If you were lucky enough to be up in the Lake District fells last weekend you might have just come across the first dustings of winter snow.
And the first snow on the tops can only mean one thing for we brewers down in the Eden Valley: it’s time to abandon all hope of sleep because the crazy festive brewathon has arrived.
The onset of Christmas makes itself obvious in a number of ways; shoppers fighting to the death for the last box of Quality Street, teachers suddenly deciding that watching Despicable Me 2 is a core part of the curriculum and workers in all walks of life, from nurses to supermarket checkout operators, suffering the ignominy of being forced to wear pretend reindeer antlers.
At Eden, we spare Linda and the rest of the crew the pain of having to wear festive head wear … but that’s more than made up for by weeks of back to back early starts and endless double brew days.
Our mission to satisfy people’s unquenchable thirst for beer actually began some weeks ago. It will now build to a giant bauble shaped head, as everyone works day and night before collapsing in exhaustion about a week before Christmas.
A little video about our Christmas Ruby Red Ale for Tebay and Gloucester Services.
Here’s our guide to the Christmas specials we’re working on this year, which will make all the hard work worthwhile.
For those who like it festive, we’re working on a new batch of our Ruby Red Ale for the Westmorland Family to sell at Tebay and Gloucester Services, as well as Rheged. If you haven’t tried it before, Christmas Ruby Red Ale is our way of putting Christmas in a glass, using ginger and cloves for something that’s warming, rich, smooth and spicy.
For those of you who are just after volume, we’ve got some seriously big bottles on the way, in the form of two litre bottles of Eden Gold. These are going to be available at Cranstons and other local retailers, as well as at Booths supermarkets across the north of England. If that’s not big enough for you, you’ll also be able to get one litre, two litre and three litre bottles of Tasty Blonde - our American XB Bitter - at Tebay and Gloucester Services, as well as five litre minikegs.
Hopefully these will all help oil your wheels as you deal with the Christmas madness. If you’ve got any tips on how we can cope during the festive build up - or just want to stop by and drop off a strong espresso or two - then please let us know.
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