Last month we finally got to showcase our stout to the public at our launch night held at Picturedrome, Macclesfield.
For many years I've dreamed of brewing a mussel stout and on the day we closed for the second lockdown back in December 2020 I mentioned it to my friend Sam, who is also a self taught beer connoisseur, and he believed it could work too so we set off on a mission to get mussels in stout.
I mentioned to Sam that I wanted a stout that was easy drinking, more like Guinness rather than the usual heavy stouts that you can only drink half of that you get in your bottle shops and craft boozers, quite a low ABV and of course, have mussels in it!
First stop, was the shop! We bought a lot of different varieties of stout to try and see where we wanted to go, what mouthfeel we wanted, did we want it carbonated, sweet, salty, chocolaty, the list went on and so did the night!
We also managed to track down a man who was renowned for his stouts, Sean from Tom's Tap and Brewhouse in Crewe, who kindly let us take some of his brew, boil some mussels in it and ferment.
When we got the first test brew back we were well impressed with the the stout, the mussels had completely changed the flavour, it was incredible but it still wasn't right, some tweaks were needed to make it the best stout, OK will never do!
When the recipe was right we gave the go ahead to get a full brew on, 350 litres of stout in the making with 7 kilos of mussels cooked through it, we needed to get the word out so a launch night seemed the perfect option with a meal of steamed mussels, Bread and fries to enjoy the stout with.
The turnout and feedback was better than we could have ever imagined.
Myself and Sam gave a little introduction to the night and how we came to brew the stout whilst we were all enjoying a glass. This was the first time the public had tried our stout and when they were seated, they were showcased with our cans, designed by our friend Jez.
The cans are our pride and joy, the quality of the design, colour and texture of the label is exactly what we wanted, eye-catching, says what it is and shows our love for Mussels, Stout & Music! (Theres a Spotify code on the can for the Mussel Stout Playlist so you can enjoy some decent tunes too!)
Take a look at our photo gallery below.
Thanks to everyone that came to the launch and thanks to everyone that has already bought a pint or a can. Keep an eye out on social media where you can buy our stout from, head to our website shop or visit us in Macclesfield at Picturedrome.
Special thanks to Sam, Sean, Rob and Jez for helping bring it all together, lets get the next batch on!