Our next adventure at The Cask Connoisseur took us to the heart of the Peak District, where we visited the iconic Thornbridge Brewery and experienced their tour. Known for their creative brews and dedication to craftsmanship, the brewery has been a cornerstone of the British beer scene since 2005.
The History of Thornbridge Brewery
Our tour began with a delightful welcome from Reuben, a passionate individual who has a keen interest in the brewing industry. The first part of the tour commenced with a video which outlined the journey of Thornbridge Brewery, and how the brewery became known for their great beer. The video also demonstrated how ‘Jaipur‘ became the ultimate flagship for the brewery.
For us it was one of the outstanding history lessons to hear how this well established brewery became known to be the heart of the Peak District
The Tour at Thornbridge Brewery
Reuben, firstly told us that the tour only includes the small batch brewery, so unfortunately you can’t view the big brewery which is located in a separate building. Also, you can’t view the brewing equipment up front, it’s more of a sit on your seat type of tour. It might be a good idea to pack a coat, just in case it gets slightly chilly inside the brewery.
Reuben then introduced us to how Thornbridge brewed their cask and keg products. The locally sourced malted barley grown at Thornbridge Hall is the primary ingredient to making the never ending list of Thornbridge Beers.
Looking to the left hand side of the brewery, we were able to visualise the mash tun, lauter tun and a hot liquor tank. The intriguing part of this tour was seeing a lauter tun for the first time. A lauter tun is essentially a sieve and its aim is to separate the wort from the grain. Lautering can only begin once the mashing process has concluded. To complete the mashing and lautering this can take around three hours to complete, but sometimes this can be longer.
Towards the right of the brewery was the whirlpool vessel which is similar to a boiler kettle, however it has a false floor which spins the wort to reach 90 degrees. When the wort reaches the desired temperature, the first hop goes in. Reuben explained that Thornbridge actively chooses dry hops over hop pellets, with Citra dominating as the most used hop in their beers.
The Union System at Thornbridge Brewery
The most exciting piece of equipment that caught our eyes was the Union System!
- The Union System was once located in Burton’s second largest Brewery, Carlsberg Marstons Brewing Company.
- However, CMBC have now partnered with Thornbridge Brewery who have acquired the system.
- Not all of Thornbridge beers use the system, the main reasons for this include time and also attention to detail as its a more hands on approach, rather than using technological methods which are available today.
The tour ended with a look at the fermenting vessels, which included seven impressive tanks in total. Three of the FVs could hold up to 4,000 litres of beer which is more than 8,000 pints of beer. The remaining four FVs could hold up to 2,000 litres of beer which is more than 4,000 pints of beer.
Once Reuben had completed his talk on the equipment in the brewery, he then took us onto the second part of the tour which of course was the favourite part, tasting.
Tasting Time at Thornbridge Brewery
The tasting included six thirds of different beers by the brewery, three of these were keg beers and the other three were cask ales. We certainly felt the amounts were very generous and it was also great to see a different style of beer for each “taster”.
There were so many various aromas and flavours which passed through our pallets from glass to glass, it was ultimately overwhelming.
We are excited to share our thoughts on each of the samples in another article which is featured on the Thornbridge Brewery Tasting Review. However, we have been lucky enough to try their AM/PM Beer previously and that is one we definitely enjoyed!
Who should visit Thornbridge Brewery?
We certainly believed that the tour was excellent and our tour guide Reuben was passionate about the industry. This being said, the only point of improvisation would be to have the opportunity to see the brewing equipment up close and also having the option to view the main brewery.
Our next adventure at The Cask Connoisseur took us to the heart of the Peak District, where we visited the iconic Thornbridge Brewery. Known for their creative brews and dedication to craftsmanship, the brewery has been a cornerstone of the British beer scene since 2005.
