December Newsletter

Curiosity, Candour & Charm. 

As you probably noticed, we had a bit of subterfuge with our November release this year. With all of you expecting Caribbean Chocolate Cake to drop last Friday, we introduced a brand new series of bean themed collabs to the world - Curiosity, Candour and Charm. 

Each beer focusses on a different bean, Vanilla, Cacao and Coffee, and has been brewed in collaboration with three of our favourite breweries - Garage Project, Cycle Brewing and Omnipollo. We’ve pushed our stout making processes to the limit, even doing 16.5 hour overnight boils. The results, however, are worth it. Each of these beers brings something completely unique to the table, along with bags and bags of character and flavour. 

If you’d like to know more about the story, process and taste of each of these beers then check out the page linked below, which contains 3 tasting videos. Or, skip straight to it and grab the beers at the link below, whilst you still can! 

https://www.sirencraftbrew.com/beers/curiosity-charm-candour

Advent Calendars

For the 3rd year running, our ever popular advent calendars are once again now all in your possession. Things started strongly, and we had some great feedback from people finding our Fierce Beer collab, Destination Unknown, behind door 1. We don’t think there’ll be many other beer advent calendars out there kicking the month off with a 9% Cranachan Wee Heavy, but we don’t do things as standard. 

All we’ll say is, you’re in for a great month and Christmas Eve can’t come soon enough. Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered with us.

Time Hops - Nomination at the British Guild of Beer Writers

This month, representatives from our Marketing Team, Andy & Tim, ventured out to the annual Beer Guild Writer’s Awards in London. Alongside CAMRA, and Untold Agency, we were nominated for a Corporate Communication Award for our Time Hops campaign. 

At the end of the day, it’s all about the beer. But, we’ve always put a high prominence in the story behind the beer. In Time Hops, it was all about the hops that made this industry, and the beers that served as a vehicle for those hops, all around the world. Whilst we loved drinking our 4 tributes to those early pioneers, and loved how much you enjoyed them, for us it was important to give those beers a voice. 

We were proud of the campaign, and delighted to reach so many people via a number of different mediums. On the day, we lost out to Untold Agency, who put together a truly stunning piece of work promoting Budvar.

However, we’re immensely proud to have been nominated, and to attend such an inspiring event full of so many incredible people that make the lifeblood of the scene. 

A huge personal congrats to our neighbour and friend, Andy Parker, who won Brewer of the Year and our Time Hops collaborating partners, Johnny and Brad from the Craft Beer Channel who cleaned up with a number of awards. 

Sportsball 

Who’s going to step up and knock “Chewwie” off the top spot? “Nickel Nater” is just 2 points behind in a close second. If you don’t know what on earth we’re talking about, then you need to play our new Sportsball game! 

With Sportsball, we’re giving you several chances to win free beer for a year! Yes, Free beer…. For a year. 

The first method is to play the game. There are a range of delicious Siren beers raining from the sky that you need to catch in your ice bucket… be on the lookout for the macro lagers though, which are minus points! There’s a bunch of great prizes up for grabs, including, if we didn’t mention already - free beer for a year. 

Also, if you’re buying the Sportsball beer, be on the lookout for Sportsball Shiny labels! There are a few out there in the wild to find, from bottleshops to advent calendars to webshop orders… find one, get in touch and win. And yes, the top prize is…. Free beer for a year. 

Suspended in Pubs - Olaf’s Tun

This month, as part of our series of great places to enjoy our beer, we’re taking a look at Olaf’s Tun, down in Southampton. 

Like a previous focus, The Ten Tun Tap House in Alton, Olaf’s Tun opened just before the start of covid lockdowns, in February 2020. They were also able to adjust quickly and make a shift towards websales and online deliveries, but have gone from strength to strength since. 

Like any good beer bar, community and inclusivity is at the heart of what Olaf’s Tun do. From ventures like “Olaf’s Tun on Tour” (pictured below), in which locals head out to try the fares of other local establishments, to their brand new running club, it’s all about engagement and providing a warm and welcoming environment to enjoy great beer. 

Check out the running club here.

Olaf’s have been an amazing ally for us, regularly stocking a host of our beers, as well as being champions for the craft beer scene as a whole. Andy, in our sales team, makes regular visits, heading in to enjoy Suspended on Cask. 

The venue also stocks our big releases, having had Time Hops earlier in the year. If you’re heading in soon, look out for CCC - Candour is on keg, whilst you’ll be able to enjoy Curiosity and Charm in cans. 

Having already picked up awards, such as the CAMRA pub of the year for the Wessex region, Olaf’s Tun is definitely a venue not to be missed. 

Follow Olafs tun on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

New Kitchen for the George & Dragon

Lastly, our country pub, the George & Dragon, had a brand new kitchen fitted recently. A huge thank you for those who visited during this time for bearing with us during the disruption. 

We want to extend a huge thank you to Sprint who have supplied and installed our kitchen to an amazing standard, offering fantastic guidance and advice along the way. Their experience delivering kitchen projects for the likes of The Ivy Group, Hawksmoor and Coppa Club has brought a wealth of valuable experience to the project.

We’re celebrating we a re-designed a la carte menu, available now.

Christmas Gifts

As the calendar page has turned (along with the weather it seems), now is a good time to start looking for those all important Christmas gifts. Or, a nice warm hat to get you through the cold snap. We’ve got a range of brand new beanie hats available, check them out here.

If you’re looking for a decent Secret Santa option, or a nice little gift for the beer lover in your life, check out our Beer Crackers. Each cracker comes with a nice surprise of 3 x 330ml beers. Fun, festive and full of flavour. Fantastic. 

We also have a complete range of easy craft beer christmas mixed cases available. If you’re not sure what to get, this takes the hassle out of it. There’s a mixed case to suit everyone’s likes and budgets, from stouts to IPAs and everything in between, including “Wheat Free Kings”, a Gluten Free only box. You can see them here.

Coming Up…

This weekend, Christmas well and truly comes to the Tap Yard! For starters, we’ll have an amazing mini market, which brings the perfect opportunity to get some independently made beautiful Christmas gifts. We’ll also have a petting zoo, and Santa’s grotto! Not to mention, plenty of beer themed gifts and of course… all the brand new CCC range to buy. There’s no booking necessary, and the market runs from 12 - 6, but we’re open until 10. 

If you’re in the Christmas spirit, then don’t forget to book a Christmas Dinner at the George & Dragon. The menu is now live, so check it out here and make sure you book soon to avoid missing out!