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Crouch Vale – Tuning in To

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Crouch Vale – Tuning in To Brewery profile Crouch Vale – tuning in to The 2005 and 2006 GABF Champion Brewer Recently we looked at Rudgate and Hobsons, both winners of CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain trophy. Crouch Vale’s Brewers Gold won that Crouch Vale accolade twice in two Brewery years – 2005 and again in 2006, both of them during 23 Haltwhistle Road, the period of moving to a South Woodham Ferrers, Chelmsford, brand new brewery on the Essex CM3 5ZA. other side of town. Tel: 01245 322744 www.crouchvale.co.uk by Roger Putman Right: Inside the own is South Woodham Ferrers Crouch Vale retail shop. T in deepest South Essex, close to the muddy creeks of the Crouch river estuary with the occasional sight of a preserved Thames sailing barge, yet only a dozen or so miles from the busy M25 around London. The town was expanded in the 1970s and two industrial estates were established to create local jobs so that people would not simply hop on a train and work in the City just 34 miles away. Crouch Vale Brewery has brewed on both estates, the first in 1981 and the second from 2007. The brewery developed from the love of cask conditioned beer by two ardent CAMRA buffs. Colin Bocking and Rob Walster took camping holidays at such places as Henley on Thames and Devizes in looks after the Prince of Wales pub, Micro partners order to sample beers that never a couple of miles away. Colin Through an innovative business travelled far in those days. They met remembered the first brew well, on model, Crouch Vale finds itself one a kindred spirit who ran the now 3rd October 1981, the keen pair of the largest beer wholesalers in defunct West Riding Brewery in arrived at 0500 but the liquor was East Anglia for it operates a Huddersfield from 1980. Colin not hot enough to mash with until reciprocal arrangement with other learned the ropes inYorkshire and 1000 and the Excise Officer arrived smaller brewers. Over longer decided to take the plunge. Colin four hours early to take the charge! distances, it will swap tonnes of beer was a civil servant more used to Prior to the Beer Orders of 1989 via pallet haulage networks. With an handing out dole money and Rob and Progressive Beer Duty of 2003, increasing appreciation of beers was an engineer. Together they life was inevitably tough. Those free from outside your local area, many mackled up a 12brl plant, the copper houses that did exist in the area were pubs will set up a marquee in the was delivered full of talcum powder well involved with Greene King and garden, stoke up the barbeque and and the liquor tanks once stored Adnams. Crouch Vale persisted and put twenty firkins on sale on a perfume. They fashioned a wort now distribute from Ipswich and WIGIG basis (when its gone its cooler from some plates which were Southend in the east through gone). If someone in East Anglia spare at Plough Works and attached Colchester and Chelmsford and on wants to do this, Crouch Vale will it to polypropylene fermenters with into the City of London. It will get the beers and if a pub elsewhere ‘a lot of string and sealing wax’ normally deliver as far north as fancies an East of England theme, according to Bocking who bought Cambridge some fifty miles away Crouch supplies as well, through a out his early partner in the early every fortnight, using either of two reciprocal partner. Apparently, this 1990s. Rob has not gone far, he 7.5 tonne curtain siders. trade has never been busier. With 48 Brewer & Distiller International • May 2011 • www.ibd.org.uk Brewery profile the mode rn market agreement, the casks can often be winning Brewers Gold (4%ABV), before too long if we need to keep Above left: Tomorrow’s returned to the owning brewer full of late hopped with Hallertau hops of the lower alpha varieties. The beer casks awaiting filling, Crouch Vale beer to avoid costly the same name. To ensure the same obviously hit the spot with the the Fulton boiler and tomorrow’s sacks of haulage of empties. hop aroma from year to year Colin GBBF on two occasions, “it was malt on the gantry. This loose ‘mutual back has a stock of six growths some as nice to win with a modern beer scratching exercise’ as Bocking calls old as 2006 which are blended. He which people like to drink” he Above: Three racking it, enhances the range of beers that did observe that the alpha contents observed in a reference to more vessels 5, 9 and 40brls) he is able to sell as well no doubt at were rising season by season; once recent winners with darker beers in with three fermenters his couple of dozen partners at 5%, he regularly sees lots at 7% an older style. Brewers Gold was behind. elsewhere in the UK. The which we put down to global climate always the biggest seller and now it relationship is self policing in that change and the fact that Hallertau is biggest by a long way. The second the less successful suppliers do not might have to move northwards biggest seller is Amarillo (hop get asked again. The co-operative arrangement even extends a lot Detail at closer to home; Crouch Vale do not Crouch Vale want to deliver two firkins to say Haverhill in the north of the county Clockwise from top left: so Nethergate might do it. The grist feed and hydrator above the Nethergate does not want to drive mash tun. into Southend so Crouch Vale may The Flotronic air provide the route to market. Other diaphragm skimming locals are Farmers Ales in Maldon pump. and Mauldon’s of Sudbury whose The bijou Trantner heat beers both get into London. exchanger. “Working together,” opines Mr The tiny DME hop back. Bocking, “we can fight the larger competitors. Once the planned closure of the Waverley TBS depot in Colchester takes place, I see even more opportunities,” he relished. There are only seven on the payroll including Colin. He has no salesmen, the beer sells itself showing that a couple of major prizes is appreciated by the trade. Crouch Vale notes that many younger publicans are highly IT literate and swop observations on Facebook and Twitter where the brewery has an active presence and it takes a lot of orders over the internet. Crouch Vale brews 70 –80 brls a week, totalling a very precise 5148hl last year. 60% of it is the award Brewer & Distiller International • May 2011 • www.ibd.org.uk 49 Brewery profile Casks awaiting despatch in the temperature controlled ale store. driven again) this time at 5%ABV the latest addition to the bottled Brewing operations followed by Crouch Best (4%ABV), range while FPA (Fine Pale Ale) The brewery occupies two brick clad So that is Crouch Essex Boys Bitter (3.5%ABV) and weighs in at 5.9%ABV and industrial units. The first houses the Vale in a nutshell. Blackwater Mild, a dark mild at 6.4%ABV Willie Warmer shop and offices with the 13°C Good beer, a 3.7%ABV. (supposedly named after Norman insulated cooled warehouse at one proprietor tuned in knight William de Ferrers who end. Across the yard is the to the modern Bottling owned land aroundabouts in the days brewhouse. They are waiting for market and one Bottling is a recent innovation. The of the Domesday Book). These another of the units to become last thing, there is driver for bottles was the stronger beers get generous vacant as casks have to be stored on a tied house – the requirement for a retail store on site. quantities of caramalt and roasted a farm three miles away. Colin Queens Head in Beer has always been sold at the barley as Bocking prefers their remembers the first brew again, this Chelmsford. door but having buyers traipsing past flavour to that of crystal and black time 21 November 2007 when the “ caustic laden hoses was not seen as malt. But hops are his true love, copper boiled over. The DME best practice and not everyone wants there were boxes of Botanix and copper has five steam jackets; to buy 34 pints at once. Already the Faram 5kg vacuum packs obviously for a reason so they turned beer can be found in local everywhere – Cascade, Pioneer, them all on. Since then only the base independent off licences, farm Sovereign, Boadicea and two packs and one other have been needed! shops, restaurants too small to each of recently delivered Summit The pre-crushed malt is a blend of guarantee throughput of large pack and Sonnet fromYakima and Sladek Muntons who have been supplying ale, local pubs and seasonal sales at from the Czech Republic. Opened since 1981 and Warminster. The cricket and rugby clubs as well as 92 packs are kept at 2°C in the yeast suppliers put a year’s shelf life on Essex branches of Tescos, who take room along with the isinglass finings the malt so the old wives tales of the shrinkwrapped eights with the which gave a fabulous aroma when ground malt going slack on storage tray proudly exhorting customers to we stuck our noses inside. are just that! ” ‘Support your local brewery ’. The yeast, by the way, was A mixed pallet of 25kg bags is Branded Drinks at Cinderford originallyYoungs, then Ridleys but raised to a platform in front of the take 30 –60brls at a time via it is now well naturalised and kept at mash tun using a fork lift truck.
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