We are delighted to announce that the Red Lion Inn Old Shoreham will be the official brewery tap from 22 May, meaning that you will always be able to find a pint (or bottle) of our beers available there. The Red Lion is an historic inn with an enviable reputation both for its catering and the quality of its beer. It stands in a delightful location on the banks of the Adur, just a little way downriver from the brewery’s base in Steyning.

To celebrate the partnership we are reviving the medieval custom of Church Ales, a charitable event to benefit local good causes, as we did for the brewery’s official launch two years ago. The date is Saturday May 22 and the event starts at 10.00 a.m. and continues until 11.30 a.m. when normal pub service resumes.

The Adur Brewery are donating the beer, the Real Patisserie are giving a supply of their delicious rustic bread, the Red Lion Inn is offering the cheese, and it is all being run by volunteers. A background of traditional music will be provided by The Rude Mechanicals who are also giving their services free of charge. This means that all proceeds from the event will go to the charities supported.

We shall offer those attending a half-pint of each of two Adur Brewery beers, together with a slice of locally-produced bread, and fingers of English cheeses. Tickets for the event are free and those attending will be invited to make contributions to local charities. At the Church Ale to mark the launch of the Adur Brewery in 2008 we raised nearly £200 and hope to do at least as well this time.

If you would like to join us you may collect tickets from the bar of the Red Lion during normal opening hours. Alternatively write enclosing SAE marked with the number of tickets required to ‘Church Ale’ 56 Greenacres, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex BN43 5WY.

The tradition of Church Ales goes back to medieval times and lasted for hundreds of years. It was a local festival at which ale made and donated for the event was the chief drink. The feast was usually held in a barn near the church or a special church house, used for meetings and social gatherings. In Tudor times church-ales were gradually limited to the Whitsun season, until they were finally suppressed by the Puritans in the 17th century.

These parish festivals were of much ecclesiastical and social importance in medieval England. All sorts of ‘-ales’ were held in support of local causes, including ones to benefit a young couple getting married – these were ‘bride-ales’ from which we get our word ‘bridal’. ‘Bid-ales’ were for general charitable purposes and all the neighbours attending would make contributions to help the object of the benefit. Another major purpose of church-ales was to help to keep the parish church in good repair.

The Red Lion, the historic 16th century inn, stands in Old Shoreham next to the church of St Nicolas which dates back to Saxon times. In accordance with tradition, part of the proceeds will be given to the Friends of St Nicolas, the trustees tasked with maintaining the fabric of this historic church. The building is an architectural jewel and a valuable piece of our national heritage, whose tower has been a landmark of Old Shoreham for more than a thousand years. You may have heard of the famous Norman decorated arches – but can you find the cat and the mouse? And do you know of the connection to the Titanic? During the morning the church will be open and a guide will be available to help visitors discover its hidden treasures. Let’s help ensure this wonderful building is still there for our descendants in another thousand years.

While we are enjoying good company in a convivial location we should not forget those less fortunate than ourselves, and the other charity we are supporting provides a way we can give practical help. Worthing Churches Homeless Projects operates in the Worthing locality offering care, support and accommodation to the most vulnerable and excluded members of our community. They have a very simple message. “We are not here to judge people but we are here to reach out with human compassion and offer a loving hand of support”. Let’s give generously to help in that work.

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In obedience to my new policy of writing less here but making sure to announce markets and suchlike: we’ll be at the Farmers Market from 9am til 1pm giving away samples and selling bottled beer. Hope to see you there.

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We’ve never had a beer move so fast. The last firkin went out the door yesterday and I’m brewing it again today. I’ve had kind comments from many people, but this one takes the biscuit.

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The election has finally got underway and I’ve received my polling card meaning that I now have to decide who to vote for. I’ve been watching the broadcasts carefully and I’ve noticed that there are three topics that none of the big three parties seem to be talking about.

• The war.
• Immigration.
• The debt.

What about the fuss about national insurance ? Surely that’s about the debt ? Not really – both Labour and Conservative plan to raise it, the Conservatives by a little less. The notional difference between their plans is £6 billion.

The annual deficit, the amount HM gov spends that they haven’t raised through tax is £176 billion more or less.

The debt is actually somewhere around £782 billion – keep your eye on the debt clock – depending on how you measure it. The only way to fix the problem is raise more tax or institute spending cuts worth hundreds of billions of pounds. Unfortunately tax rates have probably already reached the point of diminishing returns hence the fuss about NI. So cuts are the only way; highly controversial and highly uncomfortable (Greek riots anyone ?)

Similar quandaries exist around the topics of the war and immigration. There’s definitely a problem but the obvious solutions which are withdraw and close the borders are contentious and painful in all sorts of ways. So none of the big three are talking about them.

Although it’s pretty clear what Labour will do about the big three topics, e.g. what they’ve been doing for the last 13 years, I’m forced to guess about the views of the Conservatives and the Lib Dems. My guesses are not happy ones.

So I’ll be voting for one of the smaller parties standing in my area, and since my most favoured party isn’t fielding a candidate, that puts me in the UKIP camp for the moment. Apparently that makes me a swivel eyed fruitcake – but why stop now? I always say.

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The brewery has entered its busy season and in addition I’ve taken on a technical project that looks like its going to absorb quite some time. Blogging has already slowed and this will be my last blog for a little while except for brewery announcements. I promise to be rather more diligent about those.

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The recent duty rise (6% !!!) has lead me to investigate how we might reduce our costs in other areas to keep prices down. I’m thinking of using a new pattern for our bottles. The Klein bottle.

The problem with our standard 500ml bottle is that it only holds 500ml, so you need a fair number to contain a single brew. These bottles don’t have that problem, the inside is continuous with the outside so each one can hold any amount of liquid* up to the volume of the visible universe (currently 4.2 x 10^69 cubic miles).

I’ll only need one.

I’ve alerted West Sussex County Council trading standards and I understand that the absent due to sickness rate has gone up alarmingly.

…I’m thinking of getting some glasses following the same pattern. Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m very proud to introduce Adur Brewery’s new Klein Stein.

If you’d like to get bottles or glasses like this yourself go to kleinbottle.com.

*Some people claim that actually they have a volume of zero. Obviously I’m not going to listen to such nattering nabobs of negativity – they can’t even tell me if it’s zero litres or zero pints!

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Warning – extremely sweary. Follow the link at your peril!

H/T EUReferendum

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As well as making it and running around getting beer to thirsty customers, my family is suffering it’s annual dose of poor health. Blogging has been light and will probably be so for a few more days. In any case having witnessed the Augean Stables of the Dispatches episode earlier in the week I’m too sick of politicians to write much about them. There are many other more hardened bloggers who can do it better than I.

In the meanwhile, it’s budget day again. Undoubtedly beer duty will go up again (apparently it’s already factored in to government cash projections). I’ll listen but mostly to have a giggle at the Badger of Doom’s fantasy future GDP growth guess.

In the meanwhile, for those of a shaving persuasion – here’s a money saving tip that deserves to be wider known. I’ve been using the same triple bladed cartridge for a record (for me) 3 months at this point although I do actually strop it every day.

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…a busy week with much going on at the brewery and also the world at large. I’ve just got the Hoptoken artwork and samples are being tasted today. With luck there will be more time for commentary next week.

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…a few yards away from the ancient church of St Mary de Haura, East St, Shoreham.
Hope to see you there.

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