The Coast Guard, the Diplomat… and the stately home brewery!
By: JimOldfield
February 28th, 2012
A nano-brewery run by a Coast Guard and a former United Nations diplomat has found a new base… in a stately home!
The Brass Castle brewery has set up shop in Lord Halifax’s Garrowby Estate in East Yorkshire.
Brewers Phil Saltonstall and Harriet Cross began brewing last August – with a a one-BBL plant in their town-house basement at Pocklington, East Yorkshire .
But while looking for a new venue, they found out that the estate nearby had a “marvellous but very simple” 3.5bbl Victorian copper brewhouse. Said Phil: “They currently brew on once a year – to provide beer to shooting parties and to throw themselves a party.
“We have entered into an agreement with the Estate to rent the brewery facilities over the next 12 months. We’re going to try to brew there twice a month.”
He added: Apart from being a fabulous place to brew – it’s a real honour to use that equipment – this move also gives us the opportunity to check if there is local absorptive capacity for our beer.
“As a nanobrewery, we’ve struggled to keep up with demand. Our challenge now is to try to establish as a truly local brewery with the ultimate aim of more readily finding our beer in nearby watering holes.
“This will doubtless mean more recipes, and the Garrowby Estate brewhouse will require us to alter our methods there slightly anyway.”
Phil and Harriet have already done a “sounding” brew and are now making some minor adjustments to the recipe – with a second brew expected to be going through this week.
● The couple’s beers are already award-winners, with their strong porter Bad Kitty picking up no less than FIVE accolades at three major festivals last Autumn!
