Castle rock brewery

Happy Hump Day all, I really hope you are having a fantastic week so far!

As you would have more than likely seen in my last post, I actually relaunched my blog! It’s been a while since I’ve done some blogging and to be truthfully honest I’ve really missed it.

My last post was on the most fruitiest IPAs, I have ever sampled, Elvis Juice which is proudly brewed by The Brewdog Brewing Company.

If you haven’t had chance to check out this post, you can do so by clicking here:

Today’s post is a virtual exploration into the amazing facility of Castle Rock Brewery

History

Castle Rock Brewery was officially formed in 1977 and was founded by the former chairman for CAMRA (Campaign Of Real Ale) Chris Holmes.

The Former CAMRA Chairman – Chris Holmes

The brewery was originally named as Tyne mill!

The location for this outstanding brewery is in Nottingham and the team are proud to be creating and brewing some of the finest ale around.

Castle Rock has gone from strength to strength over the years, which has helped the brewery to develop a reputation for both inviting and unique pubs, as well as brewing quality ale.

The first pub which Chris opened up was The Old King’s Arms which was based in Newark.

The Old King’s Arms – Newark – First Pub Owned by Tynemill (Castle Rock)

The idea of Chris opening up his first pub was to create a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, as well as a pub serving a high standard of cask beer.

His ambition was to create a pub that he wanted to drink in and hopefully, many other people would do the same thing.

By the time the brewery was established, Tyne mill had the acquisition of 12 pubs.

The site opened up next to the Vat & Fiddle in Nottingham, the Vat & Fiddle later became the Castle Rock Brewery Tap.

From the opening of the brewery, production grew from 30 barrels per week to 100 barrels per week by 2010.

As more and more people started finding out about Castle Rock, the reputation increased significantly.

By 2010, Castle Rock Brewery did become the trading name of Tyne mill as a result of both customer confidence and the teams’ confidence in both of the quality of beer and the brewing team itself.

Furthermore, Castle Rock Brewery underwent an expansion with state of the art brewing equipment, which enabled the team to increase capacity up to 360 barrels per week.

Along with the expansion, one of the brewery’s most popular beer, Harvest Pale was awarded Supreme Champion Beer Of Britain 2010 at the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival.

The demand for Harvest Pale Ale and all other beers had increased significantly.

As of 2020, the brewery still continues to create innovative new beers, while remaining consistent and delivering high-quality beer.

I am totally confident as the years move on, Castle Rock will continue to be successful and will thrive towards success, their journey isn’t over yet!

As well as being top of charts for there beer, Castle Rock has achieved many awards for its pub industry, especially becoming Pub Group Of The Year in 2002, 2006 and 2008.

What an amazing brewery!!

Castle Rock Brewery which is located in Nottingham

Castle Rock Beers

Session – 4.0% ABV – A sensational fruity and session IPA which is packed full of grapefruit, citrus and tropical fruit, which gives way to a juicy moreish flavour with a soft bitterness.

Sherwood Reserve – 4.5% ABV – A smooth, balanced and decadent stout with notes of chocolate and coffee.

Preservation – 4.4% ABV – A classic red ale which is brewed to a traditional East Midlands style. A well rounded bitter with some residual sweetness and balanced with a resinous hop character.

Screech Owl – 5.5% ABV – This beer was first brewed in October 2008 to support The Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust’s Adopt A Specie Campaign. It immediately won the Society Of Independent Brewers, Supreme Champion Beer Award at The Robin Hood Beer Festival in Nottingham.

This beer is brewed to export strength, a strong well hopped IPA which has become a firm favourite.

Elsie Mo – 4.7% ABV – A lovely golden hue, which has a complex citrus aroma and a floral taste.

Harvest Pale – 3.8% ABV – Harvest Pale is brewed with a gently-kilned malt. It’s distinctive hop flavour leads to a crisp finish. This beer has been selected as one of Castle Rocks flagship brews.

Out of all of these beers, I would have to highly recommend Harvest Pale, I have tried this beer a couple of times and it is very enjoyable, it is completely sweet and refreshing and not to heavy either.

Castle Rock as I mentioned earlier, is going from strength to strength and I can expect that in the future we will see some more impressive beers from this beautiful brewery.

Ending

Castle Rock has shown that they mean business, they are up against some tough competitors, but with new ambitions, I am certainly sure we will see something exciting from this tremendous brewery next year.

It’s absolutely amazing, how a brewery started off so small and now you have to only look at it and see where it is today.

I am really looking forward to trying some of Castle Rocks beers in the future, and I am seriously hoping of venturing out to Nottingham for a day trip to try some of there beer.

It’s lucky really, that Nottingham is only a train journey away, oh how I would love to try a pint of Harvest Pale again right now!

Thank you for taking your time to read this post, I hope you’ve enjoyed it, if you have any questions on Castle Rock, then please do leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability.

I really hope you enjoy the rest of your week and I’ll be back on Saturday!

Take Care and Stay Safe

The Cask Connoisseur

Luke Slater