Our Marketing Officer Rachel writes about our journey down south to brew our latest collab beer, ‘Bedrock’…
Beer festivals are not only a fantastic chance to try exciting beer, poured by breweries from far and wide, they’re also a great opportunity to meet like-minded industry folks.
Castle Rock and New Bristol Brewery were both pouring at Attic Brewery’s Suds Fest in Birmingham last September. Duke (from our sales Team) and New Bristol’s Sales Director Thomas got chatting, and between their favourite beers and breweries & the virtues of cask ale, the value of collaborating with other breweries inevitably came up.
Fast-forward to January and we’re on the train to Bristol with Danny, our recipe development brewer, ready to brew a nice and punchy NEIPA.
We travelled down the day before the brew, met the team, had a quick tour, and a beer in the brewery tap. (Mello Yello for me, in case you were wondering!)
By sweet coincidence, our friend Laura (The Shropshire Goat) was also in Bristol – she’d been invited by Wiper and True to see their dealcoholisation unit in use. Happily for us, Wiper and True kindly extended the invitation to us too! We met Laura, along with Tom, New Bristol’s head brewer, for a pint of Bass in The Crown. Then it was a short hop to Wiper and True’s brewery and tap room for a tasting session (both alcohol free and conventional brews) and a brewery tour, followed by an outstanding Pig’s Pizza. The evening wrapped-up with a quick detour in a cab to Left Handed Giant’s brewpub where we squeezed in one last pint before last orders.
The brew day itself was lots of fun. The guys at New Bristol clearly all get on well – the convivial atmosphere with plenty of banter made us feel really welcome. The brew got underway and Danny chatted to the New Bristol guys about specs and the limitations and possibilities of our respective brew set ups. Danny was relieved that he had a day off digging-out and enjoyed watching the self emptying brew tank do its thing!
Thomas is a social butterfly of the Bristol brewing scene and after a spot of lunch, he introduced us to a hidden gem, Bristol Beer Factory’s flagship pub The Barley Mow before a stop at Arbor Ales’ taproom.
Time was of the essence as we had a train to catch, but we squeezed in a quick visit to Good Chemistry’s Kings Head – a charming well-preserved pub run by with a back bar dating back to 1865. This was a fantastic conclusion to a truly wonderful trip to Bristol.
The beer we brewed landed at our brewery on Friday and it’s an absolute banger.
Hazy and full of juicy tropical flavour with a delicious bitter finish.
Keep an eye out for it on tap at a pub near you…
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