The Sky’s the Limit for Brakspear

The refurbished Brakspear Dropping vessels, which have been in storage since the closure of the Brakspear brewery in Henley in December 2002 have been lowered into the new Brakspear fermenting room to be reunited with the Brakspear fermenters. Six of these were moved into position over the last couple of weeks at the expanded Wychwood Brewery site in Witney, Oxfordshire.

Now the major structural work and reassembly of the famous Brakspear double drop system is complete, attention will turn to the Brewhouse where, amongst other refurbishments, the Brakspear Copper and Mash Tun will be installed. Once this is done, the complex task of flavour matching Brakspear beers can commence. It is expected that the first Witney-brewed, flavour-matched Brakspear Bitter will be delivered into trade by the end of June; sooner if all goes well. Jeremy Moss, Head Brewer at Wychwood, will be collaborating with Peter Scholey, the former W.H.Brakspear Head Brewer, in the matching trials. They will be using not only the original Brakspear brewing equipment, but also the same varieties of malt and hops used in Henley and vitally, the original Brakspear yeast.