Fendog’s Failed Worldwide Brewery Tour
Well as is a very common story in my life, my recent travels promised much but delivered little in the world of beer. I had planned to visit the White Bull Brewery in Juba during my trip to South Sudan for work, and then on to Moody’s Brewery in Jerusalem where I was running the marathon.
The excellent news emerged when I arrived that one of my colleagues has a son who is quite senior in the brewery, so I made plans for a visit with him. Sadly, work kept on getting in the way of my critical brewery trip. When I finally made it up there the day before I left the country the head brewer got wind of my visit. Unable to brew for the past two weeks owing to a an absence of malt he was not in the mood for charity, so he forbade his staff from showing me around.
His mood was understandable. The White Bull brewery, which was established in 2009 after an investment of $37 million by the prolific SAB Miller, is an 8,000 litre plant. They brew thirty times a week. Therefore because of a courier screw up they have lost a million bottles of beer. He didn’t want some cheap Brit to witness his brewery short of its usual glory.
But other than that the brewery goes from strength to strength. They plan to open an additional plant in the coming months. The quality of White Bull has improved greatly in the last three years I have had the chance to try it. Whether in time it will come to rival regional giants such as Tusker and White Nile time will tell.
The other failure of my trip to South Sudan was honey related. Trenchfoot has been on at me tapping into some honey supply ever since my annihilation of him in the mead taste-off. He’s probably desperate to create something sickly sweet yet again like last time, though probably this time will have to throw in some cranberries or something to make it even more girly.
Anyway, recently we have both agreed that a braggot was an ale we should add to our repertoire but have been put off by our inability to source three kilos of decent honey with room left in our wallets to pay the month’s bills and put food on the table. I was delighted when my Ugandan colleague spoke of heading up country and bringing back five kilos of honey. I asked if she could bring five kilos back for me too.
Trenchfoot and I began to get excited about a large quantity of quality honey from the wilds of South Sudan. Anyway, our plans were derailed by a UN pilot who refused to take the twenty litre jerry can of honey my colleague had bought. I guess the aircraft was already fully laden with his luggage for his monthly stint of a fortnight of R and R. The honey’s overland journey was too slow to reach me in time for my departure.
The final failure came in Jerusalem. Trenchfoot suggested I pay a visit to Moody’s, who promise their ‘beers are bold in character and flavor, blending the traditions of Europe with New-age American trends with the occasional Israeli shuk.’ Anyway, I contacted the brewery twice, but never heard back, and wasn’t able to find an address otherwise I’d have swung by.
The Israeli leg of my trip was not a complete failure however, as I was able to ‘enjoy’ an Israeli ale at lunch after my marathon efforts. The Dancing Camel American-Styled Pale Ale represented the sweet maltiness of its style, and the website informs us it is brewed with date honey. I’m not sure I drank any more than there is in this picture though.
Here’s to hoping Trenchfoot’s trip to New York for his sister’s wedding is more fruitful than my recent travels!