Bulls Up - Another Brew Next Year?

Well, it had to be done didn't it? A beer festival in Hereford that featured the special Bulls Up ale that had been specially brewed to commemorate the promotion back to the League was too good to miss. Over 100 different real ales from all over the country were there for the drinkers delight and Bulls Up was the first to sell out. The beer is a 4.5% ABV full tasting dark ale that was very easy to drink and it was particularly interesting to talk to Wye Valley Brewery owner Peter Amor about how the brew came about. Firstly, I asked Peter if he or any of his family were Bulls fans.

"Well actually none of us are fans but there are a good number of solid supporters among the staff and they were pleased to be involved with the project and, of course, we are keen to support the local team. We had the Play-off final on the big screen in The Barrels and the place was heaving - it was a great day for everyone in Hereford. Shortly afterwards I was approached by Mark Haslam from the local CAMRA branch to brew a special beer for this festival and he suggested that that it should dedicated to the Bulls promotion. Now, very often a brewer will simply blend a couple of beers to come up with something new and in fact, we did consider blending our Wholesome Stout with Butty Bach but eventually decided to come up with the new product which is Bulls Up.

"We have brewed enough to supply 80 nine gallon casks and they will be on sale at several Wye Valley outlets throughout the county including, of course, The Barrels and I understand the festival at Wellington over the weekend of 21st/23rd of July."

I asked Peter if there were any plans to repeat the brew. "We would love to celebrate promotion to League 1 and will certainly be keeping an eye on the clubs progress. Lets hope next years 'Beer on the Wye' festival will see another Bulls Up brew."

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