Slater’s Ales Brewery

Happy Monday Morning to all of my tremendous followers, I hope you’ve all had a fantastic weekend, I was extremely chuffed to bits on Saturday after purchasing a new bike to help with work commuting and leisurely exercise.

I’ve also been indulging into many beers from my honest brew mixed case that I bought last week, there are some cracking beers inside and I am in the process of producing the review posts for you all to see.

Today’s post is about a beautiful brewery which is hinted to my name and if you don’t know me I am Luke Slater and the brewery I will be exploring today is Slater’s Brewery.

Sadly, I don’t work for Slater’s Brewery nor do my family, but it is a marvellous place and I can’t wait to share you the history of this remarkable business.

History

Slater’s Brewery or formally known as Eccleshall Brewery is a modernised brewery which is situated in the county of Staffordshire within the town of Stafford.

In the 1970s Ged Slater once stepped into a small brewpub in Lancashire and came to terms that he wanted to run and manage his own brewery one day, it was his challenge and dream and through commitment and determination, his dream became a reality.

In March 1995 Slater’s brewery was established by Ged and Andrew Slater and the first prime location of the 10 barrel brew plant was situated at the back of The George Hotel in Eccleshall.

To support the increasing demand from many clients and pubs, the brewery had to move there premises in 2006 to St Albans Road in Stafford.

Since the move production capacity has tripled and this allowed the family-run business to upgrade there 10 barrel brew plant to a new 30 barrel brew plant.

The move also enabled the brewery to improve consistency and quality in all beers as well as to produce more beer to cope with the increasing demand for new customers.

This is where all the magic happens, I believe the brewery is set up in a warehouse-style building, it looks pretty awesome to be fair and I would really love to go there and visit and sample some of the county’s finest beers ever.

The brewery supplies beer to 1’100 outlets, the majority of these pubs are in the Staffordshire area, furthermore, the brewery owns there own pub called Slater’s Bar in Stafford.

Another tremendous micropub, I have added this to my list of places to go, it looks absolutely fantastic!

The brewery also offers tours which can be booked online at there website, this is another brewery I would love to go and see, it works out well for me as it’s closeby to my hometown.

The brewery shop which is located on-site is a perfect place to purchase the brewery’s bottled beers, as well as gift packs and mini-kegs.

Just from looking at the history, I can truthfully say this is a wonderful brewery and even though I’ve never visited the brewery, I would highly recommend you to go as it sounds amazing.

Awards

Over the years, Slater’s Brewery has won numerous awards from both SIBA and CAMRA:

• West Midlands Beer Of The Year – Three times with Bitter and Supreme
• Won Silver And Bronze With Bitter
• Supreme – Bronze – Best Bitter Category at CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival
• SIBA Midlands 2006 – Gold – Top Totty – Speciality Beer Category

I think you can visualise for yourself that the beers that are produced at this brewery are indeed magnificent and know I am going to provide the list of ales that this brewery makes.

Slater’s Brewery Ales

All year round beers

1 Hop – 4.0% ABV – An award-winning blonde beer that is ultimately hoppy with citrus and zesty taste.

Premium – 4.4% ABV – Quintessentially Quaffable! A loaded barrelful of malt and caramel overtones.

Haka – 5.2% ABV – A New Zealand sweet pale ale which is beautifully balanced with a strong aromatic finish. This is personally my favourite beer that I have tried from this brewery, I highly recommend it.

Monthly Beers

January – Retro Red – 5.7% ABV – Rich red in colour which is perfectly fruity and hoppy.

February – Amarillo – 4.0% ABV – A spicy bitter which bursts onto the palate leaving a satisfying ting of citrus flavours.

March – 1995 Birthday Ale – 8.0% ABV – This beer was brewed this year to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Slater’s Brewery opening. A classical IPA which is double hopped, intensely strong.

March 2 – Nelson – 4.3% ABV – A punch and boldly hopped ale that delivers a broadside straight to your tastebuds.

April – Simply The Zest – 4.3% ABV – A beautiful and gorgeous chocolate and milk stout that is highly zesty, this sounds absolutely divine, I want some now haha.

April 2 – Pale Ale – 3.8% ABV – A dry-hopped pale ale which is blended with American and New Zealand hops, delivering tropical fruit aromas.

May – Refresher – 4.0% ABV – A beautiful summer drink which is combined with coriander and orange peel, slightly herby.

June/July – Goalden Glory – 3.8% ABV – A light golden ale which is highly citrusy and very hoppy, leaving a refreshing aftertaste.

June 2 – Pacifica – 3.5% ABV – A golden ale which is zesty and crisp leaving a glory scented marmalade flavour.

July – Citrus – 4.8% ABV – A citrusy bitter with a thirst-quenching twist of lemon and lime zest. A perfect beer to indulge in to whilst sitting outside in the sun.

August – Maravilla – 4.5% ABV – Raspberry Beer! An English pale ale which is brewed with Staffordshire Maravilla Berries which brings a hint of red colour and sweetness

September – Autumn Red – 5.0% ABV – Deep mahogany and bursting with robust flavours. A perfect beer to dive into whilst watching those autumnal nights draw in.

October – Colombia – 4.5% ABV – A rich velvety coffee stout which is made with freshly ground coffee beans.

November/December – Blitzen – 4.0% ABV – A complex dark ruby beer that has a traditional winter warmer feel with a rich malty taste.

Periodic Ales

Queen Bee – 4.2% ABV – Positively buzzing! A gorgeous golden brew with a taste of local honey.

Neon Kiss – 6.0% ABV – A punchy 4 hopped IPA which is designed to light up your palate, topped off with mango and passionfruit.

What a wonderful selection of real ales, they all sound beautiful, but I will admit out of all of them I’ve only tired Haka and I found that beer to be absolutely beautiful and really sweet.

Ending

Slater’s Brewery has shown that they mean business with there real ale line up.

The issue here is, there is so much choice and so many gorgeous ales to choose from, if all of these beers appeared right in front of me now I would have to try them all, it’s right to try new things so you can understand your palate even more.

I do honestly recommend this brewery to you and if you have come across any of the brewery’s beers before, then please do let me know what you thought to the beer that you’ve personally tried.

If you haven’t tried any beers from this brewery before, I beg you to try some, there is a beer from that selection for everyone.

I hope you have thoroughly enjoyed this post, I hope it hasn’t made you to thirsty haha, wishing you all a fantastic Monday, I’ll look forward to hearing your comments.

Cheers

The Cask Connoisseur