Yes, I’ve finally got around to posting a new page on the world’s most temporally challenged blog (by that I mean it’s seriously late, not flipping back and forth through history like Lost. Talking of which, does anyone have any idea how they’re going to wrap that up in just two more episodes? ). Life in the brewery has been fairly busy recently – U.P.A. has gone down an absolute storm, threatening Sundown’s crown as our top seller, and we’ve just about managed to keep up with demand. Our website is in the last throes of a redesign, and we’ve got some more trade outlets, so that you can keep well stocked up on all things Untapped (details of all our stockists will be available on our shiny new website).
So, with things going well and under control, obviously it’s time to think about more new beers and to confuse the hell out of the situation all over again. We’re starting to do trials in the next week or so for a beer to be released in the Autumn – no, you don’t get any clues – we can’t tell you anything about it until we’ve finished arguing amongst ourselves. I was going to say that it’s like forming a coalition, but Cameron and Clegg probably won’t settle things eventually over ice-cold Vodka and an impromptu game of spoof. Would probably help Newsnight’s ratings, though.
You see, the problem is that you’ve got to find a balance between something excitingly new and something that people actually want to drink. Guava and liquorice may be heaven in the hands of Heston Blumenthal, but would you want to have a pint of it? Or from our perspective, would you want more than just a pint? By the same measure, you also don’t want to make something that slides off into the dark realms of mediocrity and…oops, was going to mention a well-known brand there, but remembered that they’ve got much better legal representation than us.
So, it can be a bit of a tightrope. We’ve done pretty well so far (at least, all you lovely lot seem to think so), so we’d better not drop the ball now. Martyn is currently relaxing somewhere in Greece, and I’ve got horrible visions of him coming back extolling the virtues of brewing with vine leaves and hummus. Don’t worry, a couple of days in downtown Splott will bring him back to earth. As for me, I just have to curtail my natural instincts to make something so powerful and flavoursome that it would have you reliving the last 10 minutes of 2001 on the inside of your eyelids. Luckily, Martyn drags me back from my more wild-eyed brewing excesses.
Hang on, he’s not here.
Nothing can stop me now! Nothing!