Not only is Christmas over and done with, but we’re also past the most depressing day of the year (according to… someone on a large grant, in all likelihood). So, it’s about time to face up to the fact that it’s 2011 and it’s not going away.
The festive season is always the busiest time of the year for the booze trade and this year was no exception. Even if the weather did its absolute best to derail us. We like to think we’re a fairly hardy lot - winter surfing (Mart), hill walking (me) - but this December really took the michael. You really shouldn’t have to wear your full winter mountain gear in the middle of Cardiff, but I was very grateful of it. I hadn’t realised that selling at Farmer’s markets could be classified as an extreme sport. ‘Oh tosh.’ I hear you cry. ‘It can’t have been that bad.’ Well, try this experiment. On a really cold day, get properly dressed up, go to a nice exposed place, and STAND STILL for 4 hours and see if you can feel your feet at the end of it.
The particular highlights of the weather were:
Mart putting the camper van through a 180 spin on the way to St Donats with a full load of beer in the back.
The windscreen wipers on my golf freezing to the windscreen on the way to Usk (that was a fun 10 minutes…)
Watching a forklift with a full load of bottles drift purposefully sideways on the ice to narrowly miss hitting the cask washer.
Having to cover all the cases of beer with duvets and blankets to stop them freezing overnight before markets (confirmation to the neighbours that no, he’s just not right…)
And seeing a fresh jug of water freeze in front of our eyes in an hour at Riverside (if you don’t believe me, check out the photo on facebook)
So, a challenging sales environment. But, we managed to rise to the occasion and not only had a pretty storming Christmas but also made sure that every Untapped fan had plenty of liquid warmth to see them through the season.
But now, it’s a whole new year and plans are already afoot to expand our little empire (insert your own sith lord joke here).
The big upcoming news is that we’re getting ready to launch our own online shop. All being well, it should be going live in mid february and then we’ll be able to deliver cases of Untapped’s finest straight from the brewery to your door -with only a courier having to deal with the weather. There will also be offers that will be exclusive to online customers, as well as (in time) t-shirts, beer glasses and anything else that might look cool.
I’m also working hard on the specialist brews that we’re going to release this year. The recipes are taking shape and I should be trialling both of them in February.
We’re also looking to expand the range into cask this year. So, if you know of a pub / bar that would be improved by some draught Untapped excellence, let us know…