Humpty Dumpty Brewery

Hatching a New Beer

Over the next several months we will doing a series of postings about the design of our new Easter seasonal, Bad Egg.

Our plan for Bad Egg is to make a proper best bitter, with a target abv of 4.1%.  By "proper" best bitter, we mean we are heading for something darker than our current best bitter offering, Humpty Dumpty Ale (though we have no plans to discontinue this beer). Also a little more up front on the hoppiness, possibly involving some dry hop in the firkin. 

We are going to post a series of articles on the design of a beer.  How we go about it; how we scale it up. And with this first posting, about the design of the new livery.

The story is told in full from the artist's perspective over at illustrator James "Doodling Jim" Browne's website.  We found his site by Googling on UK illustrators, and as Jim notes, with the biker motif in mind we were taken by the rough starting point of one of his t-shirt designs.  

We wanted something a little different; a little more raw, and something "Humpty off the wall", taking as a starting point the darker side of our brewery name.  While to some, "bad egg" may have negative connotations - either of odour, or more colloquially of character, we thought we could riff playfully on his "bad" image as a bit of a devil-may-care biker.  Jim had the idea of putting the name on the knuckles, which we think is a perfect touch. 

You can see how he evolved over at Jim's site.  We love the final result and think it will look great on the handpump.   We've talked with Jim about a follow-on, but Bad Egg will keep us busy enough for now. 

We've started designing this beer, so keep your eyes on our website for updates on what we're after and how things are progressing - we'll try to post about once a week.  We hope to have Bad Egg in pubs from around early March. 

Beer List For Reedham Beer Festival and Fete Weekend

Just two more days to go before the Reedham Beer Festival and Fete Weekend.  We've just completed the beer list for the festival.  We've got 40 different beers available, though we'll be putting them on as demand justifies. 

The Beer Festival is located at the Village Hall, a short walk from Reedham railway station.  Note that there are trains running after the festival from Reedham to Norwich, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.  Check the timetable from festival sponsors Wherry Lines for more details.  (Please be respectful of our neighbours in Reedham and leave the festival quietly.)

Visit Our Brewery Shop

The Humpty Dumpty Brewery shop is open daily from 15 March - 31 October from 12PM to 5PM.

Stocking a full range of our bottle-conditioned real ales, as well as selected ales from other British breweries, Broadland country wines, ciders and apple juice, honeys, chutneys and other products from local producers.  We also sell brewery souvenirs and sportswear.

The shop stocks a specialist selection of over 20 Belgian beers, including a large range of fruit beers and lambics.  We aim to stock beers you won't find in supermarkets, like Drei Fonteinen Doesjel Lambic, De Ranke XX, and Poperings Hommelbier.

We also sell draught beer in 4-pint jugs and 8-, 17- and 35-pint polypins.  Perfect for your holiday needs! Call the brewery in advance to pre-order if you have a particular request.  By arrangement, we may be able to meet you riverside at Reedham Quay.

Humpty Dumpty Brewery Shop

(01493) 701 818

We're next to Pettitts Animal Adventure Park in Reedham. Map.

Open Weekend, 24-25 November 2007

Humpty Dumpty Brewery will be hosting an open weekend this coming weekend, 24-25 November.  The recently redecorated brewery shop will be open from 12-5PM.

We'll be offering samples of all of our beers (we plan to have three of them on draught, including our Christmas beer, Christmas Crack).  We'll also have mulled Norfolk cider, hot drinks, soft drinks and nibbles (many from local producers, some of whom will be demonstrating their range during the weekend). 

The brewery itself will be open for walk-through tours guided by Head Brewer Craig Fermoy or one of the other partners. 

During the weekend you can place orders for Christmas polypins (available to collect as late as Christmas Eve) or for New Year.  We also are featuring three-packs and mixed cases of our bottle-conditioned real ales - they make perfect Christmas gifts for the real ale enthusiasts in your life. New this year is Winter Mixture, a 12-pack of our stronger beers, including our winter seasonals.   

A 10% discount will be offered on all Humpty Dumpty Brewery beers (bottled or draught) purchased over the weekend. 

We welcome all to come and meet the Humpty Dumpty Brewery team.  Children are welcome.  We're located next to Pettitts Animal Adventure Park on Church Road in Reedham (follow the brown signs).  For Satnav, our postcode is NR13 3TZ. (map)

Michael Jackson, RIP

We were saddened to learn of the death of legendary beer journalist Michael Jackson at the age of 65.

Jackson's work on Belgian beers, The Great Beers of Belgium, was an early influence on us, introducing us to the art of brewing (as well as the art of drinking great beers!). 

Craig and Steve met with Jackson at the 2001 GBBF at Olympia.  We had a chance to thank him in person for helping to show us the way.

We'll be raising a glass of real ale in celebration of the life of this dedicated advocate of beer.

High Season

April marks the beginning of the busy season here in Reedham.  Our neighbours at  Pettitts Animal Adventure Park re-open and the stream of Broadland holiday-makers goes from a trickle to a flood.  With the return of the visitors, we will be returning our shop to summer hours.  Starting March 31st, we will be open every day from 12-5PM, and you can usually find someone around the brewery weekday mornings as well. 

We have been increasing our shop stock to broaden our product mix.  We currently have a full range of our own beers in stock and are increasing our range of other East Anglian beers from brewers like Yetman's, Wagtail and Tipple's.  We'll also be stocking new beers from Dark Star in Sussex - we're big fans.

In addition to beers, ciders and country wines, we are also boosting our range of gourmet food products from East Anglian producers.  We enthusiastically endorse local foodways initiatives and encourage everyone to try these fine foodstuffs from small producers.  We'll be featuring tasters from these suppliers through the season. 

Come by the Humpty Dumpty Brewery shop. We welcome you to sample the beers before you buy.  Folllow the signs to Pettitts in Reedham.  We look forward to seeing you here!

Christmas Greetings

The entire Humpty Dumpty family wishes you and yours a very merry Christmas and a Humpty New Year.  The brewery will be open most days between now and New Year, although we will be closed Christmas and Boxing Day.  We will have regular hours on the 23rd; we might close a bit early on the 24th, but we'll be there from 12-3 at least. 

We hope you're enjoying a most festive season, made all the better with fine real ales from Humpty Dumpty Brewery.  We look forward to seeing you in the New Year, and we'll be sure to bring the beer.  We've just racked and bottled our Humpty Dumpty Porter (5.4%) and we'll have at least two new real ales coming in the next few months.

Open House Weekend

Several hundred people came out to see us at the brewery this past weekend, including local folks curious to see what was going on at the brewery, some Norfolk publicans eager to sample the wares and some dedicated CAMRA folk who'd come out for a little of both.

We were pleased to welcome our MP, Keith Simpson (pictured, second from left, with three of the brewery partners), who came by for a look around and to show his support for local business in the Broads. 

We had a couple of casks on tap, including our new Christmas beer, and were also splashing around tasters of our bottled ales as well as some mulled cider from the Norfolk Cider Company.  We also had some sausage rolls made with love by Moira Bowman with local sausage meat from our neighbours at the Norfolk Sausage Company.

It was a most enjoyable weekend and we thank all of those who came by for showing their support for our venture. 

Open Weekend

We've scheduled an open weekend at the brewery for 25-26 November.  We'll be opening up the brewery for tours (really just a walk-past - there's not that much to see), offering samples of our beers (including at least one cask ale) and serving some snacks. We'll also be able to offer polypins for take away on the day, or you can pre-order some beer for the Christmas season. 

This winter, we are keeping our shop open weekend afternoons and also during the week when the brewery is operating (it's best to call first during the week to avoid disappointment). 

So please make a note on your calendar to come see us either Saturday or Sunday afternoon.  We look forward to welcoming you to the Humpty Dumpty Brewery.

In the News

Humpty Dumpty Brewery had a nice feature in the Eastern Daily Press yesterday.  We also had a little article in the Norwich Evening News on Tuesday.