Ram Brewery to close...

[Nemesis]

I don't know how many people know that Young's Ram Brewery in Wandsworth is to be closed - the oldest brewery site in Britain where beer has been brewed non-stop.

I used to love watching the horses deliver, and they were entitled to a lunch break with nose-bag and a quantity of beer daily.

I have no doubt the site re-development (Minerva) will be another triumph for 'regeneration' in London, ie it could be in any city anywhere. And not one where you would wish to linger.


http://www.glias.org.uk/news/225news.html

 

[MDE]

This has been planned for some time. Those of us who love beer and breweries despair at the closure of traditional breweries with a loss of both the architectural context and (usually) the uniqueness of the ales. There are still some fine examples though: the best I've seen is the Hook Norton brewery in Oxfordshire, a tower brewery complete with working steam engine and open copper cooler (now no longer used).

 

[Nemesis]

I know - but Minerva won't treat it kindly I'm sure. Sad.

I know the Hooky Brewery - lovely. I can recommend a trip to Jennings in Cockermouth too - although that has been sold too and I wonder if its days are numbered. The castle stands just above it, and the beer is brewed from a private water supply which comes from the mediaeval well.

Beer tastes so much nicer when it's brewed in a good building, somehow.

http://www.jenningsbrewery.co.uk/

 

[MDE]

I now live near Cockermouth and agree about the brewery there. Both Hook Norton and Jennings do excellent brewery tours as well as good beer and are highly recommended for anyone in those areas.

 

[Nemesis]

I do like Cockermouth - two breweries in one place - the pub which brews and Jennings!

Sadly I have a feeling that Cockermouth will be spoilt in the next few years - things being added on the edges... the mart has already gone and much else I think will follow.

 

[thiambal]

I could make a list of beers that no longer taste the same, the brewery having been moved from its original site - and more importantly the original water.

Crying shame :-(

 

[biffvernon]

One for MDE
Cumbria brewing

 

[Nemesis]

Coniston Bluebird is wonderful beer.

Looks like I need a trip to Ulverston...

Some more breweries in Cumbria:
http://www.quaffale.org.uk/php/county/L102

Yates is good too - brewed in an outbuilding (I have some pics but they have their own website - the farm with the red doors)
http://www.yatesbrewery.co.uk/

The Redburn Brewery is near us, in Northumberland. A genuinely microbrewery. It's in a VERY small outbuilding at the rear of the house. Great beers.

http://icteesside.icnetwork.co.uk/0400business/enterprise/enterprisenews/tm_objectid=15326501&method=full&siteid=50081&headline=traditional-industries-in-new-markets-name_page.html

 

[thiambal]

Blimey - another example of the influence of PPUK - Coniston Bluebird is mention on here and the next minute there is an article on the BBC!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5273828.stm

 

[Nemesis]

That's the article the link from Biff's post is - but he's so much more computer literate than wot I am and he hides the link in a bit of text.

Clever but... you have to click on the bit that says Cumbria brewing.

No I don't know how he does it either...

 

[thiambal]

I did not even realise that Biff has included a link on his post

So he works with wood and cunning disguises hyperlinks as txt. A true renaissance man.

 

[MDE]

Thanks for the Ulverston link, Biff. There's also a new brewery in Keswick, which is in the old brewery building (closed some years ago and since used as a council depot) in Brewery Lane. However, it's not a building of historical interest like Youngs, Hook Norton, Jennings etc. There are loads of new microbreweries in Cumbria (see http://www.lakestay.co.uk/brewers.html), but the quantities brewed are all much smaller than Jennings. If Jennings were to close, then I expect it will become posh mews houses.
So the message is, if you are coming to Cumbria, please drink the local beer .

 

[Nemesis]

There will be plenty drunk next weekend. It's the TR Register Tour of the Lakes.