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15 years of Townes beer!
From: InnSpire - Issue 79 – June 2009
 On Saturday 2nd May, The Speedwell Inn at Lowgates, Staveley was having a party, celebrating 15 years of brewing at Townes Brewery, which is situated at the back of the pub.
Lots of familiar faces were all there for one reason, to celebrate this occasion and to enjoy a few beers from the past, as well as some from the present, which were all lined up on the pumps.
The Pitz band played and everyone got into the party swing of things when a voice called “could we have silence please” and Jane Lefley, Chesterfield & District CAMRA Chairman stepped behind the bar to congratulate Alan on 15 years of brewing excellent beer and to present him with another milestone award - 10 consecutive years in the Good Beer Guide, the beer lovers bible - a wonderful achievement.
Congratulation to Alan, and here’s to the next 15 years.
Nothing about the Brooklyn Brewery is boring
From: InnSpire - Issue 79 – June 2009
Most of us would probably dismiss New York as a home for quality beer, but on a recent visit I called in at the Brooklyn Brewery to once and for all dispel that myth.
 Garrett Oliver, the Brewmaster, is not one to do anything by halves, and his reputation commands respect throughout the whole brewing industry. After years of amateur brewing inspired by beers he had encountered during a year in England (he knows everyone at Thornbridge and Kelham Island and is a real Derbyshire lover) he began brewing professionally at Manhattan Brewing Company in 1989 as an apprentice and in 1993, he was appointed Brewmaster. He soon became widely known both here and abroad for his interpretations of traditional brewing styles and as an avid and entertaining lecturer and writer on the subject of quality beer. His experience rightly makes him the ideal judge at the London GBBF, a role he has performed several times as well as being a fixture at the annual Great American Beer Festival.
In 1994, Garrett joined The Brooklyn Brewery as Brewmaster and partner and since then, he has developed the brewery into a company that now sells its beer in 12 different countries and 22 different US states but is recognised as much for its invention as its production. Of course volume equals sales and sales equal profit. On that premise most of the beer sold is the staple Brooklyn lager (5.2%) and Brooklyn Pilsner (5.1%); I suggest go for the tasty Pilsner if you try just one.
 Garrett is passionate about experimenting and I was lucky enough to taste 6 different draught ales, he also produces a new one every two months. The 5.6% brown ale was tasty, the 6% winter ale was particularly moreish but the next four oozed such quality I wanted to bring them all home...
The 5% Pennant ale was in the style of an English bitter, very malty and brewed with half English and half US hops. The 6.5% English IPA was made with East Kent goldings and better than any I’ve tasted in the UK. It varied from dry to sweet with just a hint of grapefruit. The 8% coffee flavoured ale called “Intensified” – OK a little bit of a novelty but made with genuine Guatemalan coffee it packs a real quirky punch. My favourite was the 5.1 % German style Weisse beer that was so complex I spotted a huge range of flavours from melon to smoke to bananas that I had to keep re-tasting to see if I could find a new one.
And if so far you’ve been impressed just wait till you hear about Garrett’s pet project. Local One was launched last year and comprises German hops, sugar from Mauritius and Belgian yeast and weighs in at a wondrous 9%.
Most interestingly it’s 100% re-fermented in the bottle, like Champagne. I was heartbroken I couldn’t get the bottle home, instead had to savour it in less than perfect surroundings, my Manhattan hotel room. Local Two is now up and running too. Again it’s a 9% 100% re-fermented beer but this time in a Trappist style, it reminded me of the 8% Westvleteren beer but it has a unique flavour that comes from its locally sourced honey, Belgian sugar, oranges and dark fruit. Not surprisingly it’s a huge hit in Scandinavia. The new range is all about quality and the price reflects that ethos; like most things in life you get what you pay for but the Local range is worth paying extra!
I went away from Brooklyn feeling I’d found the promised land. Garrett loves his work but is clearly frustrated at times with the general perception of beer products. As he rightly points out “Beer can give you a wider range of flavours than wine. Ilove traditional British cask beers, but many UK brewers are a bit too conservative. They often say that it’s the punters who are conservative, but the beer aisle at the British supermarket tells a very different story. We brew traditional beers, but we also experiment and the public enjoys that.”
Not surprising ! If you happen to be in New York on a Friday evening call in to the brewery for an open evening (6-11pm).The full range of beers are available and the whole family is made welcome. Similarly full tours take place on both Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6pm with tastings available before and after.
Garrett also recommends The Blind Tiger bar at 281 Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village as a great venue to sample his products or if you really want to push the boat out the Gramercy Tavern at 42 East 20th Street is one of the foremost restaurants in New York and their menu regularly pairs Brooklyn brews with appropriate culinary offerings..
My first taste of Brooklyn beer was at New York’s best pizzeria Grimaldi’s underneath Brooklyn Bridge, 19 Old Fulton St. (an old haunt of Frank Sinatra). Go there at night, enjoy the meal, the beer and then walk down to the river, just 100 yards away to view the bridge in an almost fairy tale setting. Don’t miss!
Howard Borrell
Local Brewers are doing it for themselves...
The DBC - one year on.
From: InnSpire - Issue 79 – June 2009
 Brewers in Derbyshire are sticking together, and that’s official! April last year saw the formation of The Derbyshire Brewers Collective (DBC), to explore what common problems local brewers have, and how they might help each other - since then it’s gone from strength to strength.
The DBC can help reduce beer miles by offering a selection of local ales, one stop ordering for your beer festival, collection of members’ empty casks, information on the ‘Derbyshire Ale Trail’ plus contacts and expertise from across the group.
Chairman Roy Shorrock (pictured second from left at last year’s Market Beer Festival), one of the founding members and head of Ashover Brewery, said “drinking quality local beer is gaining huge popularity thanks to small brewers and CAMRA groups; the Derbyshire Brewers Collective aims to strengthen that movement by helping us to help ourselves!”
Now formalised with a chair and committee posts, members have met every couple of months to explore issues such as links with Universities, laboratory services, joint marketing, shared delivery & collections - in fact, if there’s a way to improve local beer and breweries, it’s on the agenda! For more information, please visit their website at www.derbyshirebrewers.org.uk
List of members: Amber Ales, Ripley - Ashover - Blue Monkey, Ilkeston - Brampton, Chesterfield - Brunswick, Derby - Derventio, Trusley - Peak Ales, Edensor - Spire, Chesterfield - Thornbridge, Ashford - Tollgate, Swadlincote - Townes, Staveley - Wild Walker, Derby & Wirksworth.
Spire Brewery - 3 years and counting!
From: InnSpire - Issue 78 – April 2009
 As Spire Brewery approaches its third birthday – is it really that long? – it’s as good a time as any to reflect on what we have achieved in that relatively short time.
Firstly, they have made many new friends, both from CAMRA and from within the micro-brewery fraternity! From their numerous (or should that be infamous?) brewery trips, they have welcomed visitors both from the local area and from as far afield as London, Troyes in France and Bochum in Germany.
Spire are particularly pleased to have been involved in setting up the Derbyshire Brewer’s Collective, which has seen a high number of local Derbyshire breweries working together to promote the excellent beers that are brewed on our doorstep. You only have to look at the large number of awards won by our Derbyshire brewers to realise (as we have known all along) that we have some of the finest beers in the country all brewed within a 30 mile radius of Chesterfield.
 At Spire Brewery, they continue to make steady progress. Diane in the sales department has done a fantastic job of increasing the sales and raising the profile of the brewery. In fact, this has also been down to teamwork from their closely knit team. Jim Carley, their jovial drayman and general assistant has been the “face” of Spire Brewery at our many free trade outlets, and Richard Hancock, their most recent team member, has proved a real asset when it comes to brewing and “fixing” broken things!
Other notable achievements have been to expand their range of beers (at one point up to 14 different ones) and to have moved into bottled beers. These have proved so popular and successful that later this year they are hopefully due to make an entry or two in CAMRA’s Good Bottled Beer Guide.
 The Britannia Inn at New Tupton continues to serve the brewery well as the brewery tap. Barry Dobson has worked hard to promote Spire beers and to be the public face for the brewery. A favourite with locals and visitors alike, “The Brit” has established itself on the local real ale trail and is an excellent shop window for both Spire beers and regularly changing guest beers.
By the time this is in print, the team at Spire will have collected the CAMRA National Bronze Award for Sgt. Pepper Stout, which they were fortunate to win for the second year in succession at the CAMRA National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester. “The Pepper”, as it has become colloquially known, has also been lucky enough to be “mentioned in dispatches” in Jeff Evan’s book “A Beer A Day” – not bad for a beer that was only ever planned as a ‘one-off’!
As Spire Brewery approach their third birthday it is fair to say that they have firmly established themselves in the local micro-brewed beer market and I know that they are looking forward to a bright brewing future, to meeting many more new friends, and to continue to develop their range of beers.
Alun Waterhouse
Spire Brewery Liaison Officer (BLO)
15 years of Townes Brewery - a preview and history.
From: InnSpire - Issue 78 – April 2009
 When the first firkins of Best Lockoford Bitter rolled out of Townes Brewery in May 1994, commercial brewing had returned to Chesterfield after a gap of almost 40 years.
The small 5 barrel plant enterprise had been painstakingly assembled and subsequently commissioned over a one year period by John Mckaig, Graeme Brown and brewer Alan Wood, in a dilapidated former bakery alongside Chesterfield’s canal on Lockoford Lane.
Named in honour of the, and the now late, great, Texan singer-songwriter, Townes van Zandt, the brewery quickly gained a healthy reputation for the quality and variety of its beers, both locally (especially at the Royal Oak in Brampton) and further afield via various real ale wholesalers. Numerous awards were picked up at CAMRA beer festivals, notably, Wakefield, Barnsley, Mansfield, and Rotherham.
With the proposed demolition of the premises on Lockoford Lane, it was decided to look for premises which could combine both production and distribution, a concept which had been the norm until the amalgamation of the brewing industry into large concerns. Subsequently, the Speedwell Inn at Staveley, a Mansfield house which had been empty for a year, was purchased freehold and another year of adoption and refurbishment ensued.
With the original brewing plant safely ensconced in the former infamous “entertainment room”, the pub eventually reopened in November 1998 and has remained a well thought of community local ever since, scooping the coveted “Chesterfield CAMRA Pub of the Year” award on two separate occasions.
Celebrations begin on Saturday 2nd May with live music from “The Pitz” and brewer, Alan Wood will be recreating the first 6 different Townes beers, some of which have stood the test of time, such as IPA, Sunshine and Pynot Porter, which has recently won a silver medal at the Champion Winter Beer of Britain in the Porters category. Alan will also be brewing some old favourites, including Best Lockoford Bitter, Double Bagger and Muffin Ale - which will also help celebrate CAMRA’s Mild month.
Chesterfield CAMRA would like to wish all involved with Townes Brewery all the best for the future - here’s to the next 15 years! Cheers!
Brampton Brewery - old name, new ideas
From: InnSpire - Issue 77 – February 2009
 Brewing returned over a year ago to Brampton after a lapse of over 52 years, only a stone’s throw away from the first brewery to trade in the area. The new Brampton Brewery founded by Managing Director and head-brewer Chris Radford, brewed for the first time in October 2007.
The plant is 8-barrel brew length with sufficient fermenting vessels to brew 4 times a week. Around 30 regular outlets are supplied together with beer festivals and customers from the SIBA Direct Delivery Scheme. Pubs stocking the beers on a regular basis include: Rutland Arms in Chesterfield and Grouse Inn, Brampton.
Current beers are: Aspire (3.7%) A light, summer pomegranate fruit-beer brewed to commemorate our association with Chesterfield Borough Council at the 2008 Market’s Festival; Golden Bud (3.8%) A light, golden, hoppy bitter with a complex malt character which ensures it drinks well beyond its strength; Brampton Best (4.2%) A standard session bitter, using only traditional English malt and hop combinations; Impy Dark (4.3%) Packed to the gunwales with roasted coffee and chocolate flavours and delicately hopped; Jerusalem (4.6%) The rich and roasted malt notes defy the pale colour in this special bitter. Brewed as a one-off for St. George’s day it went down so well it’s made a number of re-appearances since; Brampton Mild (4.9%) Coffee, toffee and caramel tones tease your taste buds and warm your cockles and was awarded Mild of the Festival at Chesterfield Beer Festival 2008; Wasp Nest (5.0%) A premium ale with a sting in the tail, rich in flavour and dark amber in colour; and finally, Golden Bud Speciale (5.8%) A strong IPA styled version of our best selling session ale. Grapefruit nose and citrus flavours give way to a smooth, mellow and slightly sweet finish.
Impy Dark, Wasp Nest and Golden Bud Speciale are also available bottled.
 In a little over a year since opening several awards have been gained from CAMRA beer festivals. Wasp Nest took the Gold Medal in the Premium Bitter Category at the SIBA Regional Beer Awards for the Midlands Region. The beer now goes forward to the National Beer Awards finals which will be held next February.
Brewery trips are available by prior arrangement and while you are visiting, don’t forget to pick up some of the Brampton brewery branded items that are available from the brewery shop, including aprons, pint, half pint and stemmed glasses, bottle openers, hats, polo shirts and much more...
You can also join the BBC, no not Aunty Beeb but the Brampton Brewery Club - membership costs just £30 for the year and includes an exclusive polo shirt, 4 brewery tasting evenings a year (free beer and food!), a branded pint pot, 10% off all merchandise and off sales, a monthly email newsletter and regular outings on an original 1970’s Chesterfield Transport single decker bus to a whole host of beer festivals and venues.
Brampton Brewery Ltd.
Unit 5, Chatsworth Business Park
Chatsworth Road,
Chesterfield. S40 2AR.
Telephone: 01246 221680
Website: www.bramptonbrewery.co.uk
e-mail:
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John Hirst
Brampton Brewery Liaison Officer (BLO)
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