Brewery History
The Brakspear Brewery dates back to 1711, when W.H. Brakspear bought a brewery on Bell Street, Henley. In 1812 the brewery moved to the Thames-side location on New Street and remained there until 2002, when the brewery closed and the site was sold for development. The Brewery was one of the last established traditional brewers in the UK to use the Double Drop method for production of its regular brews.
Brakspear beers have won numerous awards in recent years, including Champion Beer of Britain for Brakspear Bitter and Champion Organic Beer of Britain in 2000 and 2001 for Organic.
Following the brewery’s closure, Wychwood Brewery bought the rights to brew Brakspear Beers. After months of looking for a suitable site near Henley (during which time much of the beer was brewed at Burtonwood Brewery in Cheshire), major building works were commissioned to enlarge the Wychwood brewery site to incorporate a new Brakspear brew house and separate Brakspear fermenting room, using original Brakspear equipment from Henley, including six Double Drop vessels.
Production was finally moved to Wychwood Brewery in July 2004, and the beer continues to be made in the way it always was. Robert Brakspear, who formed W.H.Brakspear and Sons Brewery in Henley, in 1779, actually started his brewing career in a Witney brew-pub - the Cross Keys on the High Street. So it was a belated homecoming for the brands. Over 200 years after Robert Brakspear first brewed in Witney, it seems fit and proper that his beer should be brewed here once again.
The current range of Brakspear Beers brewed at Wychwood Brewery includes the famous ‘Double-Dropped’ Brakspear Bitter, in cask & bottle, Brakspear Oxford Gold organic blonde beer, in cask & bottle, Brakspear Triple (first brewed to celebrate the move to Oxfordshire) and Brakspear EPA, as well as a range of seasonal cask ales.
Wychwood Brewery continues to supply the Brakspear Pub Estate still owned by the Brakspear Family.
And here’s something you probably never knew…. A far distant ancester of Robert Brakspear, was Nicholas Breakspear (also spelt Brekespear and Brakespear) who was Britain’s only Pope. He ruled as Pope Adrian the Fourth from 1154-1159 as the Vatican’s 170th incumbent.
Brewery re-development
The original Brewhouse at Wychwood Brewery in Witney, Oxfordshire was completely emptied of vessels and re-configured to facilitate the brewery re-development and the building of the new Brakspear fermenting room
Before the refurbishment the mash tun had to be dug out by hand; the replacement automates this job. The original Brakspear copper and new mash tun now take pride of place in the Wychwood brewhouse. Other aging equipment has been replaced, including the hot liquor tank. Malt storage capacity has also been improved with new external silos.
The nineteenth century former maltings was chosen to house the new Brakspear fermenting room. Luckily, it was just wide and high enough to take the Brakspear vessels; take a tour of the new brewery.
Rupert Thompson, Stuart Hawthorn and Jeremy Moss, Head Brewer of Brakspear, with the foundations for the Fermenters.
Concrete piers and steel to support Fermenters. The steel also provided the runway to slide Fermenters along by hand as there was no room inside for the forklift, or to turn the vessel.
First of the six Brakspear square Fermenters arrives at Wychwood
View from the far end, showing the steel supports for the upper circular fermenting vessels, which would be craned in later in the build.
The Maltings roof had to be stripped of tiles and the trusses moved, to allow the refurbished circular Fermenters to be lowered into place above the square Fermenters (dropping vessels).
The two circular upper fermenting vessels were craned in from above and postioned in the rafters above the lower fermenting vessels.
Both vessels in the rafters, sitting above the square Fermenters – snug would be the word!
The refurbished Brakspear copper arrives at the brewery.
The new Mash Tun being offloaded.
The brewing team throwing their hard hats away. After 10 weeks acting as demolition team and construction engineers alongside the various contractors, the brewing team set to work to discover how to brew using their new plant.