable at 5.2% *hic*. Also ON NOW is Harbour’s Wallonie Blonde, at 6%, a nice Belgian wiggle on a hoppy pale, not quite an IPA but a great beer with a vague sweetness which wouldn’t be out of place in the bars of Bruges or Brussels. And if you drink all of those, we’ll let you in on a couple more 3BM treats, one of which will. blow. your. mind.

Come drink beer.