We headed out to Wensleydale today, not for cheese, but beer! There are two breweries with big reputations in the small market town of Masham (pronounced mass - am) - Theakston's and Black Sheep. The rival breweries are both run by Theakston family members and have more history and drama than a soap opera.
We booked a brewery tour at 12:30 with the younger of the two, Black Sheep Brewery.
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| Black Sheep Brewery |
We arrived a bit early, had a spot of tea in their cafe, then made our way to the tour desk.
Black Sheep Brewery was started 20 years ago by a Theakston son who cashed out of his family's brewery when they sold out to a corporation. He created all new brews (with the help of hired master brewers), using only British, and mostly Yorkshire ingredients.
He bought an old brewery building down the street from his family's brewery and got started. (Historical aside: in the 19teens, the Theakston family bought out this rival brewery, and closed it down - only to have the brewery re-opened 60 years later by a grandson!)
The tour started in the oldest part of the brewery,
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| Old copper kettle |
And wound it's way through to the newer wings of the establishment.
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| Black Sheep brewing room |
When we made our way to the fermenting room, the overwhelming smell of a freshly poured beer was pretty enticing!
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| Fermentation room |
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| Mmmmmm, beer.... |
Our tour guide told us all about the brewing process, including the historic "square cask" method very traditional in Yorkshire. They still have and use two giant square casks made out of several tons of slate, but the majority of their casks are stainless steel that utilize the old-school, square method.
Our tour guide also showed us several different barrel types and sizes, along with old beer bottles and other beer memorabilia.
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| Tour guide and memorabilia |
At the end of the tour we each had a voucher for two 1/3 pint tasters, which we used to accompany our lunch.
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| Black Sheep beer offerings |
After the yummy lunch and a short stop in their gift shop, we headed over to Theakston's, just a few blocks away.
Theakston's Brewery was established in the mid-to-late 1800s and had been sold in the 1980s to a corporate brewery based in Newcastle. But in 2002 four of the Theakston sons (NOT the Black Sheep brother!) banded together and bought back their family's brewery, and it has been a small family business ever since (again).
We LOVED Theakston's! We didn't go on their tour, but their pub is just a pub (whereas Black Sheep had the full-on visitor's center, vacation-attraction-site feel to it). The bartenders chatted us up, pulled us some tasters, and we just chilled for about an hour while sitting at the bar of this fairly full-to-bursting pub.
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| Theakston's Brewery |
We both liked their beer offerings better than Black Sheep's; my favorite was their Four and Twenty brew. On our way out we stopped at their small gift shop area and saw they had some bottled beer for sale. Alas, they didn't seem to have Four and Twenty in bottles. I asked the nice bartender who had been helping us, and she suggested we get a "carry keg" and she could fill it with whatever brew on tap we wanted. And we could bring the carry keg back whenever for a refill. Um, okay!
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| Our new carry keg |
She said the four pints in the carry keg should be drunk within 48 hours.
I don't think that will be a problem :-)
You make quite the tour guide yourself, giving all of us a tour. I feel as if I was on the tour with you. (Except for the tastings.) Job well done.
ReplyDeleteHmm...48 hours to finish 4 pints. That's a side of you I didn't know about.