I'm so pleased last time people liked my beer bottle collection post. I'm back with a few more, and I've decided I'm not going to be sad and take tasting notes 😉. I'm going to continue talk about my bottles only.
This time I'm going to show you these four
The first one is the Gatekeeper golden ale. The moment I saw it on the supermarket shelf I knew I had to buy it. Not because of the label, but this time it's really because of the bottle. Can you see anything special about it?
Probably not from the front. Let me turn it sideways for you. Can you see it now? The bottle isn't round. It's a flat oval shape, like a medicine bottle. I haven't seen a beer bottle like this before, that's why I was so keen to add it to my beer bottle collection. The oval beer bottle is the brewery's signature and according to their website is based on an eighteenth century gin bottle from Gibbstown, by the Delaware River near Philadelphia. It's a pity that they didn't explain what an 18th century gin bottle from Philadelphia, USA has to do with a beer brewery in Suffolk, UK. Oh well, at least the bottle is unusual and that's what matters!
I always wonder why craft beer has this mysterious mythical names and taglines. Like Moorhouse's Blonde Witch, their tagline is
Spellbinding, tantalising, she spins her golden charms and whispers her haunting siren call, like a shining beacon
If you look at the label, it's actually quite a modern looking one. The silhouette of the female doesn't look like a witch, she doesn't have a pointed nose and crooked teeth for a start! The mystical aspect comes from the location of the brewery, at a place called Pendle at Lancashire in UK. Apparently Pendle is known as one of the most haunted places in UK, and in 1612 there was a famous Pendle Witch Trail here where 12 people were charged with murdering 10 people with witchcraft. Now we know.
The My Generation Session Pale Ale is another bottle with a female face on its label. It's a collaboration brew between My Generation and the Black Sheep Brewery. The brewery is Black Sheep in Yorkshire UK, and the brand is My Generation, launched by a guy who plays the guitar and loves music and beer. I have absolutely no recollection of this beer as it's one of the earlier ones I got....
The last beer I want to share today is from our friends across the pond, the Shipyard American IPA. It hails from Portland in Maine. Shipyard has been brewing beer in the States for over two decades and they also collaborate with a brewery in UK called Ringwood. Ringwood is part of the Marston Group in UK, and Marston recently formed a joint venture with Carlsberg.
Wonder where I'm going with this? Craft beer is normally brewed by independent brewers producing on a smaller scale. Their uniqueness lies with the owner's ethos and technique. I can't see how this can preserved in a large corporation and these small brands often just end up as another cog in the wheel. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against large corporatons, I just wonder their fit with artisan products. Never mind, if the worse comes to worse, there's plenty of beer to drown our sorrows.
If you're interested, you can read about my first Craft beer collection post here
