Butterfly Beers Released into the Wild

Three of the four Butterfly Beers brewed to support Butterfly Conservation have now been released and are available for purchase, These are Red Admiral, Orange-tip and Gatekeeper, with the fourth brew - Brown Hairstreak due to be released in August 2013 (watch out for notification on this blog and on Twitter @ftnltd)

Our Lovely Labels - drawn by Stewart Sexton

Butterfly Conservation will receive 10p per bottle sold. From the Notebook Limited are now Purple Emperor level Corporate Supporters of Butterfly Conservation.

In line with the production of the new Butterfly Beer stocks we had a Press Release, detailing the new range. The Press Release was orchestrated admirably by Kevin Palmer Media Services and led to exposure in the Nottingham Evening Post, Derby Telegraph, Newcastle Chronicle, a live radio interview on BBC Radio Derby, an article in Derbyshire Life and Countryside Magazine and web-based exposure at the websites of the British Guild of Beer Writers, Beer Today, Midlands Business News and the Erewash Partnership website (of which FTN Ltd is a member).

FTN Butterfly Beers alongside the Seabird Series at Brown and Green, Little Eaton, Derby

This excellent exposure has led to new business, with Leigh Norwood, a member of the Beer Writers Guild being interested in the concept of our beers supporting Wildlife Conservation. As a result, FTN beers are now stocked at Leigh's fabulous shop, Favourite Beers in Cheltenham. Also we are now selling at all 3 Brown and Green delicatessens around the country, namely Derby, Trentham (Staffordshire) and Newent (Gloucestershire). We are pleased to add Boda Home in Whitley Bay to our growing list of stockists and our beers are currently selling well there. Long may it continue.

Further additions to our range of beers in support of Butterfly Conservation are planned for 2013-2014, so please re-visit our Twitter feed (@FTNLtd) or this blog from time to time to see what's brewing!

In the meantime, our new Butterfly Beers Gift Pack are also available with Tasting Notes for the new series. Try them - they're flutteringly good!



Butterfly Beer Gift Box

 

"Butter-flyer" Tasting Notes

designed by Yellow Spade Design Ltd

 

 

 

Butterfly Beers Coming Soon!

From the Notebook Ltd is pleased to announce the imminent arrival of our second series of beers. Working in conjunction with Butterfly Conservation, we have developed a range of Butterfly-inspired beers.

The first 3 beers of the Butterfly Series are due to be released on 29th June 2013.

The initial range will consist of Red Admiral, Orange-tip and Gatekeeper, with Brown Hairstreak to be brewed and launched later on in 2013.

 

 





Sales of the Butterfly Series beers will attract a donation from FTN Ltd to Butterfly Conservation to assist their work in protecting butterflies, moths and our environment. These payments will, in turn, support FTN's Corporate Membership of Butterfly Conservation.

 

Label Design of the Butterfly Beers

 

Allendale Brewery did a remarkable job for FTN in producing the Seabird Series, so it was with supreme confidence that we once again engaged Allendale in assisting us to develop this new range. And once again, these exceptionally talented people have produce quality beers in a range that shows off their diverse brewing skills. Having tasted the test brews, we are confident that the upcoming commercially brewed batches will be just as good and popular as our Seabird Series is currently proving to be. We cannot wait to get our hands on the finished product at the end of June 2013.

 

These beers will initially be on sale at our usual outlets, with online sales being managed by Northumbrian Gifts. They will be available to pre-order through Northumbrian Gifts until their official release and general sale thereafter.

 

This will be the start of an exciting new relationship for FTN with Butterfly Conservation. We have also been commissioned by Butterfly Conservation to produce a range of Moth-inspired beers which will be released later on in the year. So watch this space for detail of this new range and for further details on all of our beers as they become available. For more details of Butterfly Conservation's work visit: www.butterfly-conservation.org

 

 

 

 



 

Kittiwake Golden Ale and 3 Bottle Gift Sets Now Available

Kittiwake Flies In

From the Notebook's inaugural Seabird Series is now complete with the October fledging of Kittiwake, our Golden Ale. This completes our first batch of brews, made by Allendale Brewery in association with The Marine Conservation Society. Not bad going for a Company which came into being in February. 

Q: You have 4 beers and a 3 bottle gift set. Idiots! How does that work?

 

A: 4 into 3 does go! This cunningly allows a "mix and match" approach for the 3 Bottle Gift Sets, so that personal tastes for beer styles can be addressed more accurately. Our policy is to provide the Gift Set Boxes to retailers at cost, giving them the freedom to allow customers to choose their own configurations. If your gift recipient is an IPA/Golden Ale fan but doesn't like dark beer, then fine - give him/her 2 Arctic Terns and a Kittiwake. Job done! 

 

 

3 Bottle Gift Set: These really do make exceedingly nice Christmas gifts.

 

Stores Update

Migration of the beers from the warehouse has started in earnest over the past month. Steve at Northumbrian Gifts has been successful in distributing to the likes of  St. Aidan's Winery on Lindisfarne, a prime site, we hope for sales in Northumberland, as well as shops in Bamburgh and beyond. The department chain Beals have taken stock for their shop in Hexham, where we hope that sales over the Christmas period will be brisk.

 

In Nottinghamshire and the surrounding areas, From the Notebook beers can now be found at Local Not Global in Beeston, The Deli @ Radcliffe, Hops in a Bottle in Mansfield, The Real Ale Corner in Chesterfield and The Real Ale Store in Newark. Hopefully more stores will take migrant birds, allow them to nest in their shops for a while before moving onto pastures new. Perhaps underneath Christmas trees?

 

 

The "We Couldn't Do It Without You" Section

A big thank you to Kap at KNK who helped us with the merchandise photography.  KNK is the place to go in Nottingham for picture framing. KNK were responsible for producing beautiful framed versions of the artwork from our bottle labels.

 

Still Life: "Framed Picture of Arctic Tern with Bottle" by my friend Kap 

 

 

These framed pictures are also available for purchase either through FTN or KNK directly (click here). They also do a stunning 4 panel version of all the birds in the Seabird Series which is selling particularly well. Call me or KNK for a quote today! Dare I say it, but a picture/beer combo make a pretty awesome "his and hers" gift for Christmas! Not too sexist a comment I hope!

 

That's all for now. I've an Arctic Tern in the fridge with my name on it. Cheers, Graeme.



 



FTN Website Now Live!

Hi Everyone,

 

Today the From the Notebook Ltd webpage has gone live:

 

www.fromthenotebook.co.uk

 

The style I was going for was that of a complete novice, who has never done any web design before. Mission accomplished I feel! Any comments however scathing will be appreciated  :-) Any typos are purely intensional (see what I've done there)! Have fun with it and buy some beer. It's nice.

 

Cheers, Graeme.

Inaugural Post

Hi Everyone - welcome to the first post of the.......

                                                                                                                                ........blog page!

The Aim of our Company is to make and sell Wildlife-Inspired Idiosyncratic Beers proceeds from which go towards UK based wildlife societies, charities or trusts. The Company was founded in February of 2012 by Graeme Denton and Colin Bowler, who share common a common interest in, amongst other things, wildlife, beer and horse racing.

Graeme and Colin enjoying a day at the races

Our first range of beers was inspired from birdwatching in the beautiful county of Northumberland where waders and seabirds can be accessed easily and seen in relatively large numbers - hence we decided to develop a "Seabird Series" of beers. These currently include Puffin (Best Bitter), Kittiwake (Golden Ale), Arctic Tern (IPA) and Female Eider (Dark Beer). The ideas behind "from the notebook" is that the flavour and style of the beers should in some way reflect the characteristics of the birds themselves. How we have tried to achieve this is given on the bottle labels. So go ahead and buy some to find out what we've done and if you think that we have achieved our objective.



    Puffin, Female Eider, Arctic Tern and Kittiwake

Our bottle labels are very distinctive. The artwork looks like it actually has come from a notebook - because it has! These fantastic drawings were created by Stewart Sexton, a Northumbrian wildlife enthusiast. Inside the bottles, we think that we have created some nice beers too. This has been achieved in conjunction with the Allendale Brewery in Northumberland, who helped us develop these beers and have been most supportive of our ideas and brand throughout the development process. Cheers to Tom, Lucy and Neil.

 

Bottles of Arctic Tern, Puffin and Female Eider produced by Allendale for From the Notebook Ltd

 

 

The first commercial batches have now been produced for 3 of the 4 beers. Kittiwake required further refinement through the development process, but I'm please to announce that it is scheduled to be brewed at the start of the week commencing 24th September 2012. All the beers are available and being distributed from Northumbrian Gifts in Ashington, Northumberland. If you wish to buy them online, visit www.northumbriangifts.co.uk  Our beers are currently being sold in the "Choose Your own Ales" section, but a dedicated FTN section is currently being developed.

 

I shall continue to post further development via this medium on a regular basis, but for now, thanks for reading and I hope you get to sample some of our Seabird Series beers soon!

 

Cheers, Graeme.