Strong Island can now proudly present it’s own beer!  As a result of our home brew competition hosted back at the start of 2011 which was won by Simon Vasey and Paul Hawkins with ‘Island Hopper’, Irving & Co Brewers have now reproduced the recipe.

The ale went on sale on the 12th April 2011 and is already in various Southsea establishments including The Belle Isle, Porters, The Leopold and Little Johnny Russells as well as other venues very soon. The Belle Isle sold a whole barrel on it’s launch night and if the ale continues to sell well there is an opportunity it will become a regular brew so any support is welcomed, plus we know how popular beer is around here so it shouldn’t be a problem!

So how did this happen I here you ask! Well. In February of 2011 Strong Island held it’s very first annual Home Brew Competition at The Little Johnny Russells on Albert Road. The number of entrants was low, the quality on the other hand was extremely high.  If we’re honest when we set up this little competition we didn’t quite know what to expect from it.  Would it be a shambles and nobody turn up or even enter?  Would it be out of control and way to busy for it’s own good?  No, in fact it was an extremely pleasant middle point of the two.

5 entries in total, 2 from the same team and one entered completely last minute by Jim who had a brew at home and kind of stumbled over the comp by a planned accident, but let us tell you the quality was high.  Lining up alongside Malcolm Irving (all round brewing guru and boss of Irving & Co. Brewery) and Stuart Ainsworth (Landlord of the Leoplold Tavern and all round beer expert) was Ben Mills (Strong Island) who felt a little bit of a novice on the panel, however he does have 8 years experience in the industry so he’s not too much of an amateur.

First up was a Porter brewed up by a first timer.  Lovely taste, great dark colouring and a most excellently presented bottle and label.  Clarity was hard to judge with it being a Porter however a nice chocolate aroma as well as coffee hit you as soon as the lid was removed.  This entry finished 3rd however he can feel desperately unlucky as it was a great effort and in my opinion the best presented entry.  Next up were the 2 entries from the Bad Manners Brewers from Southsea.  First off was BPA, a lovely light golden colour with a potent fruity aroma.  This was followed by Island Hopper, a slighty darker colouring than the BPA but again with a very fruity aroma this was a wonderfully smooth ale and for me was the best all round.  The only entrant into the Specified Brew category was Cannon Barrel and was also the effort of a first time brewer.  Clarity wasn’t all together up to scratch but taste was good and he brought it all in with a fantastic label design.  It was a real eye catcher.  The last was the Jolly Jaunt Ginger Beer.  WOW!  What an explosive taste this drop had!  A little heavy on the ginger for me personally but let’s not take anything away from it.  A nice kick thanks to the green chillis involved in this brew, an impressive and refreshing taste.  It was so good I caught Paul on more than one occasion dashing for a refill! In my opinion and also that of the other judges, it was better than other commercially available ginger beers (not naming names). Again desperately unlucky not to have claimed a prize.

Well done to the Bad Manners boys who produced 2 top notch ales but equally so to all the other entrants who made the 1st Annual event one to remember. Also we had the news from Malcolm that he intends to brew the winning ale for distribution.  Amazing stuff, a Strong Island ale coming soon to a pub near you!

This is an event that we at Strong Island hope is to grow and grow over the next few years and see some more excellent ales and beers being produced.  Remember it’s open to anyone and everyone so next time get involved!

1st Place Unrestricted – Island Hopper by Simon Vasey & Paul Hawkins
2nd Place Unrestricted – Belchers Pale Ale by Simon Vasey & Paul Hawkins
3rd Place Unrestricted – Nosey Porter by Martin Hoy

1st Place Specified – Canon Barrel by Phil Bennett

Best in Show – Island Hopper by Simon Vasey & Paul Hawkins

Judges Recommendation – Jim’s Last Minute Jolly Jaunt Ginger Beer by Jim Culverwell

Photos: Matt Saxey

Photos: Tristan Savage

Poster Design: Tristan Savage

PRIMARY – Extended & Improved

We have some great news about our PRIMARY phonography exhibition (find out all the details here) that we can now announce:

- The deadline for submissions has now been extended to Sunday 4th March. We have had some incredible submissions but want to set aside more time to make the exhibition something really special.

- The competition is now open to up to 10 submissions from each individual. With the ability to capture many photos on your phone over the next two months we we want you to not feel restricted to just three. The same rules apply about the photos conforming to compositions using the primary colours though. If you have already submitted feel free to send more photos over as and when you please.

- The exhibition will be hosted by Albert Road’s own Bonzo Studio who are also partnering up with us in the creation of the exhibition space. More news on this soon!

- Finally, we will be running a competition as part of the exhibition where the best three photos submitted will win some incredible prizes. We will be announcing the prizes available very soon but got to say, these will be the best prize haul we have ever offered.

- We will be putting together a poster for the exhibition that will be on sale on the opening night. The poster will feature some of the best submissions and all profits from the sales will go to a local charity (details to follow soon). Due to this we need to say that any photos submitted to PRIMARY will involve you giving us permission to use them for commercial purposes, if you do not want your photo used in this way simply let us know via email.

Well, that is it for now! We really hope to drum up as much coverage locally for PRIMARY in the next couple of months so if you could Facebook/Tweet/+1 about the exhibition we would really appreciate it. We would love this exhibition to be a real reflection of the whole population of Portsmouth with everyone taking part and feeling involved.

It’s going to be a Strong Movember – Closed at £725

Righto chaps, it’s time to clean shave your boat race and get that mighty moustache on the grow in support of Movember for The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Institute of Cancer Research. For 30 days of November you can help support and raise awareness through selflessly parading your top lip for charity.

You can sign up yourself, as I’m sure many of you already have, or you can join the Strong Island team and seek out sponsorship as a team. Through the Strong Island Movember page you can ask people to join the group, make donations, upload photos and post updates via the MoSpace page, Facebook and Twitter.

Head over to www.mobro.co/StrongIsland if you would like to get involved and grow a Strong Moustache to help raise awareness, or simply head over to www.uk.movember.com and sign up to personally raise money.

The funds raised in the UK support the number one and two male specific cancers – prostate and testicular cancer. The funds raised are directed to programmes run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together, these channels work together to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programmes in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.

Poster: Tristan Savage