Hoppy Days

The British craft beer revolution goes from strength to strength, with brews concocted everywhere from urban railway arches to bucolic microbreweries. Goodwood, of course, has its very own trio of tasty beers, made using the farm's organic malted barley and hops – Sussex Lager, Festival Lager and Sussex Ale – but wouldn’t it be fun to have your own brewery, you might think to yourself as you savour a cold, crisp pilsner after a day’s hard slog, or admire a hoppy IPA on a Saturday afternoon. If you’re nodding as you read this, you’ll be pleased to know that a growing trend in the ever- burgeoning world of craft beer is for people doing just that – but without the considerable expense, effort and expertise that commonly goes with it. It’s like home brewing, just not in your home and with much better kit. 

How? Simple – you just rent the equipment in a professional brewery and concentrate on coming up with a catchy name for your first blonde beer. Stewart Brewing in Edinburgh is one such place – its Craft Beer Kitchen pairs a group of enthusiasts with one of the company’s brewers, who will accompany them every step of the way to making a bespoke beer. Further south in East London, there’s Brew Club, whose members are keen on making hoppy pale ales alongside traditional English styles. Then there’s UBREW, an “open brewery” in London founded in 2015 by Wilf Horsfall and Matt Denham.

“We wanted a space to brew our own beer without trashing our kitchens and annoying partners,” says Horsfall. “We did an initial crowdfunding campaign to see if we could rent a small shed in East London to subsidise our own brewing costs and got 300 per cent of our £3,500 target. We then followed this up with an equity raise of over £100,000, which enabled us to set up on the Bermondsey Beer Mile. We sold out of our membership scheme within the first month and have only recently started to be able to offer this on a regular basis.”

The way UBREW works is that aspiring brewers join a group membership scheme (usually five people), which allows them to come up with a beer recipe and produce it on a 35-litre kit. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know your mash tun from your elbow: whether you’re a novice or a know-it-all, staff will be on hand to give as much or as little guidance as you require.

Rob Dagley is a keen member of the scheme, having been given a UBREW course as a present (the company also offers brewing lessons). He then became a member with three friends. “We’ve been brewing for almost a year now and have done a dozen brews including a single hop IPA, a stout and a raspberry Weisse,” he says. “And I’m happy to say we’ve had no disasters.”

You may know that Goodwood is already ahead of the trend, as the estate has been brewing award-winning organic beers in conjunction with Horsham brewery Hepworth & Co for some time. So this is a bandwagon well worth jumping on. In fact it almost feels like it might be time to form a collective...

Goodwood ales and lagers are available from Home Farm. Email farmwholesale@goodwood.com for more information.

This article is taken from the Goodwood magazine, Autumn 2017 issue