Craft Bottle Beers

So Craft Bottle Beers finally got underway at Saltash Regatta last weekend. It has taken a lot of planning and hard work, a few false starts, not to mention costly mistakes, but at last we have begun to sell a few bottles of beer.

Our plan is to sell a selection of beers from local craft beers at events throughout the South West - its a hobby mainly but it does at least give me a chance to indulge my passion for beer and in particular bottled beer to enjoy at home.

Craft Bottle Beer Stand

Saltash Regatta is a two day event with local stall holders and producers all vying to sell their wares. Sadly the weather was not great but I'm delighted to say our stall was very popular. In fact the event rivalled some larger food and drink festivals for popularity and we were certainly pleased with how well we did.

Our stand could have been better and some things we planned to do in terms of branding did not work as hoped. However we were at least the equal if not better than many of the other stall holders.

Our first sale was a bottle of Cheddar Ales Potholer. a very tasty golden beer and one that

Golden/IPA's

proved to be a popular seller throughout the day. We had a range of 17 different beers and split them into beer styles to make it easier for customers to follow. The most popular style was the Golden/IPA range of which we had seven great beers. Of these special mention of the Ramsbury 506 as the first IPA to sell out. This is a wonderful beer and drinks very well in bottle - a fine balance of citrus hop that is not overly bitter.

Penpont Shipwreck Coast also sold well from this style as did the Piston Broke from Box Steam Brewery. Of the Pale ales,  Box Steam Tunnel Vision was the most popular with many local Cornish folk likening it to Doombar, although I'm not sure if that's good or bad!

We probably had too many Stouts on sale and although I personally love this style of beer and it is on the comeback, there are still many people who still find the roasty, toasty liquorish flavours challenging.

The final style we called Strong/Vintage ales. I was surprised how well these beers sold. Ramsbury Horny Highlander a 6.1% real meaty beer tasting of smokey bacon and slightly spirituous sold very well. I struggled with the flavour a little myself but lots of people liked this beer. Another lovely beer in this style was the Bellingers Moonlight, a fine dark malty beer erring on the side of a Porter but not quite.

So off soon to source more beer for our next confirmed event which is at Mount Edgcumbe Classic Car show on Sunday 4th August, although we still hope to find something suitable for late July as well. Lisa and I both loved the days, talking about beer and helping to guide people as to what flavours and styles will suit them best. As a Beer Sommelier this is a really satisfying part of what we are doing and it was great to impart a bit of knowledge to people who were genuinely interested.

Wish us luck for the next one.......