Wishbone Brewery – Keighley, Yorkshire, UK

Here goes another honesty-bomb!

Ok so it doesn’t feel as doom and gloom as March 2024 but with the last 3 months of 2024 showing a month on month downturn and what feels like our worst January, it’s not our worst January as that was in 2021 but as with everyone out there all our major costs have gone up so the money we get to keep goes down and down.

This week is a weird one as I have no money to chase from customers, that doesn’t mean we aren’t owed money but it does mean there have been feck all sales in January!

It’s so obvious that people don’t have the money to spend when you compare our brewery bar takings over the last few years in January:
Jan 2023 – £2264
Jan 2024 – £1586
Jan 2025 – £1236
Take off the costs of a portable loo, the beers, electric, water and staff from all that and there’s not much left other than the goodwill of our amazing supporters.

Are we all thinking, is it really worth it trying to run a nice little business?

It makes us wonder if this is the cycle we are now stuck in, we get close to the bone, we tell people of the reality, people get us over the hump, and we make just enough until next year and rinse and repeat! This isn’t how life should work!

What we see is the beers getting most traction are from the breweries with the ability to charge less because they have the economy of scale. We repeatedly try to design recipes that we could charge less for and each time we find they end up costing the same as our Blonde beers to produce meaning the only way to produce a cheaper beer without screwing over our beer-ethics is the cut our already tight margin, look out for the first of these beers with ‘Hey Bert 3.9% Jarrylo Pale’.

If you are able, please support your small brewers and small businesses.

And we all lived happily ever after, NOT!

We’ll be open for Pints on Saturday 25th January, 12 til 7pm.

There will be the usual 6x Handpulled and 4x Keg beers on the bar, food will be from Kang’s Punjabi Box with some hearty authentic curry and rice to warm people up!

All the usual things apply, we are family and dog friendly please keep kids under control and dogs out of the brewing area. We have sloped and level access but our toilet facilities may not be suitable for those less able.

See you all on the 25th, Cheers

Hello there I’m ok, how are you? 😉

It’s that time of year again where we look at all last year’s costs and try to balance our operating costs to the price of beer. I’ll bullet point things below, all for fairness & transparency:

We will be saving money on the following!

• Malt – Malted barley, Wheat & Oats etc all came down in price, up-to £101 per Ton better, I immediately started costing up recipes to see where we could save you some money.
• Hops – We updated all hop costs to current supply contracts or Spot-buy prices, supply and prices seem more stable these last few years so rather than using the worst-possible hop prices because supply could have come from one of four different suppliers. This, with malt means we are even more accurate on beer prices.
• Diesel – Delivery Costs, we hedged our bets through the last couple of years while fuel prices were quite volatile, we spent a little less than expected on fuel in 2024 and prices look to be more stable now so I’m happy to use real-world spend on Fuel costs.
• Cleaning Chemicals – We shopped around when we found that the old supplier was vastly ripping us off, found a cheaper price.
• Insurance – The old Insurance broker was being a bit slack and never giving us fair time to shop around at the renewal dates, swapped to a local broker and saved money on all insurance, brewery, buildings & Van.

That’s the good stuff done! Now for all the cost increases.

• Water and Trade Effluent – What we’ll be paying is over double going forward.
• Business Rates – I think the relief stops this year so I expect that to go up.
• Electricity – This is now about double what we paid a year or so ago.
• Rent – We now have less space and get charged more money than the rent we fixed on our lease 10 years ago.
• Wages – The entire wage bill has gone up and National Insurance and Pension costs along with it.

The conclusion.

Overall there isn’t going to be much change to beer prices this year, costs balanced, some things will go up a little, some stay the same and the occasional one will come down, definitely nothing unaffordable. We will be rolling out these price tweaks Friday 11th / Monday 13th.

Thanks very much for supporting us through 2024, I hope we can be one of your breweries of choice through 2025, your orders are very much appreciated. Cheers 🙂

Lets have a recap of what’s been brewed recently…

Rakau Random 4% – Fined & Clear – Rakau is a hop from New Zealand, tasting very soft, rounded fruit with a hint of dankness and diesel, it’s really nicely different. I always appreciate a hop that brings new flavours to the party, definitely one to try. Dry Hopped. Available in Cask, Firkins and Pins.

Indigo Warbler Bitter 3.7% – Fined and Clear – Our homage to those lovely lake district pints of Coniston Bluebird Bitter, brewed with traditional Maris Otter malt, a little Crystal malt and all British-grown Challenger hops. Its traditional in the best possible way. Available in Cask, Firkins and Pins.

Hazeer Pin IPA 5% – Unfined, Vegan & Hazy – The big brother or sister of our best selling Tiller Pin, this beer has more of everything that makes Tiller Pin such a lovely beer, more Citra, more Chinook, more Cascade hops, more dry hopping, then we use the Verdant yeast strain for maximum haze and some extra fruity yeast-derived flavours. Available in Cask & Keykeg.

Blanc Stare 4.1% Pale – Fined & Clear – A easy drinking pale hopped with German Hallertau Blanc and New Zealand Nelson Sauvin. Available to order now in Cask, Firkins and Pins.

Gaggle Lager 4.6% – Unfined & Vegan – We did a collab brew with The Fox & Goose in Hebden bridge, we used Polish Lubelski (Related to Czech Saaz) and a little Slovenian Bobek, fermented with a fruity german Lager yeast this beer has spicy herbal notes and a crisp finish. Available to order pints at the Fox & Goose and of course 30 litre Keykegs from us direct from the brewery.

Guji Session IPA 4% – Unfined, Vegan and Hazy – Brewed again, look out of it in Peacock Bingley, Peacock Bradford & Boar & Fable Bradford soon. Its a mash-up between the malt bill of Tiller Pin combined with the hopping of Tiny Pixie, and it tastes rather blooming nice. Available in Cask, Firkins & Pins, if you want it served from the Wood then get your backside to the Bingley Peacock!

If you made it this far? Also look out for our Sales emails for some discount offers!

Let me start by wishing all our Customers, both Trade and Drinkers, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
2024 started out terribly, you lot pulled us back from the brink in March, we’ve had some productive months and some pretty slack months. So many ups and downs in beer businesses, it really feels like people are skint and not going out as much as they used to, especially these last 3 months.
Now as 2024 draws to a close it’s time to look back and take stock, so here’s a few stats ‘n stuff:

• Total amount of brews – 103
• Volume in Litres – 113517 Litres of beer Sold – Thats 199’853 Pints pulled
• Hops used – 650kg
• Malt used – 2400kg
• Approx 26 New beers
• We said goodbye to one staff member who went to do a degree (Oliver), we said hello to a new staff member (Rob)
• We turned 9 years old in August (10 years of leasing as of 1st December)

Wishing you all the best for the 2025, Cheers Adrian, Emma, Paul & Rob

Its time for another of those beer updates where I give you a run-down of whats new and whats brewed recently….

Indigo Warbler Bitter 3.7% – Fined and Clear – Our homage to those lovely lake district pints of Coniston Bluebird Bitter, brewed with traditional Maris Otter malt, a little Crystal malt and all British-grown Challenger hops. Its traditional in the best possible way. Available in Cask, Firkins and Pins.

Hazeer Pin IPA 5% – Unfined, Vegan & Hazy – The big brother or sister of our best selling Tiller Pin, this beer has more of everything that makes Tiller Pin such a lovely beer, more Citra, more Chinook, more Cascade hops, more dry hopping, then we use the Verdant yeast strain for maximum haze and some extra fruity yeast-derived flavours. Available in Cask & Keykeg.

Blanc Stare 4.1% Pale – Fined & Clear – A easy drinking pale hopped with German Hallertau Blanc and New Zealand Nelson Sauvin. Available to order now in Cask, Firkins and Pins.

Gaggle Lager 4.6% – Unfined & Vegan – We did a collab brew with The Fox & Goose in Hebden bridge, we used Polish Lubelski (Related to Czech Saaz) and a little Slovenian Bobek, fermented with a fruity german Lager yeast this beer has spicy herbal notes and a crisp finish. Available to order pints at the Fox & Goose and of course 30 litre Keykegs from us direct from the brewery.

Guji Session IPA 4% – Unfined, Vegan and Hazy – Brewed again, look out of it in Peacock Bingley, Peacock Bradford & Boar & Fable Bradford soon. Its a mash-up between the malt bill of Tiller Pin combined with the hopping of Tiny Pixie, and it tastes rather blooming nice. Available in Cask, Firkins & Pins, if you want it served from the Wood then get your backside to the Bingley Peacock!

It’s not long now, Christmas is edging closer, the Goose Eye is getting Fat and Santa will be heading down the Bridgehouse Chimney, God bless us, every one! as Tiny Tim-othy Taylor’s would say.
Please support your local and preferably small breweries this Christmas, Cheers

We will have the usual 6 Handpulls of lovely Wishbone beer, and 8 keg lines of even more lovely Wishbone beer!
Food will be Caribbean from ‘Fries The Limit’ Ex-Hullabaloo Jimmy making is usual excellent food.
16 Hour Slow Cooked Curried Goat
Pork & Pigeon Peas
Chickpea Calaloo & Guava
Jerk Chicken

Haworth Ukulele Group will be with us mid afternoon to strum a few festive melodies too!

We will have a range of 5L Beer Pouches available on a first come first served basis, best to pre-order via info@wishbonebrerwery.co.uk if you are wanting them for presents or to go with your Christmas lunch, when the stocks are gone their gone.

Open 12 til 8pm ish, hope to see you all here, Cheers & Merry Christmas

This is our running order for food in the brewery for 2025

• Jan 25th – Kang’s Punjabi Box
• Feb 22nd – Hullabaloo Street Food
• Mar 29th – Scho’s Doughs
• Apr 26th – End of the line
• May 31st – Kang’s Punjabi Box
• Jun 28th – Hullabaloo Street Food
• Jul 26th – Jay’s Pizza Project
• Aug 30th – Hullabaloo Street Food
• Sep 27th – End of the line
• Oct 25th – Scho’s Doughs
• Nov 29th – End of the line
• Dec 20th – Kang’s Punjabi Box

We are open on the last Saturday of the month 12 til 7pm, check times and dates nearer the time

Hello there lovely beer people, here’s a quick rundown of whats been in tank, maybe whats in tank and what is going to be in tank, and also something we don’t have a name for or a pumpclip!

In tank now is a Collab we are brewing for the Fox & Goose in Hebden Bridge, no name, no pumpclip as yet. The idea comes from thinking about smooth drinking Belgian Blonde beers, we are throwing a sack of German CaraHell malt from Weyermann, Crisp’s Extra Pale Malt, Vienna anda hint of Acid malt with hopping coming from Saaz-like Polish Lubelski and a hint of zesty Bobek, we are fermenting with Saflager S-23 which we hope will being a slight bit of fruitiness.

Not a Hugger 3.8% – Available right now in Firkins, soz the Pins sold out fast, hopped with Experimental hop CF299 which brings a lovely smooth citrus character. Do you need a hug or are your Not a Hugger?? Fined & Clear.

Orange Cats 5% – I keep seeing things on Social Media about how crazy Orange Cats are, all cats are crazy not just the orange ones! Its a single hop American Mosaic IPA, Dry hopped, Unfined (Vegan) & Hazy. This is being brewed tomorrow (31st Oct) so check back for availability in about 10 days or so.

Citra Blonde 3.4% – Single hop variety blonde using American Citra in this session strength beer. Tag one of more blondes onto your order to take advantage of our email offers to start saving money. Brewing this today (30th Oct) and should be going into cask on Monday or Tuesday, available to order from Monday.

Order in all the usual ways, cheers

We will have the lovely folks from ‘End of the line‘ here doing the food in November 30th 12 til 7pm

We will be rocking the usual 6x Handpulled and 4x Kegged beers, and with a bit of luck I’ll be enjoying a few beers with you, the dreaded lurgy stopped me in Oct!

The usual things apply; We are dog and family friendly, keep your good out of the brewing area and those kids under control. We have sloped / level access but our toilet facilities my not be suitable for those less able.

Drink beer, Eat food, Repeat! Cheers