Blond Witch Beauty

What a chore it was to find myself in Clitheroe on a sunny June morning with the enchanting Moorhouse's 'witches,' Leanne and Helen (below left), to launch Blond Witch in a bottle.

Heralded by town crier Roland Hailwood the event certainly livened up this Lancashire market town at the heart of Pendle Witch country, from where the Burnley brewery draws inspiration for its award winning beers.

Regular visitors to Harkers will have sampled this gorgeous pale golden brew- described as 'light as lager without the bubbles'- from the cask over the past couple of years. It's much loved by beer buyer Dave and flies over the bar there, he tells me. Moorhouse's MD David Grant, pictured looking very happy with the girls, says that it is the fastest growing brand as the demand for paler beers continues to grow. And it claimed a gold medal in class and a bronze overall at the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) Northern Conference Awards last year, as well as picking up several CAMRA festival gongs in its short life.

Brewed with Fuggles hops the bottled version is the same strength as the cask, 4.5% ABV, and is just as distinctive and citrusy delicious. It will be joining Pendle Witches Brew and Black Cat bottled beers in good beer shops in the North West over the next few weeks. So, while you may have to wait a little while to sample the beer, I thought the very least I could do was to adorn the blog with the best looking witches that I've seen for quite a few hundred years. Oh, the lot of a beer writer.

Note: The picture on the right is a completely gratuitous flashback to the original launch of Blond Witch cask two years ago. Well, I just thought it was well worth sharing with you!