Just after we launched Mobberley Fine Ales second brew…Whirly Bird…we were visited for lunch by Harry and Emily with their Harris Hawk!! The Harris’s Hawk or Harris Hawk, formerly known as the Bay-winged Hawk or Dusky Hawk, is a medium-large bird of prey which breeds from the south western United States south to Chile and central Argentina.

Birds are sometimes reported at large in Western Europe, especially Britain, but it is a popular species in falconry and these records almost certainly all refer to escapes from captivity.

John James Audubon gave this bird its English name in honour of his ornithological companion, financial supporter, and friend Edward Harris. The Harris Hawk is notable for its behaviour of hunting co-operatively in “packs”, consisting of family groups while most other raptors hunt alone.

Anyway we are regularly visited by pet dogs (even on their own), Peacocks(grrrrh) and we’ve had the cows well now we’ve had our very own Hawk….he must have heard about ‘Whirly Bird’ Bitter!!!

We would like to thank Mobberley Parish Council for the wonderful plaque presented to us for coming third in the ‘Open front Gardens’ for the commercial property section in Cheshires best kept village competition.

We have tried hard this year with the planting but still have room for improvement. But in our first year to come third is great and we are all very proud indeed!!

The plaque hangs proudly in our whisky snug above the fire place. We would like to thank the Parish Council and particularly Sarah Sherwood for her lovely letter in making this award.

We are honoured….roll on next summer!!

As everyone knows Mary and Soph acquired 50 pumpkins for the Bulls Head and Cholmondeley Arms of which some became salad, some became soup and some were carved really well by members of both teams. The winner overall for pumpkin carving was The ‘Chum’ with Rob our industrious Kitchen Porter as individual Champ and Steve our second chef at the Bulls Head in second place overall!!

Thank you to all the Ghouls that supported us over Halloween never sold so many spirits!!!

I apologise to Pete that the ‘Trick or Sweet’ competition didn’t happen on Halloween night It will happen on Guy Fawkes weekend instead!!!

‘Mobberley Fine Ales’ celebrated the launch of their second beer at the Bulls Head in Mobberley on Friday 28^th October.

Following the superb success of their first brew ‘Hedgehopper’, a really traditional golden hoppy 3.8% ABV bitter, Phil Roberts and Ray Britland, the two partners who established Mobberley Fine Ales back in July 2011, have created an really easy to drink amber ale called ‘Whirly Bird’!!  At 4% ABV the ale is less bitter than ‘Hedgehopper’ but still has the depth of flavour we have come to expect from Mobberley Fine Ales. Needless to say it sold out on the Friday night as ale enthusiasts enjoyed a pint or two.

Bulls Head owner Tim Bird felt there was no better pub to launch the beer bearing his surname, of course this is purely a coincidence, according to Phil and Ray, but a few residents of Mobberley may argue!!!

The beer badge once again depicts a Mobberley pheasant and was designed by Phil’s daughter Sophie. The graphics have been carefully designed to not only to be bright and cheerful (a bit like Phil and Ray!!), but to represent the rural countryside in which the brewery is based. This new micro-brewery is housed in an old milking parlour on a working farm, set in the heart of the Cheshire countryside.

Phil was on hand to pour the first pint from behind the bar of the Bulls Head while Ray his business partner was busy delivering a firkin of Whirly Bird to Tim’s second pub the Cholmondeley Arms in South Cheshire.

There is no doubt that ‘Whirly Bird’ bitter will ‘fly out’ where ever it lands!! (If you’ll pardon the pun!!)

Sophie and Mary (pictured) had a great night out shopping last Thursday!!! Now all you girls(and guys for that matter) may have thought they were off to Manchester city centre or to the Trafford Centre!! But no they went to Chelford Market to get a supply of  pumpkins for both the Bulls Head and the Cholmondeley Arms ready for Halloween.

Fifty (yes 50) pumpkins were bought and already adorn the two pubs ready for certain members of the team to start carving them into various funny and spooky faces for this coming weekend. Pumpkin also features on both menus and may well be doing for some time to come!! How the two of them loaded up the car with all the pumpkins???……….hilarious to see them pull in outside the Bulls Head with a bright orange interior to the car!!! Anyway happy half term and here’s to a great Halloween weekend where there will be more treats than tricks here at the pub.

It was great to welcome the ‘real’ Porsche enthusiasts to the Bulls Head the other night with some absolute classics on show!!! The TIPEC  team travelled from far and wide to meet up and socialise while comparing cars in a distinctly friendly yet slightly competitive way!!! The team pictured above (except one who took the photo!!) were keen to join our 3p Club on the night but the light wasn’t great (as the nights are drawing in) so they did well to get the necessary photos completed with the help of the odd headlight!!

Once those photos of each car (click on car clubs to see them) outside the Bulls Head, were taken, the team were officially members and were then presented with their 3p mugs and a couple of ‘pub plates’ were shared on us!! The team will be returning for day time photo taking and we do look forward to seeing you all again soon. This means that in the members race
between Shane and I for 2011/12 I am now in a significant lead!!! Ho!!Ho!!

A special thanks to Steve and Ben for giving us the opportunity to look after the TIPEC’s. See you all soon!!

As winter moves in our Tom has ‘rested’ his ‘Tom’s Tipples’ in favour of his winter warming ‘Tom’s Toddy’s!!!

The first on Tom’s list this Autumn is his very own ‘Woolly Bully’ which is spiced rum with warmed cranberry juice served with a slice of fresh lime and a cinnamon stick.

After the Bulls Head walk there is nothing better than a Toddy from Tom!! Look out for our winter drinks board also.

What a great week it was at the Bulls Head as the six cask ale pumps changed frequently over the nine days. Only celebrating a week of great ale would last nine days!!!

That’s what I love about cask ale week it has two weekends to it!! It was a great hit and moving the week from April to October is a great idea. So who’s brews were enjoyed the most I here you say???

Well the fastest moving were the Gunpowder mild from Coachhouse and their Cheshire Gold too was a hit. Redwillow from Macc’ delivered the goods with their ‘Directionless’ brew and the Happy Valley brewery from Bollington hit the mark with their ‘Sworn Secret’ Ale.

Mobberley Fine Ales Hedgehopper was as popular as ever and Ruck and Maul Rugby world cup ale from Tatton went down well until England lost then it became slightly too bitter to drink!! We also featured Storm Brewery beers and of course the bestselling beers of the house ‘Bulls Head Bitter’ and ‘Wobbly Mobberley Ale’ brewed by Weetwood.

More ales will feature as we soon celebrate Sausage and Ale week and British pub week back to back at the end of October. See you then if not before……………

The National Institute of Economic & Social Research (NIESR) has warned that the economic recovery will be “the weakest of any since the First World War”, after its first estimate for GDP growth in September suggested that the economy grew by 0.5% in the third quarter.

The NIESR warned that GDP is still 4% below its pre-recession peak, which means the recovery will be the weakest of any since the First World War and said that although the UK is likely to have departed the recession, we are in a ‘depression’.

So that should change the conversation here at the pub….the good news? We aren’t in a recession anymore!!! Yippee!!……The bad news?? We are now in a depression!!!

Well for us there is no need for depression of any kind when here at your favourite pub a great pint of cask ale, a glass of warming red wine, home cooked wholesome comfort food and a lit fire await you but most importantly all with a smile!!

They say the best tonic has a large gin in it!!

So if your recession has just become a depression pop in a cheer yourself up!!

You read it here (second) folks, The Telegraph has reported that it will be ‘hotter than Hawaii’ this week! Click here to read the article.

Just after I took in the ‘Summer Drinks board’ and started to plan our winter drinks, low and behold look what happens!!?? I am about to slip into a grass skirt and a coconut bikini for the remainder of the week!!! Girls run for the high ground!!!

Make the most of our Indian summer and join us at the Bulls Head this week and bask in the warmth of the rarely-seen English sunshine.

We will make sure there is plenty of ice-cold tonic for your G&T, fruity jugs of Pimms & Rose chilled to perfection.

Hope to see you here soon!