Visit Date: August 2014
BREWERY NAME: Windsor and Eton Brewery
WEBSITE: http://www.webrew.co.uk/main/tours/
DATES: First Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm
COST: £12.50 per head
DURATION: 90 mins
CONTACT: 01753 854 075
For some time now I have been meaning to get myself onto a brewery tour to find out all about this brewing lark.
So with this in mind I decided to visit a brewery every month and what better place to start than a relatively newly founded brewery in my local area Windsor and Eton.
After a short train journey from work I found their brewery tucked away on the edge of a small industrial estate (about 15 min walk from Windsor Central station). The beautiful array of flowers and hops hanging above the entrance meant I must be in the right place. No sooner had I got into the shop, (which is well stocked with their bottled beers, branded brewery merchandise and some interesting books that look into the history of brewing in and around Berkshire)
Paddy, our host for the evening ushered me and a few others into the main brew room and thrust a small glass of Knight of the Garter (3.8%) an easy drinking Golden Ale into my clammy mit, Paddy explained that it is brewed 'with American Amarillo whole leaf hops giving a distinctive fresh citrus aroma reminiscent of cut grapefruit.' As a few more of our party turned up the refreshing golden ale was slipping down a treat. However the temptation for a second was overwhelming but I did resist as we were told that during the course of the evening we would be sampling a variety of their beers.
While we waited for the remainder of the party which turned out to be almost 20, Paddy continued serving, this time we sampled the delightful Parklife (3.8%) 'a refreshing light ale with a great taste, which uses a selection of fine New World hops including Ella to give the beer a full, clean flavour, beautiful colour and a wonderful aroma.'
Now we were all present and correct Paddy took us through the formation of the brewery, the history, the financial backing, the reason for the location and above all how they have managed to maintain success and continue to increase their distribution, along the way dispelling myths of owning and working in a brewery. Paddy went on to explain their desire to keep distribution local, and without giving too much away, it all makes sound business sense.
Even the name Windsor and Eton Brewery has an intriguing backstory attached
but you can discover that on your visit...
If my memory serves me right we now tried a glass of ‘pale ale brewed with two specially selected hops, Sovereign and Nelson Sauvin from New Zealand’ - Windsor Knot (4.0%) a brew to celebrate the marriage of Kate Middleton to HRH Prince William back in 2011. Paddy, now took us through a variety of the raw ingredients, the various malts and hops that the brewery regularly uses. Not only was this extremely informative but the whole process was brought to life clearely and elloquently, the talk continued with tasting and touching the raw ingredients, a real hands on approach!
Next up: Eton Boatman (4.3%ABV) ‘a fresh, clean and full flavoured taste.' The tour now moved on around the brewery itself, which took in every aspect of the process including the sourcing of the raw ingredients, a peak into one of the ‘mash tuns’ brewing Republika (4.8%) a collaboration with the head brewer of Pivovarsky Dvur just outside Prague, the result is a well-balanced Pilsner style lager with a fresh, clean, crisp, full flavour taste, again we were given the opportunity to sample this craft british lager before finally moving onto the the storage and distribution room. As you can imagine being ina small ‘industrial’ unit on the outskirts of the town centre, everything is more or less under one roof, so you get a real sense of the whole process unfolding in front of you.
Effectively that was the conclusion to the evening, although there was just time for Guardsman (4.2%) a classic English Best Bitter launched on St George’s Day 2010 to accompany the Q and A session held by Paddy, which rounded off the evening very nicely.
I have to say, I came away with a sense that Windsor and Eton brewery is certaintly not standing still or becoming anyway staid in their approach. Their beers are varied and continually evolving. If you are planning a visit to this historic town then definitely take time to visit the brewery, if not, get yourself along to Duke of Connaught SL4 1RZ for a few pints of their ales, bloody marvellous!