We’re sorry for our radio silence. The thing is – we announced our new upstairs venue: the Docks Academy. This news took over and our November update never happened. We were too busy telling you that the Academy opens in March, and the first act to perform in the space will be Grimsby’s favourite comedian, Lloyd Griffith – followed by Tom Stade. We announced three dates of Lloyd’s national tour. Tickets for all three nights promptly sold out in three hours. We released another date and it sold out in 17 minutes! If you missed out on tickets there’s exclusive news for Docks Beers update subscribers about Lloyd Griffith. Read on to find out more. Oh, and if you hang on in there, you might even find an exclusive Black friday code too.
If that wasn’t enough November excitement the brewery was turned into a TV studio by BBC News Look North. Peter Levy was in da house. The week before, Sky News visited us. Mark Austin recorded an interview in the taproom and then used our brewery office for a few hours to edit his Path To Power report. We made sure he left with some Docks Beers. And by the time you read this, ITV will have recorded in the taproom too. It just goes to show – you can wait ages for a major TV network to come along, then three come along at once.
Wanna know about December? Then dear reader, onwards.
Our new venue above our Grimsby brewery and taproom will be known as the ‘Docks Academy’ and it will open with the first of five Lloyd Griffith gigs on March 4th, 2020. We have launched a website www.docksacademy.com and social media channels using the handle @docksacademy. Make sure you sign up to the Docks Academy update on the home page.
A brilliant Sheffield based social enterprise called the Key Fund helped us secure funding and a loan to make this happen. Key Fund has been selected to distribute the Northern Cultural Regeneration Fund (created by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to creative organisations that provide a meaningful social impact in their local communities. This vital money will enable us to start major works in December. It’s the beginning of an exciting chapter for Docks Beers and the first floor of our fantastic building. We will offer a diverse programme including live music, theatre, comedy, dance, lectures, workshops and exhibitions. As well as being a grassroots music and comedy venue, we aim to bring big artists and acts to Grimsby and we are already booking in some exciting names for 2020, including Lloyd Griffith and Tom Stade. Our first music acts will be announced soon. It is also a significant step for our business – we will create more jobs and associate the Docks Beers brand with great culture and performance. We are grateful to the Key Fund who are investing in us because of the scheme’s social impact. They could see that the Docks Academy will increase our community’s access to culture and bring high calibre performers from across the arts to our area.
We didn’t come this far, to only come this far!
To celebrate our recent first birthday we treated ourselves to two new fermentation tanks which increase our capacity by 50%. The tanks have now been installed. They allow us to increase our weekly brewing capacity from 10,000L to 15,000L, an additional 8,800 pints!
As we mentioned in the intro, later in December we will be releasing an extra Lloyd Griffith date.
All we can say is make sure you’re ready to go to www.docksacademy.com on Thursday 12th December at 10am and you should be first in the queue.
As the sun set on Friday 21st November (just as our drawing workshop Docks N Doodles got going) the BBC Look North team were set up in our brewery and ready to LIVE broadcast the 6:30 evening news from Grimsby for the first time ever!
What an honour it was to be chosen as the place for it all to happen. Unusually (and to our delight) the program took as its main theme the positive stuff happening in our great town. And you can be assured Shaz waxed lyrical about all the good stuff. We ask you all, let’s keep taking these small steps to turn the negative about Grimsby into the positive. Let’s sell the good points, we have so many, especially the people, all of you! To everyone who has continued to support us – this isn’t just about beer, this is about community. Making the place we call home a happier, stronger and healthier place to live. Let’s keep on supporting each other, and anything can happen!
Last month we launched Wind Power (our 3.5% session India Pale Ale) in 440ml can. The striking green and white can design features offshore wind turbines, a wind farm engineer and the Orsted Edda Mistral ship. It has been brought to life by the talented Kirk Arnold at our design agency Sourcefour in Aylesby. This beer is unashamedly inspired by the offshore wind industry which is reshaping our Town and has underpinned a bright future for our docks.
Our collab with Salt Beer Factory ‘Bowline’ was also launched in can. This 6.3% East India Porter has garnered several excellent reviews from Beer Vloggers so be sure to try it. Both beers can be found in our taproom shop and online.
As well as the new cans we have a brand new style beanie hat in – just in time for Christmas.
If you are one of the 2000 fans lucky enough to be seeing Bastille at the Grimsby Auditorium on Wednesday 4th December your night just got even better.
The Docks Beers mobile bar will be at the Auditorium for this gig and our black ops team will be pouring beer from when doors open at 7 till the close at 10pm. What better accompaniment to this fab band could there be than a pint or two of your favourite Docks Beers. Bring it on.
Those of you who frequent our taproom will know the ever effervescent Bridie who has been working with us behind the bar and in sales since April.
She has been a tour de force in the brewery – often appearing on our social media and lighting up the taproom. She is setting off for new challenges as a Ski concierge in Switzerland. We want to thank Bridie for all her hard work and to wish her all the best in Verbier. Watch out for a Docks beanie flying down the Swiss pistes. It’s more than likely to be our girl.
On Fri 6/Sat 7 December Tredici Woodfired Pizza are back! Our original streetfood vendor returns with their awesome woodfired pizzas.
Fri 13 – Sun 15 December sees the return of Little Urban BBQ who absolutely smashed it last time they were here at Docks Beers. Once again they will be serving up Texas style BBQ cooked and served from a unique wood clad 1969 Horsebox and custom built smoker.
To cap things off from Wed 18 Dec to Wed 1 Jan 2020 we have Slap & Pickle coming for a two week Christmas extravaganza. They are taking over our streetfood for a two week pop up. 13 days of burgers, beers and Christmas vibes. Don’t say we don’t spoil you! Keep an eye on our social media for serving times.
On Wed 11 December we are launching Risky Biscuitness – a banging new 5.2% collab beer we brewed with our pals from Vocation here at Docks Beers. Come and try it on its world premier! We will be pouring from midday.
When Docks Beers and Vocation came together we knew one thing was certain… There’s a time for brewing it safe, and a time for Risky Biscuitness. This malty monster; packed with biscuity notes is so good you’ll want to dance in your underwear. *Dunking not advised.
Risky Biscuitness is a hoppy biscuit brown ale with bags of malty character from brown and red dark malts, and a hoppy punch of tangerine and grapefruit citrus flavours.
If you have been hiding under a rock you should know that Vocation is a world-class brewery based in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. They specialise in modern, hop-forward beers with bold and distinctive flavours.
Dark nights and wet roads, the British winter has arrived, struggling to get your bike fix?
Head over to Docks Beers for a meet and greet with Craig Keyworth to talk all things 2 wheels ahead of his entry into the 2020 Dakar Rally. Craig will be here from 6pm to 9pm to answer questions and talk about his events past, present and future. Parked up in our brewery will be Craig’s 2019 Husqvarna rally bike (His 2020 has already been shipped to Jeddah in preparation for the Dakar start in January) as well as his BMW GS Trophy GS1200 Mongolia bike. He will be regaling us with stories and anecdotes from his qualification events, his Malle Moto win in the 2018 Rally Du Maroc and some opportunities to get involved in his forthcoming Dakar with Team Adventure Tech in January.
Fri 20 December 6.45pm – 11pm: Scribble Victory
Two voices, an acoustic guitar, bits and bobs from a drum kit and a whole heap of enthusiasm. Following their hugely popular appearance at Docktoberfest, Scribble Victory are back to ramp up the festive spirit with a free gig at Docks Beers. They play from 6.45pm on Friday 20th December.
Sat 21 December 7pm – 10pm: Eden-Rae
The sublime Eden-Rae will be here making her Docks Beers live debut with a blend of her original tracks and covers of songs from the 1950s up until the present day. Eden-Rae is a specialist acoustic/electric/looper musician. She recently performed on BBC Introducing and has supported UB40, All Saints, Right Said Fred, Rebecca Ferguson & Tom Hingley . She also hosts Bobbin Sundays.
It’s the most wonderful time for a beer. So to help you get in the festive spirit we are opening the taproom and shop every day until Christmas Day from Wednesday 11th December.
Yes that’s EVERY SINGLE DAY, including Mondays and Tuesdays! We’re closed Christmas Day but reopen on Boxing Day and all the way through to New Year’s Day and beyond. See social media for opening hours or click below.
That’s it for this year folks. From all of us here at Docks Beers we want to wish you and your family a very Merry and restful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Catch you in 2020! We will leave you to ponder the words of Frank Zappa. Peace out.
“You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline – it helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but in the very least you need a beer.”– Frank Zappa
