tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-359100872008-08-29T13:07:40.337-07:00Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-134521521103509992007-07-17T09:34:00.000-07:002007-07-18T08:59:55.394-07:00

I have been given a right royal telling off by the clever gentlemen (and I use that term loosely) that design and operate this web site, mainly because of my lack of blogging. I have also been getting it in the neck from members of the drinking public who await news on a weekly basis, and also from the normally timid nature loving folk who have been extremely vocal in their complaints that they

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-60869535428195124802007-06-18T01:24:00.000-07:002007-06-18T06:19:11.228-07:00

The totally amazing news of last week is that, hot on the heels of Swift One winning Hampshire Beer of the Year, we find that we've won Southampton Beer of the Festival twice with both Swift One and Elderado. They both received seventy five votes, making them joint winners. It's difficult to believe that two of our beers have been awarded two of the highest local awards that there are. And that's

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-69405098134507291832007-06-11T09:26:00.000-07:002007-06-11T10:03:31.782-07:00

The great and joyous news is that Swift One has been awarded the accolade of Hampshire Beer of the Year 2007. For the first time in the history of the award there was a tie for 1st place, the other winner being Hole Hearted from Oak Leaf Brewery. So firstly, a great round of applause and shouts of congratulation to Ed at Oakleaf. He brews good beer. Well done mate. Secondly, it's bloody

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-27554125318673754882007-06-02T03:00:00.000-07:002007-06-02T10:03:55.431-07:00

OK, I hold my hands up. I have been rather neglecting this blog of late and I have no excuses other than we are pretty damn busy (see previous blog). I will try my hardest to rectify this by attempting to do a regular blog every Saturday or Sunday. I know, it's doomed to failure but I will give it a try. On to the news...... Firstly, don't forget Southampton Beer Festival which is on from the 7-

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-42487263782528027412007-04-16T04:36:00.000-07:002007-04-16T05:33:01.967-07:00

I don't know where the time has gone, It only seems like last week when I blogged but it's closer to three. No excuses apart from the fact that we are very pleasantly busy. There's masses of news on the pub front. Our trade association (SIBA) runs a Direct Delivery Scheme whereby some pubs owned by Enterprise Inns can take a guest beer from a local brewery. We are now on this scheme so keep an

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-40202859790312688642007-03-29T07:58:00.000-07:002007-03-29T08:19:34.483-07:00

Another new customer today. It's the exotically (or possibly erotically) named Rai D'or in Salisbury. There has been a pub on the site since 1292 when it doubled up as a brothel. It is now a Thai restaurant and bar and the interior is wonderful with higgledy piggledy chairs and tables and a massive inglenook fireplace. Simon the owner, who is a sensible chap, cares about the food miles that

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-82304270576020290142007-03-21T09:32:00.000-07:002007-03-22T08:04:15.493-07:00

The Wallops Wood is almost ready to be released and will be going out to the pubs at the very end of this week. As we've found in the past, beers with a bit more colour in them take a while longer to condition up, so it's been sitting in the conditioning vessels for a few more days. It is rather different to our other two offerings. It's a light chestnut in colour which I suppose puts it into the

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-21333180416959129032007-03-07T08:39:00.000-08:002007-03-12T01:16:58.463-07:00

..........bad publicity. Especially when we've had a couple of very good articles in the local papers. One was a small piece in The News and the other was a much larger piece in the Daily Echo. This came complete with a colour photo in which I made a very good impersonation of a large Cheshire cat. We hope to appear on Radio Solent within the next few weeks to talk about beer and stuff so keep an

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-60609894837441159552007-02-27T05:57:00.000-08:002007-02-27T06:32:27.047-08:00

Today we received word that our application for a premises licence has been accepted by Winchester City Council. HOORAH! This means that we can sell direct to the public for parties etc and it also means that we will stock smaller sizes of containers for clubs and other places that have a very sporadic turn over. We've ordered polypins (like a wine box) in 9 pint, 18 pint and 36 pint sizes so we

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-68791890416671160152007-02-25T01:57:00.000-08:002007-03-17T02:15:06.617-07:00

I've just come back from a few days dog walking in Cornwall so I haven't a clue what's been going on. What I do know is that upon my return yesterday, there were a couple of complimentary tickets for the Gosport Winterfest waiting for me. There can be no better way of spending a damp Saturday afternoon than supping good beer in good company, so Ray and I tootled off to sunny Gosport. This has

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-80533539341106732562007-02-10T03:55:00.000-08:002007-02-05T01:11:52.472-08:00

It's been a good week, with a couple more customers to add to the beer finder and several more in the offing for next week. It was great to speak with Tim at The Cuckoo yesterday. I haven't spoken to him for months and months and he's been doing some work on the pub. The major work has been in the Tap Room. Nice stillage Tim! The later part of the week was quite hectic here. The volume of sales

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-22819214394578196792007-02-04T02:40:00.000-08:002007-02-05T01:11:45.884-08:00

My apologies for not having blogged for a while but it's all been a bit hectic here. The Swift One has been flowing out the door like there's no tomorrow and the Quiver Bitter has also been very well received, though as it has only been on sale for a week, it's a little too soon to gauge opinion on it. The great thing is that we can be swayed by the consensus of opinion and alter the brew to suit

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-82369539875139535152007-01-22T03:11:00.000-08:002007-01-22T03:15:21.507-08:00

If you go down to the woods today (Wallop's that is) you will see a bright new sign outside the brewery. If the sun is shining, the Bow changes colour from bright gold to a sort of grey, depending where you view it from, spooky.....

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-82590002795308269792007-01-19T12:43:00.000-08:002007-01-19T12:46:51.945-08:00

Swift One is out there! For the past few days we've been delivering to the growing number of pubs that stock our beer. Things are still a little embryonic with the delivery days but I'm sure that a structure will soon develop. The final marketing bit is now in place with the delivery of the pump clips, an example of which can be viewed on the 'Our Beers' page of this site. Talking of which, it's

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-9764291804228808942007-01-10T13:06:00.000-08:002007-01-10T13:43:13.751-08:00

It's been wonderfully rewarding to see how well the Test Tipple has been received. The only adverse comments seem to be that it does have a slightly aggressive bitter finish but we've toned that down for our standard bitter "Swift One". Having said that, a number of people have commented that it is just this bitter finish that makes the beer so bloody good. I feel that we did the right thing by

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-17387492042386359062007-01-05T09:28:00.000-08:002007-01-06T06:51:43.593-08:00

The first sup of Bowman Ales in a Pub Click for Larger Image and really see the beauty of the beer The first barrel of Bowman Ales was delivered to the Hampshire Bowman yesterday and was consumed today by a small band of privileged people (me amongst them). It was the beer on limited release, "Test Tipple". It was crystal clear and amber in colour (take a look at the picture, it doesn't lie), a

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-19582060454022599742007-01-03T11:57:00.000-08:002007-01-03T23:18:17.410-08:00

So, with delight and a certain amount of trepidation, we have been sampling the first brew (or Nigel). There really is an enormous temptation to rush things along but we have learnt from past experience that there are things that you just cannot hurry. It was certainly tempting to transfer from the fermentation vessel to the conditioning vessel after only 24 hours cooling but common sense

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-18962003922448542032006-12-25T01:41:00.000-08:002006-12-25T02:20:08.749-08:00

Compliments of the season to everyone out there that's been keeping an eye on us through this blog and to all of the people who have helped us in one way or the other through the past few months. Without your efforts we would be weeks behind. As it is the first brew (which for some strange reason I want to temporarily name 'Nigel') is fermenting well and we will crop some of the yeast for the

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-37121171991025444172006-12-23T04:33:00.000-08:002006-12-23T09:27:18.517-08:00

Click for larger image Well they're off! After a couple of months of incredible effort Martin and Ray set their first brew off yesterday. It was an auspicious day, Martin's birthday. Steam visible from the chimney. No it wasn't the announcement of a new Pope, just that Hampshire has a new brewery. Welcome back boys, we missed you.

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-88856437267752986372006-12-21T23:14:00.000-08:002006-12-21T23:16:55.882-08:00

We're off! Today is our trial brew

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-64793362345336932312006-12-12T10:40:00.000-08:002006-12-12T11:11:08.862-08:00

Yes, we are now in possession of 400 of the most splendid casks, coloured in our own special banding (or cresting as an archery chum tells us) and with our name embossed into the chime (another new word for you). The poor driver who brought them down from Burton had to brave some terrible weather which culminated in a large tree branch smashing into his cab. He was very philosophical about it

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-46850188317928945472006-12-01T13:24:00.000-08:002006-12-05T09:42:13.037-08:00

The laggers (one word the spell check doesn't like) have been in and even though they are no where near complete some very shiny surfaces have appeared. I didn't actually know that the cladding on the vessels would be of the very shiny variety. I had kinda assumed that it would be a satin sort of thing. Reflective surfaces can be a God send or they can be a trial. As, in this case, they reflect

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-35615772250668530402006-11-28T13:11:00.000-08:002006-11-28T13:23:32.363-08:00

I agree, lets hear from the mystery person in the Seychelles. It would be wonderful if you could (whoever you are) get in touch via the contact us page. I can honestly say that I have never corresponded with anyone in the whole of the Indian Ocean let alone the Seychelles. On a similar note it would also be great to hear from the Japanese party. Get in touch whoever you are and if your name is

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-49471342518171580972006-11-28T06:16:00.000-08:002006-12-05T09:39:34.737-08:00

We set up this site a few weeks ago and launched it on an unsuspecting public. Martin, Ray and the Barn Raisers (this is the army of unpaid helpers who turn up in some random way, most days, to ensure they finally have beer of a quality worth drinking) have been making fabulous progress on the Brewery and we all hope to be drinking the high quality ales by Christmas (No pressure chaps!) . We

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35910087.post-85346523770318895632006-11-27T14:11:00.000-08:002006-11-27T23:18:21.620-08:00

I don't know where to start. So much has been happening and I'm also feeling guilty about not having added to the blog for so long. Anyway, here goes, All, and I mean all of the boarding has been applied to the ceilings and the stud walls. Also all the surfaces have been coated with the white plastic sheeting so it looks lovely and clean and hygienic. The only problem with it is snow blindness.

Bowman Aleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17612162681391154912noreply@blogger.com