Our final day cycling meant our final Brewery visit which was to Keltek Brewery in Redruth (the wizard really intrigued us!). We had a lovely tour round this small brewery whilst drinking a nice pint of the Golden Lance, a pale session ale, nice and citrusy. If Thornbridge is the most innovative brewery Keltek has got to be the most resourceful. Keltek not only brew beer but are a leading fibre optics cable company, having some major contracts with F1 circuits as well as the channel tunnel. Having both businessesl means Kelteck they can ship over the beer off with the fibre optics cables, so the beer may show up in some unusual locations across the world. Also the ties the cable company has with shipping and distribution means discount shipping prices for hops and barley from outside the UK. Keltek brewery seem to be doing very well, not just as a well run business but also as a brewery, they have picked up several awards for the Keltek King as well as Magik and a few others. Keltek is another brewery whose premises are becoming a constraint, we think they could bottle all day and night if they could (they bottle for several other breweries also using a new bottling machine they acquired). The brewery kindly supplied us with bottles of their top beers which we celebrated with at the end of the day (and the trip), our favourite Keltek beer has to be Beheaded, a 7.5% monster of an ale, lovely and smooth though, easy drinking for a 7.5% ale.

Cheers

We arrived around lunch time at the renowned Wychwood Brewery in Witney, most people know this brewery thanks to the little hairy hobgoblin on the label of one of their most famous beers, Hobgoblin.  We met Alex on arrival who knew exactly what we wanted, a nice pint of this lovely malty and fruity beer, perfect.  We were then showed round the brewery, which we were not aware beforehand also brewed Brakespear beers along with the organic Dutchy Original beers.  A nice surprise.

During a quick tour around the brewery we saw the all the brewing equipment and Alex went through the brewing process.  We also got to see the Brakespear double system, a method Brakespear argue gives their beers their unique character. Basically, cooled beer coming from the brew house starts fermentation in the top-fermenting vessel and is then ‘dropped’ into the vessel below leaving any solid material. The fermentation continues in the vessels below.  All I know is that they produce some lovely beers especially the ‘Triple’, named so after being triple fermented and triple hopped, this beer is a 7.2% exquisitely rich and malty beer.

We were then treated to a lovely little tasting session of the Brakespear and Wychwood beers, we tried Hobgoblin (cask and bottled), King Goblin, Triple, Wychcraft, Goliath, Scarecrow amongst others in the Brewery bar.  All lovely beers, but we pick King Goblin as our favourite (only available in Morrison’s for the time being I’m afraid, although coming to Wetherspoons Ale festival), it has a similar taste to Hobgoblin but is 6.6% and is more full bodied.  Interesting little note is the difference between Hobgoblin cask and bottle, cask is 4.7% and bottle is 5.2%, when trying one after the other you really notice how watery the cask tastes, still good though but it really isn’t the same!

We love the labels and distinct flavours and characteristics of Wychwood beers (Hobgoblin being the winner of the Pedalling for Pints Best Label award) so we stocked up on a few bottles of our favourites.  We said then said bye to Alex who generously gave us the famous ‘Largerboy’ T-Shirt and a nice beer glass to drink our ever increasing beer collection in the trailer from.  We feel Alex should get a extra special thanks for the time, effort and beers that he gave us, not to mention getting us drunk enough that we needed 2 coffees and a can of coke before we felt ready enough to cycle to our next destination, a very strange  Pub/YHA in Clyfee Pypard, just south of Swindon.

Thanks Wychwood / Brakespear

(P.S you have won the Pedalling for Pints Brewery Tour award)

(P.P.S  we only saw another tandem pulling up to the Brewery as we were leaving and of course we got a photo with them!)

Quartz Brewing, We had heard a few good things about Quartz Brewing, but didn’t know what to expect really, having never tried the beers. The small brewery is located in Heart Of The Country shopping Centre, Lichfield. A Very strange place to locate the brewery and associated bar, as it is in the middle of nowhere and just off of a very busy dual carriageway (we love a good bit of dual)! The Heart Of The Country brewery is mainly used for brewing speciality beers and is visible to everyone from the bar. Both the bar and the brewery gave off a very clean and pristine appearance. We sampled a speciality beer that they had brewed recently as well as the Quartz Blonde. Both beers were very similar, having a very clean and pale colour and a very crisp, fresh almost lager taste, both seemed a bit tasteless to us and we were a little disappointed (no joke, but the women behind the bar said some people likened this beer to Tenants Lager, weird that she was even proud enough to tell us this!!) . It is clear that the brewery are trying to appeal to the larger drinkers and after a bit of a chat with the bar lady we learnt that that was the approach they were taking, even the name Quartz was chosen to give the brewery a clean and tidy appearance to match the beer they were brewing. Given that we are not Larger drinkers we found it hard to appreciate the beer on offer, but I’m sure some will like it, especially those who are not sure on drinking ales yet.

Anyway, we carried on the day to the lovely town of Stratford Upon Avon, finishing the day nice and early and having a couple of pints of UBU Purity.

Friday 24th September (the whole week in fact) was all planned in order to get to the highly regarded Thornbridge Brewery for as early as possible. Getting to this Brewery was our motivation in the previous hard days endured on our journey, and needless to say we were not disappointed.

‘You must be Sam and Luke. What would you like to drink’ was the warm (and perfect) from Alex at Thornbrige when he greeted us as we arrived tired, but in high spirits at the brewery in Bakewell. A chilled bottle of Jaipur was presented to us like a trophy for enduring everything we had encountered so far on our journey and quenched our thirst better than any water could do. As the hoppy, grapefruit taste hit my mouth instant relaxation was achieved and we both slumped down on the sofas in the new Brewery shop and had a chat with Alex about our trip and the experiences we had had along the way so far, as well as a general chat about the recent changes at the brewery and the rise and further rise of Jaupur and other Thornbridge beers.

We learnt that the main brewery had recently moved from the Thornbridge Hall grounds to the larger Brewery site where we were sitting due to the demand for the beer (the old site is now being used for Research and Development of new beers), a common trend that we amongst the smaller successful breweries. Alex also introduced us to Kelly, one of the head brewers from NZ who I had met from the Thornbridge tour to London a few months previous and he also talked to us about the brewery.

Both myself and Luke were aware of the ‘Knowledge, Passion, Innovation’ claim that Thornbridge make, the application can be applied to most industries but when applied to brewing it produces spectacular results as we found out when we were showed around the this Brewery. From the Lab, to the Doctors working in them, to the state of the art brewing equipment and techniques as well as the attention to every detail, this brewery certainly seemed to be a step up from any other we had visited, and the passion for good beer was prevalent. It’s quite easy to see how Thornbridge are renowned for producing award winning beers.

Funny thing about Bakewell is that it is so hard to get Thornbridge beers in any of the pubs (they only sell one type in a local hotel). This is a massive shame. However Thornbridge have a Brewery tap in Sheffield (the Sheffield Tap) and we both became very jealous of those who were able to sample the hundreds of other beers that Thornbridge have brewed over the years that would never pass our lips. However, Nicholson pubs have started to stock Thornbridge beers so it’s not so hard now to get a pint of Jaipur, Wild Swan (a pale ale with the taste of light bitter lemon and a hints of herbs and a subtle spices) or Lord Marple (a tasty Best Bitter) in London, hopefully they will start getting some other Thornbridge beers too, one I am particularly intrigued about is Raven, a 6.6% ABV dark IPA.

We would like to thank the guys at Thornbridge (especially Alex) for taking the time to show us around the Brewery and show us the process by which they make the beers as well as the Bottles of Juipur and the ‘Passion, Knowledge, Innovation’ T-shirts that were generously given to us.

Thornbridge we salute you, you did not disappoint (I’m sure we will meet again!)

Theakstons Brewery was an unexpected stop and largely came about from a chat with a coffee shop owner over our days proposed route (when someone mentions to their customers that ‘these lads are thinking of doing this..points to map’ and they go ‘oooh’ in shock about the hills you propose climb, you have to change your route, especially when on a tandem). Anyway, the diversion led us through the famous brewing village of Masham, North Yorkshire. Home of Theakstons and Black Sheep breweries. With limited time we chose to visit Theakstons Brewery, no real reason for this, but it was a good choice I think. Kind of a shame though that we did miss Black Sheep, given the family rivalry between the two breweries (maybe another time). Theakstons Brewery very much cater for the tourists, when we were there a large group of German students were drinking in the bar and the shop is full of all mostly useless items carrying the Theakstons logo. We didn’t have time for a proper tour round, so we joined the Germans in the brewery bar and tried several of the different beers that were on tap. Rather than go for the well known Theakstons Beer (Best Bitter and Old Peculiar) we went for the seasonal ales (Grouse Beater, Lightfoot and one other i cant remember), our favourite being Grouse Beater, coppery orange to the eye, fruity to the nose and a lovely sweet berry and fruity taste, quite unusual (maybe one of the girls, given its sweetness). Couple of drinks and a look round the brewery shop was all we had time for and we were on our way to Harrogate for a night of beer drinking in a strange little Sam Smiths pub just down from the campsite where we were staying.

Nice beers Theakstons.

Stuart Brewing are located just outside of Edinburgh and we made our way to them just after fixing up the troublesome rear wheel in at Edinburgh Cycles.  After missing out on the pubs in Edinburgh due to this we were thirsty for some good beer, and generally the beer we tried was from Stewart was good, no exquisite but still they are very nice.

 We were guided round the small brewery by one of the brewers (can’t remember his name though- sorry!).  This was really good and we got to try one of the wheat beers that he was currently experimenting which we noted was lovely and fresh and citrusy tasting.  We also tried a selection of the breweries beer. Stewart Brewing beers that particularly stood-out for us as were Doppelbock (a 7 % ABV dark, malty bock style beer) and Edinburgh Gold (a smooth golden, hoppy ale).  One little thing that we did note that spoilt some of the taste of all the beers we tried was the over-carbonation, this in a way masked some of the flavours.

 The brewery is definitely on the rise and were looking to move premises very soon so they will not need to keep the current brewery on the go 24 hours a day! 

 After stocking up on beers to taste in the next hostel we headed off on what was a rather longer and harder than anticipated cycle to Melrose.

 Thanks Stewart Brewing

A funny wee Brewery this one, located just north of Inverness.  We had tried a few of the beers on cask a couple of nights prior to visiting this brewery during an unplanned night in Inverness (due to Tandem train problems) and we enjoyed them, so we were looking forward to this brewery which was also our first brewery stop!

 The brewery do a range of top quality organic beers packaged in recycled materials and although when we went no brewing was actually taking place we got a quick tour of the brewery.  It is very old school, basically a shed with some brewing equipment inside and a little section round the back for bottling and labelling, which is all done by hand.  However, the brewery is moving up the road to a larger site due to ever increasing demand for the beers (the current brewery will be brewing a alcoholic ginger beer in the future).  We didn’t really get to try much of the beer during this visit but we stocked up on some of the beers to try in the evening.  It is clear to see why this breweries beer is in high demand, the beers we tried (Heather Honey – Good with Porridge, Red Kite – citrusy and malty and Yellowhammer) were all lovely.  We actually drank these beers a the evening after we bought them once we had completed a day of over 100 miles cycling.  Cracking open a bottle of yellowhammer and experiencing such a wonderfully refreshing, hoppy, grapefruity taste in the mouth was so satisfying (the beer won the Pedalling for Pints Most Satisfying Award) after such a enduringly hard day.  The others went down a treat too that evening!

 We will be on the lookout for Yellowhammer and other Black Isle beers in London, though I’m not sure that it will ever migrate so far south, but let’s hope in the future as the brewery expands.

 Thanks Black Isle

One brewery which we are very much looking forward to going to is Thornbridge.  Located in Bakewell, Derbyshire and born out of ‘Innovation, Passion and Knowledge’ they produce my favourite ale of all time, Juipur IPA, a  citrus dominated India Pale Ale which is brilliantly hoppy and has a lovely lingering bitter finish.  A taste bud tantalising IPA, it was the Champion beer of the strong ale category in this years London Beer festival (not the only award it has received in recent years).

Luke, Marc (a good friend and fellow ale and cycling lover, this guy loves beer!) and myself found this beer 2 years ago at the Beer Exposed festival in Islington.  It was an instant hit with us all and since we have been on the search  for more of it in London ever since.  Check out the picture of us with one of the Thornbridge guys above.

Thornbridge have another bottled IPA called Halcyon, at 7.7 percent it is stronger than Juipur which stands at 5.9 percent. Thornbridge describe it as a ‘Golden blonde beer with an exquisite passionfruit, gooseberry and mango aroma. An initial sweetness and full body are balanced by a lasting grapefruit-like bitter finish’. Ive tried just once, but cant wait to get some more of it down my neck.

Luke and I do love a good IPA, both the strength (tend to be 5 percent or above) and the extra hoppy taste.  We will certainly be on the lookout for other good IPA’s on the journey, the top ones will feature in what I know many of you reading this will be eagerly anticipating at the end of our journey, the Pedalling For Pints Beer Awards!