Apart from the blindingly obvious, what do Gates Reservoir and Burton Bridge Bitter have in common? Both started out life as a home brew; Reservoir in Stuart Gates’ kitchen and the recipe for Burton Bridge Bitter was finalised by Bruce Wilkinson using Boots Home Brew Kits.
Outwoods Home Brewing Club (OHBC) launches at Outwoods Brewing Company on Thursday 3rd October 6.30pm until 8.00pm (and the first Thursday of each month thereafter) and aims to be of interest to home brewers of all abilities, promoting discussion about all aspects of the hobby. This isn’t the first home brewing club held in the town, Marston’s founded one in 2016 in their DE14 Nanobrewery and it was thriving nicely until COVID arrived, hopefully the OHBC will be able to generate the same level of interest.
“My wife Sam and I began homebrewing some years back, starting with a Nutbrown Ale; we paused for a while, but over the last year or so we have really gotten back into it again,” says Chris Murphy co-founder of the OHBC. “From wines to beers, it’s an amazing and rewarding hobby creating your own brews, the same as people who have allotments and grow their own vegetables.”
“I still think of myself as a home brewer at heart, cask is my new learning curve which I’m loving!” says Colin Trowell of the Outwoods Brewing Company who opened in July. “I still use a lot of the same equipment I did back in my garage, the same suppliers for my ingredients and kegs, same recipes, just the volume has changed and the selling point.”
Chris: “We met Colin the day Outwoods opened, we absolutely fell in love with the place and the beers he produces. He is a very approachable young man, with an amazing aptitude for brewing. Having spoken to Colin about the OHBC, Sam and I knew this was the right place, person and time to start the club.
“Being novices Sam and I had the thought to start the club to gain more knowledge about brewing. Being able to talk to other homebrewers and holding the club at the Outwoods Brewery will engage the brewing community in Burton and surrounding area. With Colin’s wealth of knowledge and experience and having the brewery on site, it will make the club one of the best.”
Colin: “The format will evolve over time, like one meeting will be about different hops and I will have 40 on show that people can smell and talk about the hop profile and which recipes I use them in etc. I’ll do the same with malt, but that is less fun. I will do technical demos on my old little kit, as it’s the same process as how I brew now. The ideas I have for OHBC are insane!”
Sam will be organising trips, club events, guest speakers etc. and is keen to promote an all-inclusive atmosphere at the OHBC.
“Anyone interested is welcome to join, even if they don’t homebrew yet but are thinking about it. All sexes and ages are welcome, the more people we can engage, the better the club will be,” says Chris excitedly. “All three of us have a passion for beer, brewing and all things related to Burton on Trent, the history of brewing in Burton and the industry of brewing throughout.”
Chris: “The OHBC is set up to bring together like-minded home-brewery fanatics who want to get together to drink each other’s brews and chat about all things beer and provide an excellent resource for learning. Most of all make it fun and not too serious!”
Outwoods Home Brewing Club will be held at Outwoods Brewing Company on Thursday 3rd October 6.30pm until 8.00pm.