How Double Barrelled Brewery ended up on the Tele
Plus a trip to Mortimer Brewing Co and two Black IPAs.
Hello and welcome to Issue 4 of the Beer In Berkshire newsletter. A fortnightly email talking about all things Berkshire beer.
This week we cover:
📺 Double Barrelled on the tele
🕵️ A visit to Mortimer Brewing Company
🍺 Fortnightly recommendation
💷 A special ticket offer
🌳 Pub Shed of the Week
Breweries mentioned: Double Barrelled, Elusive Brewing, Mortimer Brewing Company, Windsor & Eton Brewery.
Berkshire beer has been featured on popular TV shows a lot recently.
Elusive’s West Coast IPA Oregon Trail was on Sunday Brunch a while back, it was also recommended by Jaega Wise on Saturday Kitchen this month and then there was the BIG appearance of Double-Barrelled Brewery on James Martin’s show just before Christmas.
Have You Heard About the Brindle Whippet? is a distinctive American Porter and was the beer in question that appeared on Saturday Morning with James Martin in early December.
But they weren’t exactly drinking it, the beer formed a not-insignificant part of a delicious (my wife made it, it was amazing!) Sticky Toffee Pudding (I think this is the recipe here).
It got me thinking though, how exactly does your beer end up on TV? Do you pitch it? Is there someone at ITV trying ALL the different beers - contrary to popular belief I don’t think I’d want that job. So I did what any good pretend journalist would do, I emailed the brewery and a very nice fella called Ryan got me the answers: “Mike and Luci [Clayton-Jones - owners and founders] were representing the brewery at a local market and someone on James Martin's team was in attendance. She liked the brand and the idea of supporting someone local to her, so asked if we would be interested. We sent them all of the beers we would have in stock at the time of the special going on TV, and they selected Whippet as it would play well with the recipe they had in mind.”
The postage was certainly well spent: “There was a massive rush on our webshop after the broadcast and despite us pre-warning our web hosts it did crash so we will never know how busy it could have been. That said, we ended up with a great number of orders for Whippet and most customers topped up with other beers too, so it was a great chance to get our beer out there to a different market - especially in the runup-to Christmas, and it was hands down the busiest weekend our webshop has seen.
It would seem the Canning family weren’t the only one’s enjoying the Sticky Toffee Pudding though: “Our Drayman, Chip made it for Christmas and says it was "delicious, easy to make, rich and indulgent - absolutely wonderful" . Rumours that a few of the team have tried making it as well. We’re awaiting feedback!”
So, you’re all wondering whether Have You Heard About The Brindle Whippet? will return to the DB roster? Over to Head Brewer Jim (owner of the aforementioned Whippet - Myrtle): “Porter is my favourite style to make and design. It's something I've been refining over the last 8-10 years since first brewing one at home. It's tweaked a little bit since we first brewed it, but we plan on continuing to brew and release it yearly in Autumn and Winter when demand for these styles is high, although I'd gladly drink it year round!.”
While we wait for ‘Whippet’ to return, there’s some very very good beer right now in the DB webshop.
There you have it. Probably a question you never thought you needed to know the answer to. You are welcome.
Exclusive Offer
Fancy coming along to Bracknell Ale & Cider Festival this year? It’s a festival I co-founded and is now in its 12th year. We raise money for Bracknell Rugby Club and Early Bird tickets are now on sale.
If you head over to the Ticket Store here and use the code FIB10 on adult tickets, you’ll receive 10% off.
If you aren’t in Bracknell and coming from slightly further afield, we put on a very handy shuttle bus from the station which you can make use of.
A visual visit to Mortimer Brewing Company
After my piece two weeks ago recommending Summerlug IPA, but with no way of you actually getting hold of a bottle, I wanted to find out more about Mortimer Brewing Company.
That led to an invite from owner Mike Udale-Clarke and a whistle-stop tour of his premises. Mike explains the names of some of the beers (though I feel going with Mortimer Porter instead of Mortimer Portimer is a brand own goal) and I get to try a slightly more traditional version of Summerlug.
..and, I regret to inform you, this video with way to much of my face. I hope you enjoy.
Mortimer Brewing Company was set up just before the Coronavirus Pandemic hit in 2020 and has had a low-key restart. Currently, the beer brewed is sold at various farmers markets around the area but you can always enquire via the website www.mortimerbrewing.co.uk
Recommendation
I’ve probably left this far too long for any more to be available, but get these two in you if you can find them anywhere.
Black IPAs from Windsor & Eton Brewery and Elusive Brewing. Conqueror is possibly the only consistently brewed Black IPA I’ve seen and we all know Andy at Elusive would brew these every other day if he could.
The Elusive shop is here - I’d subscribe to the mailing list if you want to pounce on the next Black IPA that Andy roles out.
The Windsor & Eton shop is here and I’m relieved to say they have Conqueror 1075 in bottles AND cans.
Did you try either of these two? Let me know what you thought in the comments section at the bottom.
The Outdoor Bar
No project update this week because life (and nothings really changed) but look at this one!
I’ve teamed up with an old colleague who runs the very successful Cuprinol Shed of the Year competition and I’m able to highlight an enviable Pub Shed each newsletter.
This is Knights Inn by Richard Knight (ah I get it), in Berkshire. Richard says: It was a hot tub cabin and got bored of the hot tub and gave it away and then rebuilt the shed ad turned it into a garden pub and is used all the time now.
Best get painting those pallets. See you in a fortnight!