Thirsty Musing: April

Hey friends of Thirsty Moose,

April was a real Belta of a month for us; we hope it was equally kind to you!

What made it particularly Belta was the love we’ve seen for casks of our Belta Blonde. Members and visitors alike up at Morpeth Golf Club have been enjoying a post-round pint of it in the glorious sunshine we’ve had of late. It’s settled in nicely in the new and delightful Tyne Valley Taproom’s lineup, just along the river at Stocksfield. 

And, last but by zero means least, Beth, Lauren and all the team at the Turks Head in Tynemouth have gone above and beyond to encourage regulars and tourists to try our session ale with the Priory Castle on the pump clip, which, very neatly, happens to be just a stone’s throw away from the pub. Max made a subtle change to the recipe at the start of the year, so we’re naturally delighted that customers are going back for a second pint of it! We’ve got plans to put forward some prizes for the Turks pub quiz - every Monday at 7:30 - so head on down if you’re after some more Moose to take home with you!

It’s also been a big month for our (fairly) recently added best bitter; Once upon a Tyne. Between when we released it in October and Christmas it was our fastest selling beer (outside of one-off collabs). So it felt quite vindicating when it scooped third place in the Newcastle CAMRA Beer and Cider Festival’s ‘Best of British’ award. There were only 2 awards on that day, with dozens of breweries putting in entries, so getting on the podium with our humble 3.8%-er was no small feat! We also made an appearance in the Hexham Courant for it :) Unfortunately Max couldn’t collect his prize in person due to him being struck down by Covid (it still exists?!).

No matter, as he more than made up for it at the Gateshead Beer & Music Festival, where the SIBA regional awards were being given out. Once upon a Tyne scooped another third place; this time for the ‘Cask British Bitter’ award (up to 4.4%) at the first time of asking.

But, undoubtedly, the news event of the evening (in the eyes of TM, at least) was that, after 4 years of knocking at the door, refining the recipe, and picking up Silver awards, our flagship ale Canny Canuck took home Gold! I’d have loved to have seen Max’s face when the results were read out in ascending order! We’ll do a proper post about it next week, but for now here’s a pic of him holding Canny Canuck’s medal for the ‘Cask Speciality Amber to Dark’ award:

The day before this, myself and Max were lucky enough to be chosen as one of 7 other breweries / distilleries to have our drinks pouring at the legendary Free Trade Inn - one of our favourite pubs; certainly my favourite - for a trade event hosted by Sellar. These are well worth checking out if you’re a trade customer, as their website is a one-stop shop for order beers for all over the country (obvs including yours truly). Plus they’ve just released a delivery service for Scotland and the North of England; meaning everything gets taken care of once you’ve clicked order. 

It was fab to chat at length with some old faces from the trade, and to be introduced to some lovely new people. Having Belta Blonde poured there - and tasting bloody excellent - made me and Max ever so happy. Some month for Belta Blonde!

At long last our new summer ale will be ready next week, with some new flavours for both our lineup and, as far as we can see, for the real ale scene at large :D it’s been brewed in honour of Thirsty Moose’s biggest unsung hero; can’t wait to tell you all about it in due course!

We can also share that we’ve been given the green light to run a local community owned bar! The opening date is currently scheduled for late June, so it feels a little early to be spilling any beans on it today, but finally Thirsty Moose will, touch wood, be able to pour its own pints, in what we certainly consider to be a superb location.

Finally, our new Thirsty Musings podcast is set to start this month. I’ve done it to learn about everything that goes into making great businesspeople, and try to peel back the layers of day-to-day normality and cut straight to what matters: uncovering business origin stories and recognising the extraordinary lengths local people have gone to keep their businesses alive - then thrive. I hope some of you find it of use too :)

The first recording was done at the end of February, with 4 done in total, but getting them released is still longgg overdue. I’ll get them advertised on our socials.

Thank you April 2026 for being so awfully kind to us, and thanks to you for reading!

Onwards and upwards,

Sam

Stay Loose, Drink Moose.