Exciting news for all real ale lovers living in and around Lechlade, a new micro-brewery has been formed and its first brews will be ready in time for this Christmas’ festivities.
Alan & Valerie Watkins, established owners of the popular Crown Inn, Lechlade and site of the new brewery, wished to involve their customers in naming the micro-brewery and also let them decide what to call its real ales.
The name of the new enterprise, The Halfpenny Brewery, was selected from over 720 highly original competition entries, and announced in The Crown on the 10th Anniversary of the Watkins’ successful free-house ownership.
“The Halfpenny Brewery was inspired by the market town’s landmark stone bridge that spans the River Thames” explained overall winners Nick and Claire Brown, from Lechlade, who won a meal for four at Colley’s Supper Rooms.
The original ‘beer name competition winners’ received a £50 cash prize for their creative efforts, as detailed below:
Crownin’ Glory – Main ale: named by Cat Gore-Browne & Jay Lazenby from Eastleach
Thames Tickler – Light ale: named by Paul Adey of Lechlade
Old Lech – Strong ale: named by Neil Lindsay from Kelmscot
Crowninnburg – Lager: named by Vicky Taylor of Lechlade
“It was a difficult choice, as they were all so clever and we were totally overwhelmed by the vast amount of entries we received” said Alan Watkins. He went on to explain: “All of the real ales will be brewed traditionally on the premises in the newly fitted brew-house around the back of The Crown, Lechlade’s only brewpub, and meticulously overseen by our Head Brewer, Graham Gerrard.”
“We have sourced and ordered ten vintage English oak barrels from Britain’s only remaining Master Cooper, Alastair Simms, in Devizes. They are over 100 years old and a vital component of the process, as we are committed to traditional brewing methods in order to produce the best beers in the area.”
“In a wooden cask the temperature of the beer remains the same - even once it’s on the delivery van whereas the temperature of beer in a metal cask changes after just a couple of hours” Alan explained.
The other members making up the micro-brewery five-strong management team are Pub Manager Gemma Court and Financial Controller Trevor Wilkonson, who have both been heavily involved from the start.
A micro-brewery is a modern brewery which produces a limited amount of beer. The maximum amount of beer a brewery can produce and still be classed as a micro-brewery varies although is usually no more than15, 000 barrels a year.
Editor's Notes:
· The Crown Inn is a family run free-house and old coaching inn dating back to 1696, located in the centre of Lechlade.
By definition, a micro-brewery was originally considered to be a brewery with a capacity of less than 3,000 barrels (3500 hectolitres), but by the end of the 1980s this threshold increased to 15,000 barrels (18,000 hectolitres), as the demand for micro-brewed beer doubled and then tripled. Oak barrels, known as firkins, have a 9 gallon capacity.
· A brewpub is a pub (or restaurant) that brews its own beer on the premises. During the 20th century most of the traditional pubs which brewed their own beer were bought out by larger breweries and ceased brewing on the premises. By the mid-1970s only four remained in Britain.
This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 28 April, 2009.
