'Zee-tho-fyle', by Martyn Cornell, an award-winning blog about beer now and then, founded in 2007
Two traditional breweries: a photo-essay
Compared to, say, Roger Putman, recently retired editor of Brewer & Distiller International magazine, who has visited more than 170 different breweries in his career, I’ve really not been to that many: fewer than 60, across four decades, albeit in six different countries. Pfff. Amateur status. But inexplicably, in 2014 I was welcomed into seven different brewhouses, of all sizes, that I had never been to before, from the massive new set-up at Guinness in Ireland to Twickenham Fine Ales’ current base, which may be bigger than its first home, but still produces less in a year than Brewhouse No 4 in Dublin makes in a day.
I take my camera with me around breweries, though I’m not, I cannot emphasise enough, a photographer in any sense except being the idiot pressing the shutter button. Very occasionally I get something that isn’t actually terrible. And since 2010 I’ve been using a camera that is fantastic at taking low-light shots, which helps enormously inside buildings. I have put a few of the pictures from my 2014 trips up on the blog to illustrate the pieces I wrote at the time, but two trips, to Shepherd Neame in Faversham and Hook Norton in Oxfordshire, never produced any words. So here is a small selection of snaps from two of Britain’s most traditional breweries:
10 thoughts on “Two traditional breweries: a photo-essay”
Oh, wow… that cooler at the top of the brewery.
Hook Norton need to clean it up and do a wildish sort of critter… coolship style?
Seconded. Memories of Cantillon there.
Fabulous articles with great photographs, Martyn ! My congratulations with those! I now regret terribly that I never took a good camara with me on my brewery visits.
Have you been to Harveys of Lewes yet ??
Yes, I’ve ticked off both Harvey’s and McMullens, so I have all three surviving William Bradford breweries under my belt.
Thanks for publishing some internal shots from Shepherd Neame and Hook Norton, enjoyed them.
I have stood outside both of these breweries, unable to enter. This is the next best thing – thank you!
Thanks Martyn, I have a question about the mash tun at Shepard’s, is that entirely made of wood? I can’t tell for sure from the picture. If so it seems rather late for still using wood. I am trying to find out how far back metal plates mash tuns go. Do you have an knowledge on that?
Thanks,
Frank Clark
The plates in the base of ther Sherps mash tun are certainly metal: the cast iron mash tun was patented by Jonathan Dickson in 1808, but many big brewers, including Bass, Allsopp and Barclay Perkins, were still using wooden mash tuns in 1889.
Very interesting article and great pictures. I’m particularly interested in how these traditional mash tuns supported their false bottoms, did they use a ledge around the edge of the vessel ?
[…] Martyn Cornell has a nice photo tour of the Shepherd Neame Brewery. And on YouTube there’s an interesting tour of the brewery. […]
Oh, wow… that cooler at the top of the brewery.
Hook Norton need to clean it up and do a wildish sort of critter… coolship style?
Seconded. Memories of Cantillon there.
Fabulous articles with great photographs, Martyn ! My congratulations with those! I now regret terribly that I never took a good camara with me on my brewery visits.
Have you been to Harveys of Lewes yet ??
Yes, I’ve ticked off both Harvey’s and McMullens, so I have all three surviving William Bradford breweries under my belt.
Thanks for publishing some internal shots from Shepherd Neame and Hook Norton, enjoyed them.
I have stood outside both of these breweries, unable to enter. This is the next best thing – thank you!
Thanks Martyn, I have a question about the mash tun at Shepard’s, is that entirely made of wood? I can’t tell for sure from the picture. If so it seems rather late for still using wood. I am trying to find out how far back metal plates mash tuns go. Do you have an knowledge on that?
Thanks,
Frank Clark
The plates in the base of ther Sherps mash tun are certainly metal: the cast iron mash tun was patented by Jonathan Dickson in 1808, but many big brewers, including Bass, Allsopp and Barclay Perkins, were still using wooden mash tuns in 1889.
Very interesting article and great pictures. I’m particularly interested in how these traditional mash tuns supported their false bottoms, did they use a ledge around the edge of the vessel ?
[…] Martyn Cornell has a nice photo tour of the Shepherd Neame Brewery. And on YouTube there’s an interesting tour of the brewery. […]