Real ale from Ruddles land
Rutland is Britain’s smallest county but it is responsible for what was one of the country’s greatest beers. Now the former head brewer is making waves again. Nigel Huddleston reports
It doesn’t take much to be the biggest brewer in England’s smallest county.
The Grainstore Brewery occupies a Victorian building that once acted as warehousing for vital supplies coming into and out of Oakham station in Rutland’s county town.
Co-owner and head brewer Tony Davis is used to his role as the county’s de facto head of the beverage. Before setting up Grainstore in 1995 he was head brewer at Ruddles, a post he took on at the tender age of 28, and during a time when the brewery changed ownership four times in almost as many years: from the Ruddle family to Grand Met to Courage and finally Grolsch.
He jumped ship before it was sold again to Morland, which itself was then sold to Greene King, who moved Ruddles beers out of Rutland forever.
All that now remains of the old brewery in Langham is a six-foot chunk of wall on a housing estate for middle managers.
Davis hooked up with a local engineer Mike Davies to form a company that rather awkwardly combines both their names – Davis’es Brewing.
Davis had already had his eye on the old grain store at Oakham station for some time, envisaging an old-fashioned tower brewery, using gravity to take the beer on its journey from the mash at the top to fermentation down below.
“I’d looked at this place and thought it was ideal because it was on three storeys,” he recalls. “Even when it was derelict it had a lovely feel to it.”
Mike Davies used his engineering skills to weld in a collection of vessels bought second hand fro.....
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By Nigel Huddleston
Section : Spotlight
Page number : 57
