As St Austell Brewery’s Small Batch Brewery gears up to maximum production, the pubs that will form the core of the newly established Small Batch Beer Club have been announced, giving ale lovers across the South West the chance to catch up on all of the innovative and exciting brews being born in the heart of the nation’s favourite regional brewer.
Building on the success of the company’s previous micro-brewery, but with the opportunity to brew 3,000 pints at any one time instead of the previous 600, St Austell Brewery is keen to provide its own pubs and free trade sites with a constantly changing selection of new styles for customers to experience.
3,000 pints equates to 40 barrels of the good stuff, so the Brewery has hand-picked 36 pubs from across the Westcountry – from Goldsithney in the west to Cricklade in the east and all well known for stocking the best craft and specialty ales – to be the ambassadors of the Small Batch Beer Club. An extra cask will be available for quaffing at the Hicks Bar in the Brewery’s Visitor Centre, while the other casks will be kept for special functions or in case of emergency requirement elsewhere!
As brewing team leader Rob Orton commented, “We traditionally brew some fantastic beers every year for the St Austell Brewery Beer Festival and other events and wanted to be able to share them with more people than ever before. The Small Batch Brewery gives us the opportunity to build on our brewing skills and create a whole new world of beers for people to enjoy.”
Taking inspiration from all corners of the world, St Austell Brewery will be producing everything from Belgian beer to Eden Project-inspired pints, with the first cask ale available to club members being SMASH#1. SMASH stands for Single Malt And Single Hop and the aim of SMASH brewing is to break beer down to its basic elements and emphasize the flavour of a single malt and single hop variety. A truly educational experience for any brewer, SMASHing helps you to truly understand what one hop and one malt bring to the beer.
Created by Matt Knowles, brewing full-time with St Austell since 2014, SMASH#1 uses Golden Promise malt from Simpsons and Target hops, bringing lovely orange, pine and cedar aromas.
Here’s the lowdown on where you can find SMASH#1 from the end of the week and you can find out more about the ales in the works at your Small Batch Beer Club local listed below:
The Hub – St Ives, Hubbox – Truro, The Falcon Inn – St Mawgan, The Criterion – Weston Super Mare, The Rashleigh – Charlestown, Samuel Jones – Exeter, Old Custom House – Padstow, Prince Maurice – Plymouth, The Globe – Bristol, St Agnes Hotel, Top House Inn – The Lizard, Crown Inn – Goldsithney, Cromwell Arms – Bovey Tracey, New Inn – Tywardreath, Star Inn – Penzance, Queens Arms – Brixham, Exeter Phoenix – Bradninch Place, Clothiers Arms – Stroud, Anchor Inn – Cockwood, Passage House – Topsham, Ship Inn – Teignmouth, RAFA Wings Club – Taunton, Tom Cobley Tavern – Spreyton, Driftwood Spars – St Agnes, Thatched Barn – Croyde, Polgooth Inn – Polgooth, Hewas Inn – Sticker, New Inn – Veryan, Travellers Rest – Trevarrian, Keynsham Conservative Club – Keynsham, Ship Inn – Keynsham, The Red Lion – Cricklade, Chainlocker – Falmouth, The Blue Anchor – Teignmouth, Fountain Inn – Mevagissey, Royal Oak – Perranwell Station.
Roger Ryman, brewing director at St Austell Brewery, said: “All of our leading brands, including Tribute, Proper Job and Korev, started as experimental brews. With the Small Batch Brewery we can produce more limited edition beers, some of which could well be the new brands of the future.”
To find out more about the Small Batch Beer Club, visit http://www.staustellbrewery.co.uk/trading-with-us
ENDS
18 March 2016
Notes to editors:
About St Austell Brewery (www.staustellbrewery.co.uk)
- St Austell Brewery was named Best Regional Brewer at the Publicans Choice Awards 2013 and 2014, and was named the Best Tenanted & Leased Pub Company (up to 200 sites) at The Publican Awards 2015.
- Its flagship Tribute Ale (4.2% ABV) was named Best Drink at the Food Reader Awards in 2013; won the title of Best Regional Cask Ale Brand at The Publican’s Choice Awards 2014 and is currently in the top five of the UK’s best-selling premium cask ales.
- Tribute Cornish Pale Ale was chosen by British Airways as the only ale to be served on boards all its non-domestic flights. The agreement came into effect on March 1st
- St Austell’s Cornish IPA, Big Job, was named Supreme National Champion Bottled beer, and Champion Golden Bottled Beer at the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) 2015 awards and the Admiral’s Ale won World’s Best Bitter and the World Beer Awards 2015.
- In 2015 St Austell Brewery reached the landmark figure of 100,000 brewer’s barrels of its own brand beers brewed in a calendar year.
- Founded in 1851, St Austell Brewery is known to be one of the oldest businesses in Cornwall.
- It is one of only 30 Independently Family Owned Brewers in the UK.
- The company owns 167 pubs and inns across the South West.
- It is the South West’s largest wholesale distributor of beer, ciders, wines, spirits and soft drinks, serving more than 3,000 free trade accounts, from pubs, clubs, restaurants, hotels and other licensed outlets in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Bristol.
- The company employs up to 1,000 people including part-time and seasonal staff.
- The company brews five main cask ale beer brands: Tribute, Proper Job, Trelawny, Cornish Best and HSD. Korev Cornish Lager and Mena Dhu Cornish Stout are also available on draught.
- The bottled beer range consists of HSD, Tribute, Tribute Extra, Proper Job, Admiral’s Ale, Clouded Yellow, Big Job, Eden Pale Ale, Mena Dhu Cornish Stout and Korev Cornish lager.
- St Austell Brewery’s Coastal Pub and Kitchen menu won Best Pub Menu (3-20 sites) at Restaurant Magazine’s Development Chef Awards 2015.
- The company markets its cask ales nationally.
- The company also distributes a full range of national brands of beers and minerals and a full range of wines and spirits under the Walter Hicks label which won the Best Regional Distributor/Wholesaler of the Year Award at the Harpers Awards 2015.
- The company is a recognised centre of excellence for training, accredited by the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII), offering a wide range of courses to people who work in the licensed trade in its Academy 1851.
For further information about St Austell Brewery, please contact:
Jeremy Mitchell Tom Cowle
Director of Marketing & Communications DCA PR
St Austell Brewery PR on behalf of St Austell Brewery
Tel: 01726 627149 Tel: 01208 77900
e-mail: Jeremy.Mitchell@staustellbrewery.co.uk e-mail: tom.cowle@dca-pr.co.uk