Versions of Beer, Barrel Ageing and Old Labels – Weekly Brewery Update

Versions. New beer 🙂

As a brewery that brew new beers most of the time, we like to try new things. Up until today we’ve brewed 190 different beers in the four years we’ve been going, that’s a new one every nine days. That’s why each beer has a unique number. Versions of existing beers are not exactly a new beers in our eyes, so they do not get their own number. It’s just a different take on what already exists, so they get a version number.

Bobek Citra is #05 so Bobek Citra Peach is #05.1, as is Single Hop Mosaic #120 and Single Hop Mosaic Apricot #120.1

Versions is something we’ve done a lot of, and will continue doing, as it’s a real treat to taste versions next to the original to see how the additions of whatever we added, affects the beer. Plus it’s a fun way for the brewery to keep experimenting and keep challenging themselves.

Down memory lane. Our first labels.

As the Brand Manager and Designer for Beerbliotek, I’ve done more than 180 different beer labels. Both for bottles and cans, but also for tap tags, for those beers that only went into kegs.

I was walking down at our old Sockerbruket Sour brewery this past week, and saw our old Tap Room tables in our old events room. They are all covered with our original labels, the ones with the bridge on. It brought back a lot of memories. How we spent nights labelling all the bottles by hand. A real hand crafted brewery. I prefer the machine labelling we do now, cause it saves a lot of time, but I do miss the “old days” in our first year.

Who knows what our labels will look like after the next four years? We’re looking forward to the journey.

Some News.

London’s property boom has claimed another victim: its iconic pubs

This was from an article I stumbled upon this past week on Quartz (qz.com). Although we’re in Sweden, we do export to the UK, and this will of course affect us over time. Here in Gothenburg where the Craft Beer scene is hotting very active, it’s still all about growth. Things will of course change over time, and article such as these help one stay grounded, as the trends in the UK beer scene usually find their way over to us over time.

“The London pub—historic haunt of revolutionaries, writers, and politicians—is under threat. Its numbers have fallen by a quarter since 2001, with the steepest drops in central London. Yesterday, London’s mayor launched an audit of the city’s public houses to figure out ways to stem the losses.”

“It’s no coincidence that pubs have closed in London’s central districts, where property prices have soared. London house prices have risen threefold on average since 2001. Pubs often occupy prime locations on the high street and are a target for corporations who want to convert them into more lucrative shops, residences, or office space…”