Grolsh no more in the UK

[An Ankoù]

In my inventory atm:
Swaen Ale
Swaen Pale Ale
Swaen Pilsner
Swaen Rye malt
Black Swaen Black
Black Swaen Choco-B

The base malts are as good as Dingemans and Weyermann, and I still have too many factors in my brewing process to notice differences in the base malts. Efficiencywise the same results, so I mostly pick according to style ethnicity: Belgian, German, Dutch. My longterm inventory plans are more British, so I'll phase out Swaen and Dingemans in favour of Fawcett. Same goes for hops.

9 out of 10 times I'd advise to go for the cheaper or more convenient option, not for a particular brand.

(my other malts:
Fawcett Pale Crystal Malt
Fawcett Medium Crystal Malt
Dingemans Wheat
Dingemans Munich
Dingemans CaraMunich Type 2
Dingemans Aromatic Amber)

Yes, I'm a bit of a hoarder.

Thanks for that. I tend to get my malt from thehomebrewcompany in Ireland as they'll crush it for free. Wouldn't mind trying Swaen except crushing is such a pain.
I know what you mean about hoarding. I like to keep a couple of years' supply of everything. I've certainly built up a good supply until we find out what UK trading arrangements are going to be like in the future.

 

[Spratt]

There's a brewery in Lowestoft that produces a nice range of beers in 750ml size swing tops

https://www.greenjack.co.uk/bottles-16-c.asp

They're not the cheapest but all of their brews are pretty decent.

The other source for us East Anglians is of course Beers of Europe up at Kings Lynn.They tend not to put all their out of date beers on their web site, but if you can get there and walk along the shelves, there always seems to be a good range of swing top bottles. Mostly German 500s but I've picked up some Latvian 1 litres as well as a number of 330s. If you're not after hoppy beers, I've never found any problem with drinking out of date beer.

David

 

[DavidDetroit]

brews are pretty decent.

I checked out that link. Besides the bottles' volume and being swing tops being awesome, I would love to get my hands on that stout, especially.

 

[evenseven]

if anyone is after swing tops the range sell them, well they did. 12 bottles for £10 I think.

 

[Spratt]

I checked out that link. Besides the bottles' volume and being swing tops being awesome, I would love to get my hands on that stout, especially.

The Lurcher Stout I seem to remember was a very nice easy drinking stout. The Baltic Trader at 10.5% is a knockout (literally) beer, wonderful at Christmas to share with friends and family. Fantastic flavour but not one to drink if you need to drive. Sadly, I now have enough bottles, so no real excuse to get ordering any more.

David

 

[dad_of_jon]

70 or 80.....I must be over doing it with my normal brown bottles...I'm on about 250!

In my shed I have 421 bottles - 234 full 187 empty but no grolsh all brown bottles.

 

[An Ankoù]

In my shed I have 421 bottles - 234 full 187 empty but no grolsh all brown bottles.

187 empty? Shame on you. Get a grip!

 

[hop-a-long]

Like GerritT I also use Swaen mostly. To me it just makes financial sense to buy dutch malts as they are the cheapest. Originally I started out with UK malts, but when I came accross Swaen I switched. I can't taste a difference. I only go for other brands if I need a malt Swaen doesn't make.

 

[An Ankoù]

Like GerritT I also use Swaen mostly. To me it just makes financial sense to buy dutch malts as they are the cheapest. Originally I started out with UK malts, but when I came accross Swaen I switched. I can't taste a difference. I only go for other brands if I need a malt Swaen doesn't make.

Sounds good. It's time I tried some. If I can put up with the milling.

 

[hop-a-long]

When I started milling my own grains I bought one of these straight away. Just substitute the handle for an electric drill. 5kg takes me mere minutes.

 

[DavidDetroit]

Fantastic flavour but not one to drink if you need to drive.

I would totally buy sixers of those two you mentioned for how good they sound and then because of the coveted 750ml bottles (the fewer to fill the better). I don't even know if there are flip-tops here in Michigan like that. I'm going to check that out. I might slow down buying them after I got my bottle fix.
I've got an all-star line up at the moment with nothing but heavy hitters. The beer lasts longer because I can't drink as many but that's just a happy benefit.
Driving is off the table even with just one (500ml).
I used to not like stouts which was only a couple years ago. Times have changed. Now: stouts, tripels, quadrupels and Gale's Prize Old Ale clones.
I might make a whiskey barrel RIS next but those ingredients get kind of expensive.

 

[An Ankoù]

View attachment 21536
When I started milling my own grains I bought one of these straight away. Just substitute the handle for an electric drill. 5kg takes me mere minutes.

Looks a lot better than the tinned cast iron thing I've got that looks like a coffee grinder.

 

[GerritT]

Looks a lot better than the tinned cast iron thing I've got that looks like a coffee grinder.

You have a corona mill? They're easy to store, they fit in a 5 kg malt bucket.

 

[dad_of_jon]

187 empty? Shame on you. Get a grip!

agreed!