Since I first brewed Six Hop, about 4 years ago, it has proven to be a runaway success in cask, selling out before it’s even fermented.

So, pestering the rest of the team at Dark Star and pulling on the shirt sleeves of the MD like a little child, whining till I got my way – we can now offer, what will hopefully be the first in a series of bottled beers from our monthly specials. This will mean we can get some of our extra special beers to a wider audience.

For those of you who haven’t had the beer, it’s a 6.5% beast in the vein of American IPA’s, copper in colour, with a serious amount of malt and hopped to buggery with Cascade, Citra, Centennial, Simcoe, Columbus and Amarillo. There are 4 kettle hop additions, a massive whirlpool addition and an even bigger dry hop addition after fermentation, stretching the hoptimiser to it’s limits.

The beer was sent down to be bottled by the excellent team at Bath Ales. I picked these guys because of their fantastic bottling set up, quality control and general all round attention to detail. The beer has been filtered but not pasteurised, thereby giving stability but preserving as much hop aroma as possible.

I took a few samples off the bottling line and am really pleased with how it’s come out – it’s fresh tasting whilst maintaining the complexity of the cask version. The cases will be in stock at the brewery as of today – I hope you like it!

Dark Star Brew Co. and The Kinesis Morvélo Project (The KMP) are pleased to announce the launch of this brand new event. Dark Star are long term sponsors of The KMP and this joint cycle team between Kinesis Bikes UK and Morvélo Bicycle Apparel embodies the thrill of racing without taking life too seriously. So we decided that we should combine forces again to bring together all those that love to ride, race, drink and eat. All under one roof.

3pm – Spin Up In A Brewery starts

Upon arrival and as part of your entry fee, you will be given a free pint of Dark Star. This will be a special beer brewed exclusively for the event! There will be secure bike parking if you have cycled over and plenty of car parking if you have driven. Although we might have to have some sort of roller race forfeit for all those drivers!
Roller Racing

Then you’ll be encouraged to step-up and have a go at some roller racing – brought to you by South Coast Sprints. If you’re not sure what this is check out the photos and videos from last years Rolla Riot. Not matter how fit or unfit you are, it’s addictive and there will be impromptu competitions and prizes going on throughout the day. Also their will be some kids bike so all those from 10 yrs old and up will get a chance to race. A Top Gear style leaderboard for both adults and children will show who has bragging rights.

BBQ, Beers and Bike Stuff

In between thrashing your mates at roller racing there will be a delicious BBQ going all day with fresh, local ingredients cooked up by the local Dark Star pub. It wouldn’t be a proper trip to a brewery if there wasn’t a fine selection of award winning ales for you to try and buy, so good job there is. There will also be a range of soft drinks and wine if for some crazy reason beer isn’t to your tastes. Morvélo Bicycle Apparel will be showing off their latest range and will be offering an exclusive 20% discount to everyone. Also showing off their products will be Kinesis Bikes UK (who are based just next door to the brewery) and some of the other great sponsors of The Kinesis Morvélo Project such as Lezyne, Reynolds, Xfusion, Green Oil and Clif Bar, so there will be plenty to see and do.

The Finals

This is where the fastest 8 riders will race head to head in an eliminator to see who becomes the champ. Of course the best part of this is the heckling. Ahem, we mean supporting. Seeing people pedal as fast as they can whilst you shout as much as you can is a sport in its own right.

8pm – Finish

All good things must come to an end. But not necessarily right now. If you want to keep the party going then there will be discounts available for food and drink in the local Dark Star pub around the corner. Alternatively you could ride back home as it will be fairly light still or for those that have over indulged there will be a coach back to the Evening Star in Brighton.

Surely Saturday’s don’t get much better than that.

Tickets £5 in advance go to www.spinupinabrewery.com