All Nations Inn set to launch beer for International Women's Day
- Guild Secretary
- 6 minutes ago
- 2 min read
The All Nations Inn of Madeley, Shropshire, has brewed a very special batch of their seasonal pale ale, Eliza Lewis, as part of the global International Women's Collaboration Brew Day (IWCBD) project. The beer was made by the head brewer of the historic brewpub, Andrew Brough, in collaboration with local beer writer, Laura Hadland. It celebrates the life of licensee and brewster (female brewer) Mrs Eliza Lewis, who brewed all the ale for the pub from the 1930s through to her death in 1988 - despite famously only drinking tea herself. She was so well liked that the pub was affectionately known as Mrs Lewis' during her tenure.
Mrs Lewis would ladle the wort from the mash tun into the coal-fired copper by hand. Luckily for Brough and Hadland, a network of pumps and pipes made their lives much easier during this brew, although the small brewhouse in the former wash-house of the Georgian building is still largely manual, meaning that the mash was stirred by hand.
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"It's a real privilege to be the first woman to brew here since the days of Mrs Lewis," said Hadland, an award-winning author and regular beer correspondent for The Telegraph. "The theme of this year's IWCBD is 'belonging' and getting stuck in with this brew has certainly made me feel closer to my local community and heritage in Telford."
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The All Nations Inn will be making a charitable contribution to West Mercia Women's Aid to mark International Women's Day and the beer will be officially launched at the pub at 3pm on Wednesday 18th February. All are welcome to join Hadland and Brough in raising a glass to Mrs Eliza Lewis and all of the other women who have played a part in our nation's rich brewing traditions.
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The All Nations Inn, on Coalport Road, Madeley, dates back to 1789 and brewing commenced on site in 1832. The Lewis family came to run the pub in the 1930s and Eliza Lewis was succeeded by her son-in-law, Keith Hardman who retired in 2002. Since then, the pub has been run by Rosemary Craddock, who took on the licence after the sad death of the owner, Jim Birtwhistle, in 2022. His wife, Linda, is the current owner of the pub. Andrew Brough took over the brewery side of the business in 2016 and won the Wolverhampton Beer Festival with Dabley in 2024.
Laura Hadland is a Shropshire-based beer writer who champions independent producers and venues. Her first book, 50 Years of CAMRA, was named best beer book in the world in 2022 and she was recently named best cider communicator by the British Guild of Beer Writers. The All Nations Inn brew day is one of five IWCBD events that Hadland is participating in this year, to help raise the profile of women in beer.
Contact: laura@thirstmedia.co.uk
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