November brews

Recently brewed with quite a new hop - Mandarin (a)  Bavaria from Germany. It's a cross between Cascade and a German hop and seems to provide pleasant citrus mainly orange (no surprises). Brewed at 3.9% and blonde to show off the hop character.

Next project is an Americano Stout around 5.0%. Recipe will include 6 varieties of malt including pale and dark chocolate and caraffa Special B. Extra coffee will be provided with organic Machu Pichu coffee beans. Hops will include Cascade and Waimea.

Autumn ales

Latest beers are Helix a 3.9% blonde beer made with Cascade, Citra and Ahtanhum hops , and Fineshade a deep red ale made with 4 different malts together with Mosaic and Galaxy Hops. Recently acquired some Mandarin Bavaria hops which smell lovely so looking forward to using these soon.

All change ?

Quite a few of our outlets have changed.
The Queen's Head bulwick has been closed for months and does not look like opening any time soon.
Gez at the Montagu Arms Barnwell left at the end of August , so looks like that account has been lost.
Fortunately we have had a few new enquiries - and as a result supplied the the Ship Oundle​ and the Bell Stilton.
We have also been pleased to supply beer festivals at the Hand and Heart , and the Ploughman and the Coalheavers in Peterborough recently. Our beer will be at the World Conker Championship Southwick. And hopefully at two great micropubs - the Frothblowers, Warrington & the Bumble Inn Peterborough .
So hopefully we should be back to a full order book very soon.

Green Hop time

We picked the Cascade hops from our garden yesterday afternoon, and brewed a green hop beer today . Smells lovely , so fingers crossed it's going to be a good vintage

Rockfest at the Skipper

Starting Friday 25th August 2017 at the Chequered Skipper Ashton, near Oundle.

The following Rockingham Ales beers may be available (any 2 at a time) :

Kiwi Gold.
Kiwi Hop Devil.
Yakima Chief.
Terrific Pacific.
Big Hairy Canary
Morello Black IPA

Peterborough Beer Festival

4 new Beers this year. 🌲
Kiwi Hop Devil 3.9% Waimea, Nelson Sauvin ,Waiti
Big Hairy Canary 4.3% Amarillo and Citra
Morello Black IPA 5.0% made with Belgian Jenever  Morello cherries 🍎
Bring me the Hops of Alfredo Garcia 4.0% made with Mexican limes & Tequila🍈

U.S.A. - OUR INSPIRATION

We first visited the USA  in 1995 - Boston Mass was our first destination. On  our first trip we discovered a few brewpubs - Commonwealth and Cambridge Brewing were a revelation - with new hops I was delighted to discover- the new standout being Cascade. After tasting bitterness that seemed unique, and quite extreme (at the time) I was determined to track down some American hops and start brewing. So in 1997 Rockingham Ales commenced brewing, and it was not too long  I had tracked down some Cascade - and we've never looked back.

As time went by Willamette, Mount Hood, Chinook, and Amarillo came on the scene and in the last few years we've seen such great varieties as Summit, Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe. If that was not enough we have been fortunate to  brew with a couple of great Australian and New Zealand hops varieties - Galaxy, Ella and Nelson Sauvin - all brilliant ! But it started in the good old USA.

Subsequently we've been up and down Southern California (six years running) Seattle, Portland (Beervanna and Beertopia) Vancouver, and back to Boston quite a few more times, discovering ever more beer styles. Who would have dreamed of Double IPA back in 1995?

All the small brewers in the UK owe a BIG debt to Sean Franklin -  the founder of Roosters Brewery - he was the pioneer in using American hops and was instrumental in helping to get them imported. A Legend .