Get It While You Can

On that crisp December day when I pottered down to Devils Backbone to see the culmination of months of researching, chatting with brewing contacts back in Prague, looking at malt specifications from the Czech Republic and Germany, and discussing all things tmavé with anyone daft enough to listen to me, I felt an immense sense of satisfaction that the beer Jason and I had discussed when brewing the Pilsner was finally coming to life.

When February 1st eventually arrived, and Morana had lain for nearly 45 days in the lagering tanks, that first pint was a revelation. Jason had masterfully realised my vision of a faithful Czech style dark lager, one that is neither dunkel nor schwarzbier. Every pint I have had in the 15 days since then has been an absolute delight, so enjoyable in fact that I keep forgetting to write notes or take pictures.

On Monday, Jason sent me an email to let me know that in 2 weeks, they had sold half the batch - which equated to about 4.5 hectolitres, or 900 half litres of beer. 900 half litres in 14 days, 64 pints a day. As I was in the area yesterday, really a 25 minute detour counts as being "in the area", I popped in to re-fill a growler and have a couple of pints. In the hour or so I was sat at the bar, at least two more growlers were filled with Morana, and several people had pints.

The moral of this tale is simply this. Get to Devils Backbone before it is gone. I would say you have about ten days.