This week’s Meet The Brewer comes from Steve at Durham Brewery, they are just up the road from me and they are one of my favourite breweries, they make some fanastic strong ales along with some pretty tasty session ales too.
What is your brewery capacity?
10 barrel plant
Steve "quality" checking his beer
What is different about your brewery?
Properly cask conditioned – no conditioning tanks. Properly traditional – no filtration, all bottles are bottle-conditioned.
How long have you been brewing for?
Since 1994
How did you get into brewing?
Job as a peripatetic brass teacher finally succumbed to the Thatcher treatment.
What beers do you brew regularly?
Magus, Evensong, White Amarillo, Black Velvet, White Gold
What special/seasonal beers do you brew?
All our beers are special – Temptation – 10% Russian stout, Bede’s Chalice – 9% Barley Wine, Orang-a-tang with honey and orange, Cat’s Whiskers with coriander and more!
Where do you think the future of brewing lies?
Retail and bottles with a small number of high quality pubs
What is you proudest moment in brewing?
Winning the first GBBF Real Ale in a Bottle with Evensong
Do you have any brewing regrets?
No
What was last beer you drank?
Benedictus – 8.4% Barley Wine
What is your favourite hop?
Difficult one – it has to be between Cascade, Columbus and Goldings
What is your brewing ambition?
To get people to realise that beer is better than wine for drinking with food and to recognise the enormous variety of styles and flavours there
are.
Do you have a Brewing hero/inspiration?
Michael Jackson
Which beer do you wish you had brewed?
Ruddles County, when it was Ruddles
Favourite hobby outside of brewing?
Possibly photography but I am fascinated by the financial markets
Thanks to Steve for filling this in, I know he is a busy man, you can visit their website here, which gives you loads of info on their beers, they also have a shop selling mini casks and bottles.
I’d love to know which bars on Tyneside Steve supplies with the frabulous White Amarillo (surprised the politically correct heterophobic types in the local councils haven’t been trying to shut him down for the innocent use of “white” in the title !) as I used to travel to Aletaster in Low Fell, but they’ve stopped stocking it, for whatever reason.
I need my White Amarillo !!!!