Hogs Back Brewery has opened its new Summer Bar at the brewery in Tongham, offering drinkers the chance to enjoy sunny days and balmy evenings with a pint of refreshing beer brewed just yards away.
The Summer Bar, open throughout the summer and into the early autumn, has been created in an area just outside the brewhouse, with a canopy, lighting, sound system and seating for 30 people. Beers served include Hogs Back’s flagship ale TEA, Surrey Nirvana, Hogstar Lager, Hog IPA and Little Swine low alcohol beer.
All beers are ordered from a new serving counter in the Brewery Shop and are poured through handpulls, rather than direct from the barrel, to ensure they arrive with the customer in top condition. Pizzas from local mobile pizza company Stromboli will also be available to order.
Opening hours at the Summer Bar are from 5.00 – 8.30 pm on Thursday and Friday, 12.00 – 8.30 on Saturday and 12.00 – 4.00 on Sunday. Times may change and visitors are advised to check the Hogs Back website www.hogsback.co.uk.
At an official opening for the Summer Bar held earlier this month, Hogs Back welcomed close to 300 people over the course of an evening. Guests enjoyed the al fresco beers and pizzas, and music from local band The Frets.
Rupert Thompson, Hogs Back managing director, said: “It’s hard to think of a better way to spend a summer’s afternoon or evening than with a pint or two of beer in the Surrey sunshine. Opening a bar next to the brewery has been an ambition for a while and we’re delighted to be making it happen in time for the run of good weather over the next couple of weeks.
“The beers served at the Summer Bar have been brewed just yards from the tables, and some of the hops used to brew them have been grown in our hop garden next to the brewery. So supping a pint here isn’t just hugely enjoyable, it’s also good for the environment, involving minimal food miles – in fact, we brew ‘from field to firkin in a furlong’.”
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Notes to editors
- Hogs Back Brewery was founded in 1992 in Tongham, in the heart of the traditional Surrey hop growing area.
- Its flagship brand TEA, or Traditional English Ale, is one of the leading regional ales in the South East. The first beer brewed by Hogs Back in 1992, TEA has won multiple awards including runner-up in CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain in 2000. Distribution of TEA is currently at an all-time high.
- The Hogs Back Brewery range includes a number of award-winning draught and bottled beers. Launches over recent years include Hogstar lager, Hog IPA and Montezuma’s Chocolate Lager, demonstrating Hogs Back’s ability to combine brewing expertise and tradition with product innovation to create distinctive, memorable beers. In 2013, Hogs Back also launched a traditional cloudy cider, Hazy Hog, which won a Bronze medal in the International Cider Challenge earlier this year.
- Hogs Back planted a hop garden adjacent to its brewery in 2014, growing three hop varieties: Fuggles – used in its flagship TEA ale; Cascade – used in Hogstar lager; and Farnham White Bine, used in a limited-edition bottled beer of the same name.
- Hogs Back has recently relocated its hop garden and announced plans to build a hop kiln and warehouse, as part of a £700,000 investment also covering hop picking and packing machinery and further brewery developments. At 8.5 acres, the new hop garden is nearly three times the size of the previous one and when fully mature will provide 50% of Hogs Back’s hops.
- The new kiln will be used to dry Hogs Back’s hops for around one month a year. For the rest of the year, it will serve as an event space and visitor centre, educating people about the local hop farming industry which Hogs Back is helping to revive.
- Siting the kiln and warehouse close to the hop garden means hops can be dried immediately after picking and will be packed within 24 hours using state-of-the-art vacuum packing technology to capture the hops’ freshness.
Issued on behalf of: Hogs Back Brewery
Further information:
Ros Shiel: ros@shielporter.com / 07841 694137
John Porter: john@shielporter.com / 07734 054389