What we've been up to: Thomas

There aren’t many far-flung places we get to visit these days, with government guidelines and all, but when allowed, I have been getting exercise by cycling up to the Whitelee Windfarm. If you catch it on a clear day, the views are stunning. I can recommend a journey around 4 o’clock when you can watch the sun setting from the top of Eaglesham Moor. Just don’t pause for too long, as the wind chill is a real factor. Apparently the wind farm tourist spot is still open if you’d like to get up close to one of the turbines and get a feel for the scale of the machinery. It doesn’t quite do it justice from the side of the road.

By Thomas:

Something new I’ve learned

There's always something weird coming into the shop designed to catch the eye and pique interest, especially in beer. With a wide variety of hops, infusions and beer of all different colours, the market can sometimes feel oversaturated. However, something recently caught my attention that got me excited to try something different: ‘Nectar IPA’ from Up Front Brewing. Brewed using a unique strain of yeast Metschnikowia Reukaufii. Isolated in Berkeley California, it evolved to aid in the pollination of flowers it inhabits. By consuming otherwise unscented sugars existing in nectar, it turns them into tasty, odorous, attractive esters that pollinators and beer drinkers go crazy for. It’s delicious!

By Anthony:

Most interesting customer question

Probably the most frequently asked question, too: ‘Why is it called Marchtown?’. This is the name of the wee village that sat in our Glasgow suburb (currently Strathbungo) on the earliest maps that name it, c. 1750. There’s debate as to whether the current (Gaelic) name might have been the original, kept alive by folk memory. Regardless, Marchtown refers to the meeting point between old parish boundaries - or marches - that converged here. The stories say that jurisdiction ended at the march, so there were lots of dodgy characters cutting about. In that case, little has changed!