Tel (01254) 883541
Fax (01254) 877375
Heys Lane Industrial Estate
Great Harwood
Lancashire BB6 7UR
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| Were it not for Jim Ridge, I may have grown up to be a lager drinker, as it was I was from now on a devoted fan of Real Ale, and a CAMRA member from the early eighties. | ||||||
| Over the years I have lived is several parts of the world, and many parts of the UK, sampling the local beers from all corners of England. Several years after I returned to my home town of Great Harwood, we ended up owning the Royal Hotel, the flagship real ale pub in East Lancashire. The next step in the progression was to turn this pub into a brewpub. | 
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In October 2002 I set up an 18 gallon plant in order to experiment with beer to see if it was viable to brew for our own pub. By the time six brews had been completed, a 2.5 barrel plant was installed in the cellar of the Royal Hotel by Dave Porter. With 2 fermenters production was 5 barrels a week. | |||||
| In early 2003, Jim Ridge Suffered a fatal heart attack during a pub quiz. I named a new Strong ale after him which promptly won Beer of the Festival in CAMRA's Accrington Beer Festival 2003. Jim always said that a man was truly famous when he had a beer named after him. Perhaps this was a message. | 
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To celebrate this win I brewed a Pale dry beer and called it First Gold at 4,3%. This went very well, and following a trip to the Half Moon Brewery in Brugges, I decided to alter this ever so slightly by using coriander as an aroma hop. I renamed this beer Old Ben, after Ben, my Dog and Friend for over sixteen years. | |||||
| In 2004 I recieved a commission from a church to brew a beer. The Church at Much Hoole near Preston was the home of curator Jerimiah Horrocks who first observed Venus crossing the Sun. Venus was crossing the Sun again this year, and the church were holding celebrations. I brewed the beer, and the church had some pump clips to go with their collection of Jerimiah Horrocks memorabilia, but they did not buy any beer to sell in the church! | 
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| By this time I was running with four fermenters, my maximum capacity at the Royal. When you are in a cellar it isn't easy to expand without a lot of digging. | ||||||
| In May 2004, at the fourth Great Harwood Beer Festival, Caretaker of History was voted beer of the festival by the festival customers, taking nearly 50% of the votes. The second award in as many years for one beer is superb, especially for a 6.0% beer in competition with regular ales. |
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In January 2005, Treacle Miners Tipple won third place for Dark Milds at the SIBA conference in Southport. I know that two years previously we sold very little mild, but now we were selling more and more, so mild is gaining popularity again, so this award was a welcome boost. | |||||