Those of you with an interest in this sort of thing are probably already well in the know, but I thought I should write something here just in case.
It’s been a big week for new malts - and both shops have the following VERY LIMITED releases on the shelves.
Holyrood Embra
The local distilleries second release and their first peated expression.
43.6% abv. £65/70cl
Torabhaig Cnoc Na Moine
And next week (Tuesday) we are getting our allocation of the second batch of the Hearach Isle Of Harris Malt.
Last year, when it launched, we sold a staggering amount of this stuff. I expect the Harris mania to have died down a wee bit, but I’m pretty sure we will sell through our stock very quickly again.
If you want to secure yourself a bottle - please let us know (email is probably best)
Corneliusbeerandwine@gmail.com (Leith)
CorneliusEasterRoad@gmail.com (Easter Road)
46% abv. £65/70cl
Yours,
James
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For our third wine tasting of the year (already !), we will be sampling some fantastic Portuguese wines in Little Fitzroy with Marta, who supplies most of the wines from all the sunny regions of Portugal you can find in both of our shops.
There will be some brand new wines to discover and some old favourites to reacquaint ourselves with.
Things will start at 7pm sharp on Thursday 7th March in Little Fitzroy, on Easter Road.
Tickets cost £20 and are available HERE or in the shops.
You will get a tutored flight of seven wines and a few nibbles to line your stomach.
See you there !
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Mark has been working hard behind the scenes for the last couple of months, sprucing up this creaky old site and making it better to look at and easier to use. We’ve also been adding lots of exciting new goodies to tempt you with. ( I suggest you take a look at our wines and browse them “newest first” )
We have also trimmed our beer selection radically - the listings in the physical shops have ballooned and there is no way we could keep the same selection online. You will still be able to order the essentials here - but for the “special stuff” you are best off phoning us or dropping us an email.
You can also now arrange an uplift at either shop. Delivery will remain strictly Edinburgh only though.
So welcome to our refurbished webshop, feel free to have a bit of a browse and see if there is something that catches your eye.
Also - (and this is important) we are both getting on a bit and webdesign isn’t intuitive to us, so if you spot anything broken on here, please let us know and we will attempt to fix it.
Yours,
James
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Going to try to keep this brief and to the point. Supposed to have done this at the weekend, but better late than never. I still refuse to put up any decorations before December, but we should let you know our opening hours, so you can plan your Christmas shopping accordingly
BOTH SHOPS ARE USUALLY OPEN THE FOLLOWING HOURS
Monday - Thursday 12-9pm
Friday & Saturday 11-9pm
Sunday 12-7pm
BUT THE FOLLOWING APPLIES FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER
You’ve probably spotted that the two shops opening hours diverge quite a bit, this is mostly due to different staffing levels and the footie.
We are also still offering free local delivery, but please get your orders to us sooner rather than later - It will be very difficult for us to leave the immediate vicinity of the shop from the 17th December.
Also please can you make sure to include contact details with your order. We would always try to arrange a mutually agreeable time for your delivery (and I’m pretty sure that Scottish Licensing law prohibits us leaving `cases of beer tucked under the doormat or whatever.)
Until next year, we hope you have a safe, stress-free and fun Christmas.
Yours,
James, Mark, Charlotte & Kei
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Threads: corneliusbeers
(I like this, except for the data harvesting/lack of privacy)
Bluesky: corneliusbeers
(early days - but this could be the one)
Mastodon: corneliusbeerandwine@mastodon.scot
(I have no idea what I’m doing on there and the reach is *very* limited)
Giving you advance notice and tweeting through the festive trade seems like more of a cowards option than a principled stand - but if you came across this blog on Twitter I would be delighted if you joined us somewhere less toxic.
Hope you all have a lovely Christmas,
James
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Bloody hell, has it really been two years? I guess time also flies when you're having very little fun at all.
As you are almost certainly aware, on Easter Monday the few remaining Covid restrictions in place will be lifted and we can go back to how life was in 2020. (Except, that is for those of us that have died, have lost a loved one, or who have to live with the debilitating effects of a severe respiratory illness)
Although I have major reservations about the wisdom of this, it is clear that their is no appetite among the body politic (and no cash) to continue living with even the most minor public health measures/infringements on economic activity.
So, (barring any last minute announcement from the FM) from next week we will no longer be asking you to wear a mask when shopping with us. We will also be (mostly) unmasked ourselves*
It will be nice to see your faces and I have to apologise for exposing our own to you. This does also mean I'm going to have to shave a bit more regularly. Most excitingly though, this means I can get back to my regular levels of tea consumption - It has been wildly frustrating watching numerous mugs go cold during a busy spell.
There are, however still things we can do to protect the vulnerable and we should still proceed cautiously where we can.
We will ask you to keep at a distance - we didn't breathe in strangers faces back in the day and there is no reason to start now.
We will continue to isolate if we show any symptoms.
We will test before mingling in groups and we ask you to do the same. (assuming LFD's are available)
We won't be giving out samples (YET - it will happen soonish, though)
We will keep our masks in our back pockets and don them again if a customer requests. Please don't be afraid to ask us.
I think a good rule of principal is to act with the caution of the most cautious person in the room at any time. No matter how indestructible we consider ourselves to be, we are probably only at a few steps remove from somebody considerably more vulnerable.
This virus is till out there and it is as deadly as ever - but it's clear the UK is changing the way it mitigates it. Let's hope that my pessimism is misplaced and this really is the beginning of the end.
Yours,
James
*One of the most annoying things about the denialist/libertarian nutjobs is their refusal to wear a piece of cloth when spending a few minutes shopping, without for a moment considering that the staff in the shop might be wearing one for up to nine hours without complaint.
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(When I finally kick the bucket, I hope that the quality of the above pun is mentioned in at least one of the many tearful obituaries}
I am writing this on a quiet Thursday afternoon at the very tail end of March. This was supposed to be a pretty basic update on shop mask/social distancing policy, but I guess that will have to wait another three weeks.
Instead I’ll use this space to let you know how I’ve spent some of the Christmas takings and to give you a heads up about some (minor) tweaks to our opening hours in April.
As a nation, we are (probably? - who knows) opening up a little bit recklessly and haphazardly - but there is a clear desire amongst the body politic and the general population to pretend this pandemic is over. Whether this will lead to more lockdowns and misery down the line is anyones guess, but one thing is certain - the wine trade is back in full swing. The M8 is thick with unfurloughed reps shuttling back and forth with samples of generic primitivo and trade fairs are bustling with semi inebriated wine types, mingling together and huddling around spitoons.
This has allowed Mark and myself to go shopping for interesting stuff.
For a while we have nursed a desire to get in some more niche booze, secure in the knowledge that even if it all gathers dust for a while, the business will be kept afloat by sales of Vinho Verde and cat wine. So we set out last month to sample all the ridiculous top-shelf goodies that we fancied the look of (regardless of whether we thought they were commercial or not) The results are beginning to make their way into the shop now: Fancy vermouth from Alicante, our first Californian Pinot, organic orange Malagousia, very, very old chenin blanc and a bunch of others. A real hodge podge of boozy delights, the only common factor being that one or both of us really enjoyed them.
For now they are crammed on to our shelves, rubbing shoulders with bottles of more “sensible” plonk - but this leads me onto the second part of this blog..
We will be closed for a couple of days in the middle of the month because we are going to have the joiners in, adding an additional layer of shelving throughout the shop. This will not only allow us to display our new finds with the respect they deserve, but will give us the space to exhibit our current range in a more orderly fashion.
The plan/hope is to fit more booze into the shop, without the display becoming confusing or overwhelming. It will also allow us to expand our range of malts. There is no realistic hope of us becoming a full-blown whisky store, but we love the stuff, it sells well and we could certainly improve our selection. Hopefully, by the time the tourists return, we might have a respectable range.
To allow the work to take place we will be opening at 6pm on Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th It’s certainly possible that we might open earlier, but a lot depends on the quantity of sawdust/mess. We will also be spending the Thursday shelf stacking and rejigging displays, so although we will be open, everything might be a bit topsy-turvy.
We will also be closing at 7pm on Monday 18th for our long delayed Christmas night out. We’ve had to postpone it twice, and the guys have worked really bloody hard - so the shop owes it to them (and myself)
Have a lovely easter and we hope to see you soon,
James
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Good afternoon.
Now that 2021 is all behind us and the festive crap all shoved in the cellar for the next eleven months, it seems like a good time to give you a quick update about what we've been up to since Hogmanay.
The start of January is always (understandably) slow - many of you are trying to get into good habits and drink less. (the rest of us simply have less cash to throw around) Despite this, Mark and myself have been very busy - trying to get our stock up to sensible levels and refresh some parts of the range. We are very nearly back to full strength - there are some gaps in our Bordeaux and Malt shelves, but they will be filled in the next week.
On the counter you will find a few old odds and ends that have been reduced to cost price - just a handful of whites that are a bit long in their tooth and we can’t quite justify charging full price for. Please take them off our hands so we don’t have to count them in the next stocktake.
We also still have this ridiculous item. For some reason, none of you were partying in your back garden with 30-40 of your closest special advisors over the festive period and it remains unclaimed. If it’s still here when my birthday comes around , I might just have to sell it to my self and take the weekend off work.
The biggest development is the return of 2021's biggest selling wine The idea that one of our most popular products is an organic, Romanian, orange wine, still seems a bit odd to me - but you all seem nuts about it.
We have also got a few new Argentinian reds and have expanded our range of Greek Wines . Also, very happy to have a few cases of emiggened doppelbock. In the next week or so expect exciting new releases from Vault City and Moonwake
If you are cutting down on the booze, we have upped our stocks of abv free beers, radlers and sodas. You can always expect to find good amounts of Schoff, Brulo, Rothaus, Tempest and Roots Sodas in the fridge.
That's it for now,
Stay safe and we hope to see you soon,
James
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Normal opening will recommence on Friday 7th January (I also won't be doing any deliveries until after then) So the next few days look a bit like this...
(all times on the assumption we are not called on to isolate)
Until then, we hope you all have a safe, relaxing and mildly drunken Hogmanay.
James, Mark, Miles & Robbie
Although I am unwilling to head off on deliveries over the next week or so, Jani has stepped up to the plate and is happy to get your booze to you on the 4th and 5th January - so feel free to keep ordering.
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..and a time for getting.
Good afternoon everybody and despite being at least a fortnight late, it’s time for our annual raffle in aid of the local food bank (Edinburgh NE)
It’s pretty basic stuff, give us a quid and we will give you a ticket.
The draw takes place on the evening of Hogmanay and one lucky winner (actually maybe two or more - last years prize haul was a bit silly) will claim a big pile of booze and booze related ephemera pulled from the back of our office.
At the moment the prize consists of..
1 X 75cl Brooklyn Hand & Seal Barley Wine (BQE2014)
1 X 75cl Cantillon Fou Foune Apricot Lambic (bottled this August)
1 X Lost in Leith Glass (donated by Campervan)
1 X 75cl Lost in Leith Brett PIls (donated by Campervan)
1 X 75cl Lost in Leith Jasmine Berliner (donated by Campervan)
1 X 75cl Lost in Leith Foeder Cherry Sour (donated by Campervan)
1 X Cornelius Tote Bag
1 X Leith Tee Shirt - please state size (donated by The Dreadnought)
1 X Big Mountain Mont Dolent Peach Sour (donated by Dan Juett)
1 X Big Mountain Pointe Percee Mango Sour (donated by Dan Juett)
1 X Olivers Out of the Barrel Rooms set 6x 75cl (donated by George at Hard Pressed Cider)
1 X Mills Foxbic Three & 1 X Mayflower Three (donated by George at Hard Pressed Cider)
1 X 75cl bottle of Valdespino Contrabandisto Amontillado (donated by Mike at Liberty Wines)
1 X Barrel Aged Plum Porter 44cl & 1 X Barrel Aged Milkshake 44cl (donated by Wiper & True)
1 X Of each of Pilots Barrel aged beers -Scotch, Stout and Cherry Sour (donated by Pilot)
1 X Bousquet Gran Reserva Malbec 75cl (donated by Linda at Vintage Roots)
6 X Chouffe beer tulips (donated by Duvel)
1 X 75cl bottle of Organic Alicante White
1 X 75cl bottle of Organic Alicante Pink
1 X 75cl bottle of Setubal Red (all donated by Kevin & Marta of Marta Vine)
1 X 75cl bottle of 3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera Sherry Cask Lambic (donated by DaveyW)
4 X 33cl bottles of pre-aged Orval 16/10/19 (donated by Joe Dick)
Not bad for starters - but hopefully we can improve on that. We are going to openly solicit PRIZE DONATIONS.
Are you a rep who wants to get your product some positive buzz? Maybe you are regretting buying a full case of that hyped pastry stout and could bear with parting with a couple of tins. Do you have doublers of lambics that you don’t really need? - GIVE THEM TO US and we will convert them into hard cash for a local charity that could really do with it.
So we will update the above list regularly and hopefully (with your help) we can get it looking rather special.
Finally, although you have less time to buy tickets, perhaps we can pick up the slack by making blocks of ten tickets available HERE. - We will email you your numbers and add them to the pot and you don’t even have to get off your arse
Cheers!
James, Mark, Miles and Robbie
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Good afternoon,
Going to try to keep this relatively brief, because hopefully I will get around to penning a longer post about it over the weekend.
I’ve not put the heaters on yet, but I am wearing two vests, which means it’s time to start thinking about our annual raffle in aid of the local foodbank. We ARE NOT selling tickets yet - it just seems to make sense to get a decent prize haul together first. I’ve added a couple of bottles from my stash (young lambic and old barleywine) But I’m sure we can do better.
If you a brewery/wine importer and we are a regular customer of yours, please would you consider donating a bottle or two? - Ideally on the next van run headed our way. I assume you all have a few fancy things hidden in the office - it doesn’t even have to be booze: people also like a good bit of merch.
Any donations will be gratefully received and fully credited once the raffle is up and running (within the next few days) In the last few years people have donated right up to the date of the draw itself, which is also cool.
Frankly it sucks that we have to keep doing this, but politics and economic circumstances don’t look like they are going to improve anytime soon.
Cheers!
James
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Been a while since I’ve written anything on here, but it’s been a while since there has been anything worth mentioning. Life in the shop continues apace in much the same way as it has for the last sixteen years. But the devil makes work for idle hands and Mark has kept himself busy by re-jigging this website: Making it easier to navigate for folk browsing and easier for us to maintain from this side of the screen.
There are a bunch of minor tweaks that you probably won’t notice and two big changes that are worth shouting (quietly) about.
Over the last fortnight we have quadrupled the listings on here and I think it is now a webshop worthy of the name, rather than the bare bones lockdown service we have been operating until now. You can now choose from CIDER and SPIRITS as well as the ridiculous amounts of Vinho Verde and occasional tin of Kolsch.
This is still just a fraction of the booze available in store and we have no intention of putting all our stock online: If you are after any of the more hyped, limited release beers, you are far better off coming in to pick them up in person - keep an eye on the Twitter feed (@corneliusbeers) for updates. Also, we’ll remove any wine from here once we’re down to less than a case: - We will always give priority to flesh and blood customers.
2. Delivery will still mostly be handled by us and limited to the Edinburgh area, but now the checkout only works with an EH code. Which means I won’t have to write any more polite emails to drunken shoppers in Portsmouth attempting to purchase a single bottle of Chimay (twice)
That’s all the news for now, I expect I’ll be back on here soon enough with the Christmas updates.
Until then, I hope you all stay safe,
James
]]>Even better - I’ve just learned that we are being allocated a few bottles of Cantillon.
If you are one of the uninitiated, Cantillon is very much part of the Belgian beer aristocracy and their Oude Gueuze is the standard against which all others are judged. Their limited releases receive silly amounts of hype and are insanely collectible. (Partly because gueuze is one of the very few beer styles that are truly cellar worthy) We manage to get our mitts on a couple of dozen bottles a year and they very rarely grace the shelf - normally selling out as soon as they enter the shop.
Alongside your “run of the mill” bottles of the worlds most iconic gueuze we have also been allocated six bottles of something rather special: A very generous gift from James Clay (Via the mighty Joe Dick) We have been asked to use these very rare bottles to raise funds for a charity of our choice. (which is obviously what we going to do)
The beer in question is the Cantillon Loerik (and no, I’ve not tried it)
This is the second edition of the beer - the first made it to the top of this list HERE (but I’m sure you are media literate enough to take any listicle from an online source with a healthy spoonful of salt)
Whichever way you cut it this is very rare, very special stuff that we could charge top dollar for and to get yours hands on a bottle all you have to do is put your hand in your pocket and stump up a bit of cash for a good cause.
If you fancy your very own bottle of bequest-worthy top end gueuze that is potentially worth hundreds of pounds, simply click this link HERE and make a minimum donation of a tenner to the Leith foodbank.
You don't even need to come into our shop and spend any money - simply drop us a line (tweet/email) with a screenshot of a your donation* and your contact details. It's as simple as that. (Yes, I know how easy it would be to photoshop something - but you would be a contemptable shit to consider such a deed)
We will put all entries into a hat and the first six people drawn on the 1st of July will win a bottle and automatically end up with one of the best beer collections in Scotland.
The only way this is going to work is if enough people donate the money and enter the draw, so if you are reading this and you are in the trade, please RT/QT/Link or whatever to draw your customers attention to this opportunity and lets see if we can drum up a good bit of cash for some of Edinburgh's most vulnerable.
Cheers!
James
*a screenshot of the email acknowledgement from the charity would probably the easiest/most secure.
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First up: If you've visited us in the last week or so, you've probably spotted that the shop is looking at least 150% better than it did at the end of 2020.
We couldn't be happier with the work Thomas and his team has done for us and would wholeheartedly recommend him for any fancy signwriting you're needing done. (now we just need to get that light on the right fixed)
If you look closer, you will see that I have stuffed the window full of Austrian wine. This is because in the 15 years the shop has been going, we have never made a feature of our range and I felt it was a good as time as any to give them a bit of a push.
We sell far more Austrian wine than you would think: Admittedly it's mostly just a handful of very popular lines which do the numbers, but we keep adding interesting and exciting new discoveries at the margins.
You're reading a blog on the website of a wine shop, so you're probably already aware of just how good Gruner Veltliner can be. We have a bunch of options: Mostly of the youthful, fresh, herbal, peppery kind which goes down a treat with seafood and summer bbq fodder. We also have some richer styles, including the Funkstille - which at £10 is more than a match for Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at that price bracket. We sold a small mountain of this stuff during the first lockdown, and now, almost a year later, we've got a goodly amount of it again.
Our other big seller is the Meinklang Mulatshack a biodynamic orange wine blend of Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer. Like a lot of this sort of thing it's quite hazy and rustic in appearance, but the palate is appley, yeasty and fresh, with hints of rose and lychee. It's not (quite) our cheapest orange wine - but it is a bit of a bargain and it certainly has those reductive, funky notes that natural wine aficionados look for.
Possibly more interesting is the Weingut Kiss Neuburger - a great wine hiding in a slightly ugly bottle.
Neuburger is often thought of as a dull, workhorse sort of grape. Here it is elevated by some truly impressive winemaking into something complex, mineral and slightly saline - like a heftier chablis.
It also ticks all the trendy, natural winemaking boxes - unoaked, wild yeast, skin contact, low sulphur etc
WAS £17 - NOW £15
We also have (an admittedly smaller) selection of Austrian red wine. Including some interesting little Zweigelts, St Laurents and blends, but with my limited space/time/attention span, I suppose I should just cut to the chase and tell you about our most popular. Rather unsurprisingly, it is a superbly crafted, very polished, organic Pinot Noir from just South of Vienna . It's not exactly "out there" - but it is bloody delicious with neither the confected strawberry notes of a Southern Hemisphere Pinot, or the silly price tag of a Burgundy.
WAS £17 - NOW £15
At the more premium end )and a mouthful in more ways than one) lies the Wieninger "Nussberg" Gemistcher Satz: A biodynamic white field blend from a tiny vineyard in the heart of Vienna. The wine has complex aromas of citrus fruit, pineapple, yellow blossom and sweet herbs. Lively acidity is evident on the elegant palate which has a touch of minerality alongside subtle notes of spice.
This is a notable wine, as one of the few bottles that all of us at the shop are in total agreement about and is consequently what we traditionally kick off most staff gatherings/piss ups with. It really is lovely stuff.
All of these wines are, of course available for Edinburgh delivery when ordered as part of a case of six and you can always email us or phone if you want a run through of the many Austrian wines I've not mentioned here.
But if you can't be bothered thinking about it and you trust us with your cash, we've thrown together a wee selection box you can order, HERE
Okay, that's it: I'm now off to have another cup of tea and spend a few more minutes admiring the new sign.
Cheers!
James
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Evening all,
Just thought I should mention that instead of pocketing the December takings in the form of a cheeky wee Christmas bonus, I have decided to splash out on a long delayed refresh/rebrand for the shop. (nothing too radical - we're not doing an Anchor)
The good news is the artwork is being handled by the very talented Thomas Paints who is responsible for the classiest shopfronts in Edinburgh.
The bad news is our shopfront is very old and it's going to need a bit of tlc, or Easter Road bystanders are likely to have chunks of our shop falling on their heads. - So we will have shopfitters/joiners/electricians going about their business over the next couple of weeks.
It's going to end up looking brilliant - but in the short term we might look slightly anonymous/foreboding...
BUT WE WILL BE OPEN FOR BUSINESS AS USUAL
The work starts on Wednesday 10th - and it will last as long as it takes (we don't really know what horrors the workman will unearth)
Cheers!
James.
PS - Whilst I'm here, I suppose I should mention that Jani has room for 2 or 3 more drops on his delivery run on Thursday: Click HERE or HERE if you want some booze dropped at your door.
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Really quick this one, just a quick mention of all the booze that has most tickled our fancy over the last twelve miserable months.
I’m posting this between serving customers so I’ll be brief.
James.
Rothaus Marzen.
Pivovar Vinohradsky 11 Pilsner
St Bernadus Tokyo Wit
Mark
Lost and Grounded Keller Pils
Wieninger Wiener Gemischter Satz
Olivers Pet Nat Perry
Miles
St Bernadus Tokyo Wit
Liberator Four & Twenty Blackbirds Merlot
Liberator Come Quickly Brut
Cheers!
Have a good year everybody and remember never, ever vote tory or believe any fucking thing they say.
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It probably hasn't escaped your attention that it's getting a bit more chilly and a lot more gloomy out there. As the nights draw in and we get ready to bring this miserable year to a close, I thought I had better just mention a few things about how we are going to have to do business over the next few weeks.
Firstly, thank you very much for abiding by sensible social distancing and masking precautions. I hope its a positive sign that the three of us have had barely more than a sniffle this year (and I really hope that this means we haven't passed anything nasty on to you guys)
The thing is, these precautions will become increasingly difficult to sustain as we enter what will inevitably be our busiest period: So I am going to have to ask you all for help as we try to open the shop up to increased trade in the safest way possible.
There are a few ways you can make a difference.
I think that's it for now. Expect a cheerier, less business like blog full of shiny gift ideas once it really is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.
Cheers!
James
*Don't worry! - this blog contains very little actual news, it's just a quick update about the shop, the team and how we are going to be cope in the coming weeks*
Firstly, may I express my deepest condolences for those of you who have lost loved ones in the midst of this interminable tragedy. There is a risk when writing about the hardships inflicted upon the industry by the pandemic, that we forget the very real human cost of the illness: A few hundred words complaining about changes to business practice may seem in very poor taste to somebody coping with bereavement.
My heart also goes out anybody who has lost their job over the last few months. The drinks industry has been battered by this, with the pub trade taking a particularly harsh kicking. Establishments that have bent over backwards to become as safe as possible (whilst providing employment to many) find themselves at the brunt of ever-increasing restrictions on trade. So those still in work are likely to be, excuse my French, stressed as fuck.
With that out the way, I can go on to tell you how we, in the shop, are preparing for the winter.
No dramatic changes for now, we are keeping the measures in place that we implemented at the start of the summer. But we are going to go about them with more diligence. So we are going to clean more energetically and more regularly (a confession - Mark & Miles have been scrupulous - I might have been letting the side down a wee bit) .
Sanitiser will remain on hand (ha!) for customers. - Writing this has reminded me that I need to secure some more.
We have a nice big open shop, so please consider others and keep your distance.
Only two customers browsing at a time - if we think you're being sensible then we can extend this to two households, so your other half can come in with you.
You're not getting in without a mask. If you are exempt on medical grounds - fine ; but we reserve the right to kick you out if you're being a dick.
We all have the Protect Scotland app. Please download it and keep it with you.
If/when we go into lockdown again we will continue to offer local deliveries (min order 24 tins of beer/6 bottles of wine) you can peruse a small snapshot of our range HERE , HERE and HERE
If you don't see what your after there (and it is just a tiny part of our range) please do get in touch. We remain committed to getting you your drink. You can email us at corneliusbeerandwine@hotmail.co.uk or DM us @corneliusbeers. You can even talk to us on 0131 6522405 any afternoon in the week.
(Most of these deliveries will be done by me on my bike, so we do have to insist that local means within the bypass)
And we are, of course very happy for you to use the online shop as a "click and collect" service.
We may have to tweak our opening hours/staffing if any of us have to isolate - (we might even shut the shop temporarily) We will of course, let you know if this happens.
I think that about covers it. Hopefully the next one of these will be a bit jollier.
Stay safe out there,
James
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July has been good in the shop. Business has been brisk (but not too brisk) and together, our staff and customers have weathered the changes forced upon us by Covid.
To be honest it's gone about as smoothly as we could hope for. But things are about to get a wee bit trickier, because there is a big, fat ugly question mark hanging over the whole month of August.
Frustratingly, the three of us all have the misfortune of being born English and all of us have family commitments down South over the next few weeks.
Fingers crossed the situation in England will improve and I'm making a fuss over nothing- but there is a reasonable chance that one or more of us will have to quarantine when we return.
If this happens, I can't see any way out of closing the shop for a few days (getting in casual staff to cover any absence is probably not the most sensible thing to do in this situation-although I know a bunch of you are more than qualified)
This isn't a likely scenario, but it might happen and I can do very little about it other than give you the heads about possible disruption to our shop hours and deliveries through August.
(I will of course update this blog if anything concrete happens)
Cheers!
James
]]>So, the First Minister has made it official and from Friday, you are all going to have to get used to talking to us through a thin bit of cloth.
We will politely ask you to wear a facemask and if you refuse- we will not serve you (and we have the law on our side)
I suspect I am largely talking to the converted here and if you're the sort of person who objects to this sort of thing, then I very much doubt I'm going to change your mind.
So I'm not going to repeat all the arguments about the efficacy of masks and airborne transmission: What I will say is that when health workers are putting their very lives on the line, it is (at best) a bit impolite to refuse to do the bare fucking minimum to help.
It's not like you have to wear them all them time- just for the three or four minutes it takes you to purchase four bottles of Augustiner- as soon as you leave the shop you can whip it off and take a few deep breaths.
Mark, Miles and myself will also be wearing masks whilst working on the shopfloor (I'm not going to force them to drink their cups of tea through them whilst chilling in the back of the shop and I'm not wearing one whilst sitting in the office typing this)
But when serving you guys we will all be masked (wouldn't want to be accused of hypocrisy now)
I assume there will be a few objectors tomorrow, but otherwise I'm pretty sure we can all get over this small inconvenience together.
Cheers!
James
PS. Have you seen the angry loons kicking up a fuss over this in the States?- you don't want people to think you're one of them, do you?
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Today's big news is we're back to full hours.
We are now open:
Monday - Thursday: 12-9 pm
Friday & Saturday: 11-9 pm
Sunday: 1-7 pm
Edinburgh web orders will be dispatched Thursday afternoons in the car.
Local web orders (Easter Road, Hillside, Abbeyhill) will be dispatched as soon as we can manage - usually next day.
We can go back to something like normal trade because everybody has been dragged kicking & screaming off furlough and we now have a full compliment of staff.
The team currently consists of
James: Tall and hairy. Surly in the shop, impeccably polite when doing deliveries. Does most of the donkey work. Sits in the office playing chess when he can get away with it.
Mark: Tall and smartly dressed. Very polite, knows his shit. Does the vast majority of customer service because he's best at it.
Miles: Silver fox teacher. Looked a bit like a smaller George Clooney going into lockdown- now looks like a smaller Captain Birdseye. Does his best to make sure that every customer leaves with a Barbera or Nebbiolo.
We will try our damnedest to deliver the same high quality of service you have come to expect through July. - God only knows whats going to happen in August (but let's hope and pray that we are all spared the worst)
Expect a further blog in the next few days when the guidance on face masks is issued.
Until then, please stay safe and keep drinking (sensibly)
James
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