Summer, assassins, awards and more.

Greetings again Beer Adventure readers. As most of you are aware it has been a fairly heated summer so far. Aside from heatwaves and football tournaments at Rooster's we have been experiencing some heavy brewing schedules, brewing awards, collaboration brews, birthdays and a canning line running almost none stop. This year the ever expanding  'faced assassin' range has expanded even more with the arrival of Double Hazy Assassin (7.4%) and Peculier Assassin (5.4%). 

Periods where a lot of production has to be forced into a short period of time could indeed be classed as turbulent times. It must also be accepted in brewing the inevitability that things can and will go wrong. Last minute plan changes are never that simple and the sales team will always hold the prerogative to say 'yes' (especially to customers). Yet it seems there has always been something very different about the nature of a production crisis at Roosters.  Long gone are the days of running between the different areas of the brewery double checking ingredient availability, the number of casks left and tank space available. As with most things at Roosters the calm and professional approach is always chosen.  

The Rooster's way. the civilised way. The Harra-gaate way.

But aside from challenging times. One of the plus points of the summer so far has been brewing awards. Daleside Monkey Wrench has won silver at CAMRA Champion beer of Britain 2026 Premium Bitter category. Also Roosters picked up North East Indie Beer awards for Easy Going Assassin, Baby Faced Assassin, Yorkshire's Best and Scoundrel.

Monkey Wrench wins silver in category at the Champion Beer of Britain awards. 

Indie Beer awards; Me and the team checking our bad invincible award winning selves.

On top of this as mentioned previously the 'assassin' range has expanded even further. Double Hazy Assassin at 7.4% is a punchy, juicy, full bodied face full of gooseberry and fruit salad. Peculier Assassin (5.4%) is where the Assassins franchise takes things to the next level. The collaboration brew level. It's a one of a kind collaboration with Theakston Brewery to brew a beer that's kind of a cross breed between Old Peculier and Baby Faced Assassin. You could broadly describe it as an American Brown ale/dark ale. 

Peculier Assassin; available in keg, cask and can. 

It seems the endless tendency to re-invent the 'faced assassin' concept has become more akin to a franchise than just a range or series of quirky spin-off version of the same beer. To me, (much like The Matrix trilogy or Jurassic Park) the original article is still the best. But as with any original offering from a franchise, over time trends and tastes change, novelty wears off and the audience want more. 

 

Hop back of spent hops at the end of a Baby Faced Assassin brew day. 

Born from the Rooster's Outlaw series the original Baby Faced Assassin was born in an era where every brewery that wanted a piece of the 'craft beer revolution' needed an IPA that was a standout powerhouse on the market. Aggressively hopped and upwards of 5.5% in abv. If it did this convincingly enough waves of adulation from the craft beer community would follow. The age of the new world IPA was like the age of the muscle car and the likes of Summer Wine Diablo, Punk IPA, Axe Edge, Jaipur, Wylam Jakehead and many more were all taking centre stage. 

But as fantastic as BFA was and still is. Daleside Monkey Wrench however, also a local classic (and could perhaps be thought of as the mirror opposite to any new world IPA) has never been expanded upon or re-vamped. During it's long service history the debate on whether a hazy, double, session or mango version of Monkey Wrench has always been closed and closed for very obvious reasons. That is because this dark and beautifully smooth strong ale is brewed with only the finest malt, choicest hops and yeast to produce a rich malty ale with a nuanced lingering malty-hoppy finish.

The man from Del-Daleside says; yes!