Thursday 10 April 2014

Brewery News Update !









      It's been a while, but we thought it time to update the blog at last.

    Our brew team will try to update it regularly to keep everyone abreast of new Cross Bay beers and events, not to mention their opinions on the beer and brewing world.

So here goes!

    Our first full year brewing in 2012 saw some remarkable changes to not only the Cross Bay beer portfolio but to the team also with the departure of Laura our then marketing manager and the addition of her replacement, the brilliant Rebecca Sewell.
   
       Becky became responsible for the design of the beer calendar, website and all promotional material for the brewery. Just a sample of her work is the Omega pump clip, for which the feedback from publicans and drinkers alike was extremely positive. The feedback we received was confirmed when the whole range of pump clips won the Label of The Year Competition, Point of Sale Category 2013.
Becky and the bottle range
     The second project was our first venture into bottle, again designed in house by Becky. Our beers in bottle were an enormous success, quite frankly we were unprepared for the swift departure of all our stock (over 7000 bottles) in just a couple of months.      







    As this was occurring the brewers were also having success in the beer world, with rising sales and more demand for our beer, we were focused solely on completing orders and rotations.
   Then in March 2012 our second seasonal, a 5% India Pale Ale named Zenith won our first award at the Lancashire Cup.
   To say we were chuffed would be a huge understatement, demand for Zenith wiped our stock in 48hrs and we had reports from customers telling us it lasted only 3 hours on the bar.
 
   Debate began, arguments ensued, decision made................. Zenith was now part of our core range.

   Shockingly, trade goes on and the year turned toward the GBBF, after a very intoxicated, not too mention slightly hazy trip to London to sample Britain's finest beers, we returned to find that a week later Zenith had struck again... this time winning Beer of the Festival at our local Morecambe Beer Festival 2012.
   Happy brewers are always a joy to work with and two awards in the first 12 months of a fledgling brewery's life was an enormous boost for us. Then just a month later Zenith struck again, winning Beer of the festival at Burnley Beer Festival 2012.
From Left: Liam, Bill, Nick, Arthur



   The departure of Liam and then Bill (to York Tap) was a shock in November, but the addition of trainee brewer Dan Hall has been a positive, his experience as a chef is an interesting mix and create's interesting flavour debates.



   As we passed into 2013 we were hit with the news that our parent company had gone bust... Luckily for us we were bought by another and continued to trade.
   So after a rocky start, a new owner, a new director and the release of our new seasonal calendar we recovered well and received our first award of the year in March at the Lancashire Cup with Halo, our 3.6% English Pale Ale winning Gold.
 

  Sales continued steadily throughout the year with various specials being released including a Porter, a Mild, another I.P.A,  a collaboration beer, a Green Hopped beer and then in October the release of our ever popular Wheat beer duo Witching Hour 4.4% and Wolfing Hour 4.6% had the brewing team working all out to complete the orders.
   On the rare day we set aside that month, we left the brewery to attend the SIBA North West Beer Competition 2013.
   This was to see the team scooping three awards for the following beers:

Zenith I.P.A. was awarded Silver in Bottled Bitters over 5%
Sunset Blonde was awarded Silver in Best Bitters
Nightfall Bitter was awarded Silver in Standard Bitters



Head brewer Nick Taylor receiving one of three awards.



   In the last three months of 2013 we saw the busiest period Cross Bay has experienced so far.

So far 2014 has been an enormous success for the team with sales up 20% on 2013 and the addition in March of four new awards won at the Lancashire Cup 2014, Silver awards for Zenith and Dusk and Bronze awards for White Jack IPA and Sandpilot.

Well that's the condensed version, we'll keep you up to speed on any other news as it happens...


Friday 9 March 2012

Zenith for Cross Bay Brewery


Press Release:

Cross Bay Brewery, which has been brewing real ales in Morecambe since July last year, won its very first award on at The Round Table’s Lancaster Beerfest.  Zenith, a brand new India Pale Ale at 5.0% ABV, won the Champion Strong award for the brewery, much to the delight of the brewing team and staff at Cross Bay.

This is the first time that Cross Bay has brewed Zenith, which is seasonal special for the March and April months, sitting alongside the three core brands; Sunset, Nightfall and Dusk.  The brewery hope that this award will be the first of many to come as it continues to produce fine handcrafted beers.

Cross Bay beers are available in pubs across the North West, to find out where stocks it, please visit the website; www.crossbaybrewery.co.uk.

Bill, Nick and Arthur with the Award
By Laura, Cross Bay Marketing

Thursday 2 February 2012

Local Dark & Winter Ales Festival Finale

The Dark & Winter Ales Festival is drawing to a close.

The Grand Closing Event is at 7pm at the Water Witch pub in Lancaster this coming Sunday, 5th of February.  All of the main festival beers will be available on the bar to enjoy, including Cross Bay.

If you tried Cross Bay Beer during the Festival and thought it worthy of winning The Beer of the Festival Award, please vote for us!  Just email your beer nomination to social@lunesdalecamra.org.uk with your name, the beer name and your contact number.  This could be Cross Bay Brewery's first ever award!

Find out more about the festival.

Thursday 19 January 2012

Cross Bay at NWAF

Yesterday, 18th January, some of us went down to the CAMRA National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester to represent the Brewery, meet people in trade, sample some beers and soak up the atmosphere.

Nightfall, our session bitter, was primarily available for the Trade Session, with Sunset, Dusk and Winter Moon ready to follow.

From our point of view, it was great to be present at our first National Winter Ales Festival and see our name in lots of places around the room.

Some photographs from the afternoon -


Left to Right: Nick, Bill, Arthur & Jamie
As you walk into the festival, this what you see
A view of the Festival

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Run Up to Lunesdale Local CAMRA Dark & Winter Ales Festival


Another date for your diary, especially if you're local to Cross Bay Brewery in Morecambe!

Cross Bay Brewery are proud to sponsor the Lunesdale Local CAMRA's Dark & Winter Ales Festival.

25 pubs in the local area (details below) will be offering their customers the opportunity to sample and enjoy dark and winter ales.  Winter Moon is our flagship beer for this exciting local event and we are hoping that lots of the festival goers will try it, along with Sunset, Nightfall or Dusk, our main beer brands.

Our Festival Flagship Porter

Ways to Get Involved

  • Join the Festival Mailing List for updates and where to find which beer.
  • Discover Mini Pub Crawls.
  • Send your thoughts on the beers to CAMRA.
  • Nominate a Beer of the Festival

For all of this, just email social@lunesdalecamra.org.uk

Festival Events


Opening Event, Monday 23rd of January 7.30pm:  Meet the Brewers at The Sun Hotel, Church Street, Lancaster.

Closing Event,  Sunday 5th of February 7:00pm: Full line-up of festival beers and 'Beer of the Festival' presentation.

Participating Pubs

  1. Bellflower (Nateby)
  2. Borough (Lancaster)
  3. Fleece (Dolphinholme)
  4. George & Dragon (Lancaster)
  5. Golden Ball (Snatchems)
  6. Golden Lion (Lancaster)
  7. Graduate College Bar (Lancaster University)
  8. Green Ayre (Lancaster)
  9. Marton Arms (Thornton-in-Lonsdale)
  10. Merchant’s (Lancaster)
  11. Moorlands (Lancaster)
  12. New Inn (Clapham)
  13. Orange Tree (Kirkby Lonsdale)
  14. Palatine (Morecambe)
  15. Patten Arms (Winmarleigh)
  16. Penny Bank (Lancaster)
  17. Priory (Scorton)
  18. Royal (Heysham)
  19. Sir Richard Owen (Lancaster)
  20. Smuggler’s Den (Morecambe)
Find them on a Map

Up and Coming National Winter Ales Festival

The CAMRA 2012 National Winter Ales Festival hits Manchester from the 18th to the 21st of January and Cross Bay Brewery are excited to be there for the first time with the following selection of handcrafted beers:

  • Winter Moon, Dark Porter
  • Sunset, Blonde Bitter
  • Dusk, Ruby Bitter
  • Nightfall, Pale Bitter
The festival being held at the Sheridan Suite on Oldham Road, boasts over 300 beers, ciders and perries, offering attendees the challenge to find something that suits their taste.

Opening Times:

Wednesday 18th Jan: 5pm - 10.30pm
Thursday 19th of Jan: 12:00 - 10:30pm
Friday 20th of Jan: 12:00 - 10:30pm
Saturday 21st of Jan: 12:00 - 10:30pm

No advance ticket necessary, find out more about pricing here

We are sponsoring the staff transport and rest area.

We encourage you to come to Manchester for this Beer Festival and sample our beers, alongside a huge variety of other beers!


Friday 6 January 2012

Out with Aurora, In with Winter Moon

Our popular and frequently praised, Aurora, Strikingly Amber Ale, completely sold out on Tuesday.  Making its debut a success.
Winter Moon replaces it as the seasonal dark porter for January and February time and promises big flavour for its 3.6% ABV.   You will recall we had a trial of Winter Moon in December and although it tasted really good then, we think you will agree, it tastes even better now.
“Winter Moon is a dark and rich porter. However, this is a porter with a twist; it boasts a thick, dark chocolate and caramel body, which is followed by a lemon rind and pine aftertaste.”
We encourage you try it with food and recommend the pairings of: puddings, chocolate, grilled meats and smoked fish.
Winter Moon is our flagship beer for the two Winter Ales Festivals Cross Bay is sponsoring, coming up this month; The Lunesdale CAMRA Dark & Winter Ales Festival and National Winter Ales Fesitval.
The name of the Porter is taken inspired by various wintery names for the moon in January and February around the world.  The pump clip image features the typical Cross Bay scene of the Lake District peaks as viewed from Morecambe promenade, illuminated by a mysterious, purple tinted winter moon.  As with all our pump clip designs, the taste and style of the beer is intended to be reflected in the imagery.



Winter Moon Pump Clip


 Post by Laura, Design & Marketing @Cross Bay