Wychwood brewery tour

In February I took a tour around the Wychwood brewery in the Cotswolds. It's where both the Wychwood and Brakespear named beers are brewed. 

The brewery itself is nestled in behind the small Cotswold town of Witney, Oxfordshire. The tour takes around 20 people around the whole brewery, giving an idea of how the beers are made and telling  some of the history of the site. 

Outside the brewery, waiting for the tour to begin

Once inside, and after an introduction over a half pint in the tap-room, the tour quickly moves into the main building, but first you get a sneak peak at the Brakspear fermenters. What also strikes you is a big hit of fresh yeast - wow, that smell is amazing. From this point on you know you are no longer in a pub and you are very much unmistakably in a brewery.

Brakspear fermenting vats - the ones in the foreground are the secondary fermenters

The history is all around, in particular the front door is a nice piece. Our guide had lots of anecdotes about the buildings, their history and the way the business has evolved over time.

Lovely old door on the brewery

Our knowledgeable guide

The main Wychwood fermenting vats are very different to the Brakspear ones, very modern stainless steel tanks - there were about twenty in all and each one utilised with a brew.

The main fermenting vats

The brewing vessels themselves were massive. The copper "kettle" rose all the way from the floor to the ceiling. This brings a huge amount of liquid to the boil. Likewise the other brewing vessels are also much larger, the hop back and the whirlpool.

The copper - a huge vat!

The silver vat I think is the hop back...

Lovely period malt miller, they don't make them like this any more etc

The whirlpool

Having had a good look around the brewery, and getting a hang of how everything works we finally got led back to the taproom for a tasting session.

Here we got to try a wee bit of almost all the main range of Wychwood beers. Not much more than a pint per person but a good way to try a big range of beers. In particular I enjoyed the Arrowayne (3.6%) which is an excellent session-able mild.

Overall a great way to spend an afternoon. It's a well pitched tour, enough detail to satisfy, not so much beer nerdery that it's not accessible.

The tasting! YUM!