The rot has already set in. Sadler's Hop Bomb has been watered down from a sensible 5.0% to a pathetic 4.6%. It's on the current JDW national list. Their Peaky Blinder is already lightweight for a Black IPA and is more a Porter. If they water down the Mud City Stout then they are going on my AVOID list.Originally Posted by hondo
GBG list of future and closed breweries.
I picked up the 2018 GBG from the sorting office today. Last year the list of future breweries and closed breweries was roughly equal in size. This year the future breweries is less than a third of the size of the closed ones. I checked two future ones from last year and they are not mentioned this year so a number must be "pie in the sky". The big name last year was probably Blackawton but this year has RCH and Freeminer who used to brew beer for the Co-Op. Cottage still have an entry but it says that brewing is suspended.
Most of the closed ones are completely unfamiliar to me.
Quaffale has recorded 199 new breweries from jan 2016 till august this year.I don't know what GBG has but they are usually way behind the curve as branches don't notify headquarters about openings in their area often enough.
This might be alarmist but there's a Surrey brewery called Little Beer that I don't recall ever seeing before that has made a sudden appearance on the latest national JDW guest list. According to the GBG it's only a 10 barrel brewery. The beer is Little Kahuna (3.9%) and I had a pint of it for £1.85 at the Liverpool Lime Kiln this week. It seemed a fairly bog standard low ABV golden ale.
Other newcomers are Wibblers from Essex and Nelson from Kent. I've come across both of these but Nelson only in the JDW George at Wanstead, rather than Kent.
Little Beer are quite common around London and have been going for about 5 years.Have heard from a landlord recently that they were only going to brew lower strength beers.Wishy washy beer imo.Moby has probably tried a few. Only good beer I have had from Nelson is their green hop beer which comes out at this time of the year.Wibblers are okay and I had a good pint of Dengie mild during May.Have you seen the fest list for Wetherspoons yet.Seems reasonable.
Nelson Brewery was established in 1995 as Flagship Brewery and renamed in 2003. However, despite being well established, their beers are still a bit hit-or-miss in my experience.
Re Little Brew: It seems odd that a 10 barrel brewer should offer to go on their national list.
Re Wibblers: I've seen their beers in Essex and agree they seem to be Okay. Apparently they have an agreement to supply beers to Grays, a pub chain that was once a brewer in Essex.
Re Nelson: It seems odd that I've never seen Nelson anywhere other than the JDW George in Wanstead. Kent JDWs seem to got for Old Dairy, Wantsum or Kent. I don't recall seeing them in any of a fair few micropubs in Kent.
Re JDW Oct Festival: I've seen the list and it's just thirty beers again as opposed to the fifty of old. I'm more enthused about the local Rose and Crown festival a few days later but will be looking out for the Adnam's Tally Ho and a few others from the JDW fest. One of the problems with JDW festivals is that you tend to find the same old things in most outlets, usually the "International" ones and anything else from the major regionals. It's interesting that Bateman's no longer supply JDW on a national basis.
I've not been enthused by anything I've tried.
That has to be a positive
"Good people drink good beer" Hunter S Thompson
I've only really got on with their dark beers and a gold one that was OK.That has to be a positive
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