Today was a decidedly non-imperial day. Today officially started last night when the motor on the boiler fan burned out mid way through a brew. This brew is now probably inside about 1000 very contented pigs. This morning a Storeman in Droitwich overslept. I wouldn’t normally begrudge a Storeman from Droitwich a few extra hours kip every so often but the one in question was supposed to be at work early to give our boiler engineer the part he needed to fix the boiler. Our boiler engineer who should have got us up and running early this morning didn’t get to us until after lunch. As is customary in situations like this the job to change the badly-behaved part was not as straightforward as envisaged and as a result we have lost a total of three brewing slots. A fourth has been saved by the superb flexibility of my brewers who will probably not get home until tomorrow morning. I am also staying late writing this and keeping their spirits up by flogging them and shouting “work you b*****”. Tonight on account of having to help out with the brewing I am also missing the Sharp’s social event of the year, the marriage of Richard “Captain Cornwall” Coad (sales manager for Cornwall) to his first love Emma.
Losing three shifts isn’t in itself too much of a problem as all three can be recovered as extra shifts next week. The problem is it that it was next week that I had arranged to pop over to see the lovely monks at Orval. I have had to cancel that trip. If you read the Project Pater post you will know that I wasn’t really looking forward to that. The common theme of the last 6 years of my life has been that as soon as I plan to be away from the brewery for more than 6 hours, some twist of fate (volcanic dust cloud, business being sold, yeast throwing a wobbly, various bits of equipment spontaneously combusting etc, etc) will pull back on the reins which hold me there.
Looking on the bright side, the beer at today’s flavour panel is as good as I have known it, fermentations are consistent, brewhouse extracts are up, sales growth is still very strong, the sun is shining and it’s not me who’s getting married tonight!
4 comments:
Although I appreciate that you are a huge force at the brewery, I'd urge you to hand over the reins to your recently recruited brew buddy, and hit the road with Mr Tierney. Everyone wants you to do the trip, and not just so the shouting will stop for a few days.
Think again.
Thanks for the encouragement Zak but I have learned from bitter experience that when things get tight in terms of stock and brewing there is no substitute for 9 years experience. Beleive me I would if I could.
No sacrifice - no victory
Perhaps this will cheer you up a little, the Chestnut Porter went down a storm during a tasting last week - everyone loved that toasty aroma and dry finish, shellfish to be sampled shortly with some buddies and the Connoisseur range is being drunk by me, possibly in a darkened room!
Marvellous news Melissa. Well suggested!
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