Spotlight on Thornbridge: from sheds to starship

Five years ago I visited a new ten barrel brew length brewery in the Derbyshire Peak District. It was situated in rather endearing 'sheds' at the back of a splendidly restored stately pile. It was the fledgling Thornbridge Brewery, Ashton-on-the-Water.

A short time ago I revisited Thornbridge; but this time to a state-of- the-art brewery on the nearby Riverside Business Park, Bakewell. The occasion was the official opening - by no less than Garrett Oliver of New York’s outstanding Brooklyn Brewery fame. Now, in the US, Garrett is regarded by the growing army of beer nuts as a bit of a supreme being, so it was a bit of coup for Thornbridge.

Brewery founder, and beer-loving-entrepreneur Jim Harrison (he's the chap with the hair in the pic) had wished to keep the brewery at the magnificent Thornbridge Hall, which he, with business guru wife Emma, had spent several years putting back to its rightful glory. But an obdurate National Park Authority would have none of it.

So instead the ebullient Jim went ahead just down the road. With amazing kit supplied by Velo of Italy there now is the capacity to produce a mighty 30,000 barrels a year.

As beer writers swarmed like flies, interviewing every fermenting vessel in sight, I staggered through the new brewhouse for a bit - Jaipur IPA in hand but note book poised, of course. I peered nervously at the mighty malt conveyor as brewer Kelly extolled its delights of, well, conveying malt to masher, and squinted studiously at the awesome Steele's masher and space pod like fermenting vessels. Then anxiously - afraid of spilling - I climbed the steps to the command centre and and marvelled, totally bemused by now, as Kelly outlined this very scary computer control. It looked like it belonged in the the star ship Enterprise. Only a ten minute drive, this was light years from the sheds.

The trick
I quickly came to the conclusion that it was a very beautiful thing indeed. The trick, you see, was simply to imagine all that juicy malt and tongue tingling hops bubbling away together behind the shiny stainless steel. Then I returned to the bar.

Of course, the big question that kept the Thornbridge team awake at night was: would all this expensive new kit brew the same quality of ale ale that first scooped ‘beer of festival’ with the magnificent Jaipur (see beer notes) at Sheffield back in 2005?

Well, it seems it does. The first brew out of the new Riverside home was, would you believe, victorious at Sheffield Beer Festival 2009. The 'legend in its own brew time' ale has now collected more than 50 awards to date, I think - it's hard to keep up. So the head brewers - Italian Stefano Cossi and the aforementioned Kelly Ryan, a Kiwi - are well pleased. The news came hard on the heels of the Great British Beer Festival success, where their Kipling scooped silver in Strong Bitters and Lord Marples took bronze in the Best Bitters.


This really is a fascinating story of success for a brewery that has embraced innovation from the early days in the sheds. There is a ‘Brew Dog’(those of extreme brews and silly marketing activities fame) attitude to innovation, but tempered by an ice cool business head. The original brewery will be kept going for more experimental brews, but the continental style Riverside will allow the flexibility to brew many different beers. We can all look forward to that.

The repertoire now spans from the wickedly drinkable low gravity session ale Wild Swan (3.5%) with its gorgeous citrus bitterness – I really can't get enough of this beer and it is a huge favourite at Sutton Hall - through a gamut of styles to the new Seaforth English IPA, the rich and fruity St Petersburg Stout and the mighty oak-casked Alliance Barley Wine.

Mouthful
Something very new is the complex Thornbridge Raven(6.6%) created by yet another Kiwi brewer, the recently arrived James Kemp. This is black IPA that combines Maris Otter, Munich, black and chocolate malts with Nelson Sauvin, Centennial and Sorachi hops before dry hopping with Chinook and Aramillo. Blimey, that is a mouthful. I wonder what Kiwi speak is for 'sounds a bit tasty'? Probably 'sounds a bit tasty mate'.

James was no-less than New Zealand’s Home Brewing Champion 2008. I guess down there, by comparison, it makes him an even bigger beer hero than Garrett is in the States.

The best part of a £2m investment. the new brewery means that Thornbridge beers will soon be much more widely available in pubs throughout the UK. And with a bottling line capable of up to 2,000 units an hour, off-sales and exports will no doubt soar.

And in a great piece of craft brewing one-upmanship, Thornbridge has added further to the international team with the recruitment of a boffin with, would you believe, a PhD in bottle conditioning – Dr Andrea Pavlsner, another Italian. Bet not many people knew you could get one of those -the PhD that is, not the Italian.