Heart of Oak takes to the plains of Spain!
By: JimOldfield
September 9th, 2012
Spain’s new-found love affair with English ale has lighted on the capital of brewing, Burton-upon-Trent…
And the Spaniards will soon be enjoying their own Burton-style ale, after Brit brewer John Saville – from the Burton Old Cottage Beer Company – flew to Madrid to launch a microbrewery there.
The idea is the brainchild of Spaniard David Gill – whom Hand-Pumped met at this year’s Burton Beer Festival, when he came to England to launch his plan.
He will now work with John – who has been at Old Cottage for seven years – to produce one of the Burton brewer’s recipes, Oak Ale, for the Spanish market.
The project will also see the setting-up of an English pub in the Leon region – but first David must work out how to “Burtonise” the water from his Spanish well, to get the true taste of Oak!
David’s love of English ale was finally fermented at Burton, when he met beer guru Roger Protz – at the festival to announce the winning beers.
Hand-Pumped captured their meeting, above.
Ironically, Roger was just back from Italy – where he had been advising the locals there on brewing English real ale!
David and John are now hunting for old Burton brewery memorabilia to decorate the new Spanish pub. Anyone who can help should contact John at Old Cottage, via the website below.
HAND-PUMPED link:
Burton Old Cottage Beer Company
