Kelly Ryan Obituary

You'd never guess this guy was a genius!

Ok, HE'S NOT DEAD but the first thing I have to do is give you the waiver, this post might make you cry. After 4 years with Thornbridge, Kelly Ryan is going home, he's done his handover post for the BeeRevolution blog and started a new one for the Thornbridge guys which I'm hoping they keep up.
I'd like to say thanks to Kelly, he's an extremely generous fella, especially with his time. After all it's not everyone who can right the wrongs of the beer world and still have time to reply to emails! Indeed when I heard he was leaving Thornbridge I contacted him for a meet the brewer piece I was thinking about writing, I emailed him some questions and he had the answers a couple of hours later!

Innovation, Passion, Knowledge.

When I came up with an idea of a collaborative piece on Cask Ale(I think it was my idea, feel free to correct me!) which was initially going to be pitched to the papers, Kelly was an obvious choice for the brewers point of view and he was the one that came up with the simultaneous blog posting idea that eventually happened. He put his time, his knowledge and his passion for craft beer into the piece and it was a very good read.
I first met Kelly at the Great British Beer Festival a couple of years ago and have met him sporadically at various beery events since then. In that time Thornbridge (and Kelly) have gone Stratospheric. The beers they have produced in the last couple of years have been on a par with some of the best I have ever tasted. One of my favourites being the Lord Marples, a fantastic hoppy session bitter that I could drink over and over again.
I'm also a big fan of the Kipling amongst others and I'm keen to see how it works on keg.
Anyway....Back to Kelly.
I think the best way to remember what he's done for the British craft beer scene is this :

Jaipur(yes I know they were brewing this before he got there)
Lord Marples
St Petersburg
Kipling
Wild Swan
Raven
Larkspur
Lumford
Bracia



A heady list to say the least and not a bad beer among them! If you look at Ratebeer or other beery sites you'll see the full list of just how many beers they've actually released(I could go on for ages!) but these are some of my favourites.
I'd like to say thanks and good luck, I'm sure you'll all join me in raising a glass to an amazing brewer that New Zealand are lucky to be getting back.
Quick! It's not too late to keep him locked up in a brewery somewhere!