Getting Closer to First Brew Day!

After more than a year and a half in the planning, its really starting to shape up and look like a brewery.  And its been a very busy week.

The first two of our Five fermenters are in place, with the cooling system pretty much all plumbed in.  It’s great to be able to buy british and the guys at Malrex who fabricated the tanks have been hard at it all week plumbing in the pipework for the brewery.

Jack_Malrex

Alongside getting the chiller, cooling system, fermenters, alcohol license, office space and steam boiler up and running we have also been hard at work in other areas also.

We hope to have a mini launch web site up and running by the end of next week, so you can all see a bit of info about our first four beers get a sneek peek at our marketing.

We are working hard to brew this coming week with a view to trying to get all 4 of our first 4 beers ready for the 2nd week of February, the recipes are all decided, ingredients all bought, just a few last little things to get sorted and we can crack on.

 

 

Tasting Night

The idea was very noble…. To get a group of foodies and beer lovers together to go through a bunch of  the best craft beer we could get hold of with short notice, and pull them all apart, what we liked, what we didnt and why!

The scene was set very nicely in the Malmaison Hotel in Reading with some great food and service, the requisite flavour wheel and bank notebooks.

Beer Taste Flavour Wheel

After a brief introduction to the process of brewing from Darron Anley, we got straight into a little training on how to use the flavour wheel, a huge array of description words for tastes and aromas and then dived into the beers.

We had a great selection;

lagers from Camden, Brewdog and Meantime

Pale Ales from The Kernel, Camden, Rogue

IPA’s from everyone – Arbor Ales, Lovibonds, The Kernel, Rogue, Thornbridge, Brewdog to name a few

As well as an assortment of stouts, sour beers and even a cider (not sure how that got added to the list?- Oh yeah the brewer made it)

The best ingredients for a great beer

A great selection

Cheese as well?

Mostly empty

Done

In all fairness the evening fell rather short of any high and mighty business ideas, but was a fantastic chance to mix with friends over some amazing IPA’s and other beers to highlight what we hope to bring to the table.

Somebody did write some notes though – We haven’t seen them since though.

Somebody did some work

To launch a new brewery in Berkshire

Takes a lot of planning, effort and finding out about stuff you don’t yet know.  This journey has taken longer than we would have liked, but we are getting there.

In January 2013 we are 95% sure we will be firing up the steam boiler to brew our first batch of beers ready to hit the unsuspecting public in February.  What are we aiming for?  Nothing less than spectacular!!

The UK is getting the bug for “craft” beer in a big way. When this project started there was 1 great company in Scotland producing beers that we felt were amazing and Brewdog are now joined by the likes of Magic Rock, The Kernel, Brodies and Thornbridge to name a few that have been pushing and tweaking boundaries in the world of craft beer.  Siren Craft Brew is all about taking what we like about bold and uncompromising beer and adding our own touch of magic to it.

Over the next couple of months we hope to share with you here (this is a temporary home) and on twitter @sirencraftbrew the progress we are making in getting the brewery built, how our tasting nights have been going and how we hope to get amazing beers to you all.