Free Who?

There's breaking news today that the Freeminer Brewery, located at Cinderford in the Forest Of Dean, is about to change hands.

Many beer lovers around the UK beer scene will know their larger-than-life head brewer Don 'Demon Brewer' Burgess, but might have wondered where his beer was. The answer, these days, seems to be mostly in Cooperative stores, but it's less than a decade since he was winning plaudits for Trafalgar IPA and, my favourite, Deep Shaft Stout, a bottle-conditioned beer that stood several years of ageing. I left my first bottle for over 4 years, and Don had been known to stash the odd case to see what happens. I had a 10 year-old back in 2009, and it was superb.

Don Burgess - Half Man, Half Badger

Don was interviewed by Roger Protz some years back after Freeminer won the business to brew Co-op's ethical bottled beers, while a year or so back, if you'd bought a bottle of Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Ginger Beer, that tiny signature on the label was his. But of Freeminer beers, there has been little sign.

However, with new ownership, I hear that there should be a new lease of life for the brand. Deep Shaft Stout will hopefully be making a welcome comeback, and I'd be interested to see where Trafalgar sits on the spectrum of hoppy golden pale ales. I wonder if Don will update the recipe? There's also whispers of a collaboration with one of our larger brewers.

I think that's good news for Freeminer, and good news for UK brewing. I think the scene will be more lively with Burgess and Freeminer back in it with serious presence.

Missing A Trick?

The news today is that our beloved leader "CallMeDave" Cameron gifted bottles of Fullers London Pride to each of 'Los 33', the Chilean miners who were trapped underground for 69 days until last week. In return, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera gave 'Dave' a lump of rock from the floor of the cave.

A couple of things occurred to me. While CAMRA were delighted that Dave had finally 'got it' with his gift of real ale (is Pride Real Ale In A Bottle? I didn't think it was), didn't he also 'get it' with his little beer trade with US President Barack Obama a couple of months back? And, why Fullers? Is that a little pat on the back for Michael Turner's support of the Comprehensive Spending Review? He signed the letter published in the Daily Torygraph a couple of days back.

If it had been me, I'd have been on the dog and bone to Demon Brewer Don Burgess, to blag a couple of cases of his excellent (and bottle-conditioned) Freeminer Deep Shaft Stout.

The final thing is this lump of rock. I remember going to Berlin during April of 1990. All along the western side of the Wall, people were knocking out chunks of it, preserved in little plastic bags. Turned out that enterprising 'Osties' were casting concrete, spraying it with paint and smashing it up to sell to people like me. If I were you, 'Dave', I'd make sure your bit of cave rock came with a certificate of authenticity before popping it on eBay.