COULD WE HAVE A BRITISH POPE?

Oxfordshire’s Brakspear Brewery is rooting for Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor to carry on the British papal link next week by becoming Pope.

Nicholas Breakspear (also spelt Brekespear and Brakespear) is, as yet, Britain’s only Pope and he ruled as Pope Adrian the Fourth from 1154-1159 as the Vatican’s 170th incumbent.

Nicholas Breakspear’s father, Robert Breakspear, had been a priest in the diocese of Bath before moving to the monastery of St Albans in Hertfordshire. The future Pope is believed to have been born nearby at Abbots Langley and was educated at the Abbey School in St Albans (now St Albans School).

From there, he moved to France to become a monk, an abbot, the cardinal bishop of Albano near Rome, and the papal representative to Scandinavia.

A second Robert Brakspear, a descendant of the same family, formed W.H.Brakspear and Sons Brewery in Henley, Oxfordshire in 1779 after a period as landlord of a coaching inn in Witney. In a quirk of fate, when the Henley Brewery was closed for re-development in 2002, a new site was found back at Wychwood Brewery in Witney for the re-establishment of the historic Brakspear brewing tradition.

Rupert Thompson, MD of Wychwood Brewery, comments:

“It is now 846 years and 96 Pontiffs since Britain last provided a Pope and we are hoping that Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor can continue the Brakspear family’s lead.

“Religious orders and monasteries have been central to the brewing of beer for centuries and I will certainly be raising a glass of beer to the new Pope, especially if it is another British one.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Pope Adrian IV used the symbol of a bee on his mitre - the tall tapering headdress worn by senior churchmen - as a reminder of the ‘B’ at the start of his original surname; and a bee remains as the main element of the brewery’s logo and on their beer labels.

Perhaps it was heavenly inspiration that led the new Brakspear pump clip, as seen on pubs’ bars, to be in the shape of a cardinal’s mitre?

Ale was an integral part of people’s diet and provided nourishment and daily B-vitamins at the same time as purifying the water. Drinking beer was also a great source of nutrients, and happiness, during Lent and was known as ‘liquid bread’.

In the late 1880's, doctors prescribed beer for Pope Leo XIII to aid in his digestion and in the 13th century, King Wenceslas convinced the Pope to revoke an order banning the brewing of beer in Czech territories.

Brakspear’s beers are brewed by the privately owned Wychwood Brewery of Witney Oxfordshire using Brakspear’s historic brewing vessels including their unique ‘double drop’ fermentation system, designed to give extra complexity to their brews.

As well as their cask ales - Brakspear Bitter (3.4% abv) and Brakspear Special (4.3% abv) Brakspear also brew three bottled beers including the Soil Association’s former Champion Organic beer of Britain, Brakspear Organic (4.6%); Brakspear Bitter (3.4%) and the recently launched Brakspear Triple (7.2%).

visit www.brakspear-beers.co.uk

For further information call Georgina Hicks on 01993 890 890

or please contact Rupert Ponsonby or Rosamund Hitchcock at R&R Teamwork on 020 7384 1333 or rupert@randr.co.uk