July 2008:
On 2nd July we were very proud to celebrate five years of brewing at The Loddon Brewery.
In this special month, we are pleased to announce that we have now supplied beer to the prestigious Leander Club in nearby Henley-on-Thames for five years in a row. We also begin the first year of beer supplies to the Remenham Club. Still on a rowing note, we are delighted that sales of Loddon beers were at an all time record high at the recent Henley Royal Regatta.
From 28th July, bottle conditioned Loddon Ferryman's Gold will be permanently stocked by all 153 branches of Threshers in the Thames Valley region.
From September, bottle conditioned Loddon Ferryman's Gold will also be available at selected local ASDA outlets.
March 2008:
Bottle conditioned Ferryman's Gold will be available in local Tesco branches (Oxfordshire and Berkshire) from April this year.
January 2008:
The Loddon Brewery have won the contract to supply the new Heathrow Terminal 5 with a house beer called Crown Rivers (ABV 3.9%). This beer will be available Airside in the two J D Wetherspoon Bars.
We now brew Gravesend Shrimpers Bitter, an exclusive beer for AVS Wholesale based in Gravesend. The beer had been brewed by a Yorkshire Brewery. This was a difficult task for the brewers at Loddon as they had no recipe to work with. A small sample of the Yorkshire brew was sent to the brewery for tasting and analysis and a recipe formulated. The beer has been well received by the existing customers of AVS.
November 2007:
Ferryman's Gold has won the bronze award at the SIBA Midlands annual beer competition.
October 2007:
Thanks to the generosity of many, Luke Hearn and Ed Dupee raised £5700 for the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance through their 700 mile sponsored cycle ride this Summer.
September 2007:
This month we are pleased to welcome our new drayman, Ian Taylor and new brewhouse assistant, Jordan Jedrzejczyk.
July 2007:
|
Beer of the Festival: On 2nd July at the Allied Arms in Reading, The Loddon Brewery was presented
with the Beer of the Festival award, as was decided by public vote at the recent Reading Beer
Festival. The event also celebrated the 4th anniversary of brewing at The Loddon Brewery.
Left: Brewer Steve Brown with the award. |
Two lifelong friends are to embark on a 700 mile cycle ride to raise money for the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance - and the trip is being sponsored by The Loddon Brewery.
Luke Hearn, son of the owners Chris and Vanessa and Ed Dupee, who works at the brewery during holidays, hope to raise £5000 for the life saving service.
For more information and to donate, visit
www.justgiving.com/hellisangels.
June 2007:
Bottle conditioned Ferryman's Gold (4.8% ABV) is now available at local Thresher and Wine Rack shops.
Loddon Brewery will celebrate their 4th birthday on the 2nd July this year at the Allied Arms, St Marys Butts, Reading from 7.30pm onwards. The celebration will include a presentation from Reading and Mid Berks CAMRA for Ferryman's Gold winning the public vote for beer of the festival at this years Reading Beer Festival. Everyone is invited to attend and you will have the chance to meet all the brewery staff.
May 2007:
Two lifelong friends are to embark on a 700 mile cycle ride to raise money for the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance - and the trip is being sponsored by The Loddon Brewery.
Luke Hearn, son of the owners Chris and Vanessa and Ed Dupee, who works at the brewery during holidays, hope to raise £5000 for the life saving service.
A charity Rugby match is amongst the fund-raising events planned. For more information and to
donate, visit www.justgiving.com/hellisangels.
|
Tesco Drinks Awards: Loddon Premier Gold (4.8% ABV - bottle conditioned) will be available
from selected Tesco branches from 14th May.
Left: Vanessa Hearn accepts the award. |
At the recent Reading Beer Festival, Ferryman's Gold was awarded Beer of the Festival by public vote. Ferryman's Gold competed against more than 400 beers from across the UK to win this award.
The Reading Evening Post and Paul Clerehugh, chef and owner of the renowned Crooked Billet (Stoke Row) and London Brasserie (Reading), have named Chris and Vanessa Hearn the Local Food Heros for the month of May. Vanessa said that she was shocked and delighted with the award, especially since beer is not often regarded as a food. She added that traditionally beer has not been considered a good accompaniment for food, but now more and more people are realising how wonderfully the two can compliment one another.
Henley Food Festival: After the success of the first Henley Food Festival, Loddon Brewery are proud to announce that we will be increasing our sponsorship this year to become one of the elite sponsors. The festival dates are the 11th and 12th of May. 15,000 people attended last year and we hope for an increase in numbers this year. Visit the Henley Food Festival web site.
Henley Business Awards 2007: After winning the Henley Business Awards on two occasions it is a logical progression that The Loddon Brewery become one of the main sponsors this year, sponsoring the Newcomer of the Year Award. Visit the Henley Business Awards web site.
The Reading Beer and Cider Festival 2007 will be held between the 3rd and 6th May at Kings Meadow in Reading. Exclusively for the festival we are brewing a Belgian Abbey style beer (5.4% ABV), brewed with fresh vanilla pods, coriander and nutmeg. For more information on the festival, visit:
www.readingbeerfestival.org.uk
www.readingcamra.org.uk
October 2006:
Founder of The Loddon Brewery, Chris Hearn, was named Businessperson of the Year 2006 at the recent Henley Business Awards. Chris said "I am absolutely delighted with the award. It really is an accolade for the business rather than me. It just proves what hard work, determination and belief can do. It was altogether a wonderful night."
Tesco Drinks Awards: The Loddon Brewery entered the awards along with more than 250 other brewers. The aim was to find a bottled beer intended to be drunk straight from the fridge for Tesco's spring/summer promotion. Blind tastings took place to produce a short list of seven breweries for the final judging at the Ironmongers Hall in London on Friday 6th October. Vanessa Hearn was at the award lunch to hear the result. The winner was The Loddon Brewery. The as yet unnamed beer will be available from Tesco for eighteen weeks from May 2007.
The 1st Henley Beer and Wine Festival is to be sponsored by The Loddon Brewery and will be held on Friday - Saturday 1st and 2nd December at the Henley Rugby Club. More than forty beers will be available along with wines from Laithwaites and Woods Wines. Local produce will also be on sale. Tickets can be bought from the Henley Rugby Club.
September 2006:
We have purchased from Charles Farm hop merchants some of this season's fresh Golding hops. These are straight from the bine and unprocessed, i.e. not dried or compressed. With these hops we do not know the alpha acid content (this is what imparts bitterness) and so the resulting brew will be a surprise. Initial samples from the fermenting vessel show a pronounced ripe orange freshness and gentle bitterness. Called Wolf-Bine (4.1% ABV), this beer will be available from Wednesday 27th September.
The Loddon Brewery has been short listed in two categories of The Henley Business Awards 2006. The categories are Growing Business of the Year and Business Person of the Year. The winners will be announced in a ceremony at The Henley Management College on Friday 29th September.
We were proud to be selected to be the official cask ale supplier to the World Rowing Championships, which were held at Dorney lake, Eton, 20th - 27th August.
Loddon Brewery also sponsored the 2006 Wallingford Bunkfest, over the weekend of the 1st - 3rd September. Beers from all over the region were availabe, along with music and dance.
Plans for the brewery redevelopment are progressing and we hope to have the new shop open before Christmas. See the entry under May 2006 for more information.
May 2006:
Two Loddon beers won awards at the 2006 CAMRA Reading Beer Festival held between 27th and 29th April. Silver in the Best Bitter category went to Bamboozle and bronze in the speciality beer category to Hornet's Nest.
Loddon Brewery redevelopment. We are developing another 1,500 sq. feet for extra cask storage, malt storage and bottled beer storage. This will allow us to hold three different bottle conditioned beers in stock. Our current offices are now too small. New offices are in the process of being designed and refurbished to give us over 1,000 sq. feet of office space, which will include disabled toilet facilities. Also included in the redevelopment is a fully designated retail brewery shop that will allow us to stock over 150 bottle conditioned beers from breweries across the UK. Beer mustards, pickled onions in beer, ploughmans pickle in beer along with books on beer and Loddon Brewery merchandise will also be on sale.
The Loddon Brewery is proud to have been one of the sponsors of the inaugural Henley Food Festival, held between 28th and 29th April. There were 30 food stalls from local restaurants and live demonstrations by Anthony Worrell-Thompson, Raymond Blanc, Heston Blumenthal and Roy Ackerman, to name but a few. More than 15,000 people attended the event at the town hall.
March 2006:
Bottle conditioned Ferrymans Gold was awarded the silver medal in the SIBA National Beer Competition 2006 in the bottled beer category at the SIBA national conference held in Bristol on Friday 3rd March. Judging was carried out by a group of brewers and beer writers.
November 2005:
Ferryman's Gold won Beer of the Festival at the Redhill Beer festival, hosted by the East & Mid Surrey Branch of CAMRA. The festival was held between the 27th and the 29th of October. Ferryman's Gold beat over forty other beers to win!
Bottle conditioned Ferryman's Gold won the gold medal for Best Bottled Beer for the SIBA midlands region at the Nottingham CAMRA beer festival held on the weekend of the 22nd/23rd October.
On the same weekend, Russet won Beer of the Festival at the Swindon CAMRA beer festival.
September 2005:
|
Bottle conditioned Ferryman's Gold (4.8% ABV) can now be purchased at
the brewery.
Brewed with the finest Marris Otter barley to give a smooth, creamy malt flavour. Styrian Golding hops from Solvenia are used in abundance to impart a satisfying, tangy bitterness and stunning citrussy aroma - a golden work of art - worth crossing the river for! Click here for more information on bottle conditioned beer - or 'Real Ale in a Bottle'. (Link thanks to CAMRA.) |
Russet, our seasonal beer for September - November is available in all JD Wetherspoon outlets during September and October.
July 2005:
Loddon Brewery beers will be available in bottles from the end of August. Further information will be published here soon.
May 2005:
At the recent (28th April - 1st May) Reading Beer Festival, Forbury Lion IPA (5.7% ABV) was voted strong ale of the festival by brewers, publicans and journalists.
Also at Reading Beer Festival, out of approximately 400 cask beers, Flight of Fancy ( 4.2% ABV ) was chosen as beer of the festival by attendees.
April 2005:
Hullabaloo will compete against 54 beers from across the UK in the National final of the SIBA beer competition over the weekend of 8th April at the Thistle Hotel in Bristol.
A range of Loddon Brewery T-shirts, polo shirts and sweat shirts are now available to purchase at the brewery. Ceramic tankards and engraved glasses will be on sale shortly.
Spring IPA (approx. 5.7% ABV) is being brewed as a special beer for the Reading Beer Festival, 28th April - 1st May.
Bamboozle (4.8% ABV) will be Nationally available at J D Wetherspoon outlets for the Spring Beer festival during the first week of May.
We will sponsor the inagural Home Sweet Home Beer Festival at Roke near Benson. The festival will be held over the late May Bank Holiday weekend: Saturday 28th May to Monday 30th May. Forty different beers will be available from across the UK. Live bands, The Kennet Morris Men, Pig Roast and BBQ throughout the weekend.
Loddon Brewery Beers are now available through the SIBA Direct Delivery Scheme at Unique Pub Company outlets.
We are pleased to announce a sponsorship agreement with Abbey Rugby Football Club and also The Hounds Rugby Club, based at The Baskerville Arms in Shiplake.
We are proud to supply beer to Henley Cricket Club for the 2005/6 season.
November 2004:
Loddon brewery beers have won two awards at the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Midlands regional beer competition held at the Nottingham Beer Festival over the weekend of October 24th. Hullabaloo won gold and Ferryman's Gold silver, both in the Best Bitter category. Hullabaloo will now go forward to be judged in the national final at the Reading Beer Festival in April 2005.
Our seasonal beer Russet won a silver medal in the premium beer category at the North Hampshire Beer festival held at Overton during the last weekend of October.
September 2004:
|
The Newcomer of the Year Award was presented to The Loddon Brewery at the recent Henley Business Awards 2004. Chris and Vanessa Hearn say that they are absolutely delighted to have won the award, which is a tribute to all the hard work and effort that has been put in over the last 12 months. |
Russet, our new Autumn beer will be available from the 1st of October. This multi-grain beer of 4.5% ABV is brewed with eleven different types of malt and four varieties of hops.
Two German style beers will be brewed for the JD Wetherspoon Oktoberfest (4th - 17th October): Timtastic! a 4.6% ABV Helles bier and the 4.2% ABV 1-4-Yourself! Altbier.
Congratulations go to David James, winner of our beer naming competition. From the many fantastic suggestions received, we have decided to call our next seasonal beer Russet. Thank you to all who entered. We look forwards to giving David and his friends a tour of the brewery and and presenting him with a Polypin of his favourite Loddon beer.
August 2004:
The Loddon Brewery has reached the final shortlist of three in the Henley Business of the Year Awards 2004 in two categories: New Business of the Year and Overall Business of the Year. The award presentation will take place at The Phyllis Court Club in Henley on the 10th of September. We fought off more than eighty applicants to reach the finals.
Hornet's Nest, our seasonal beer for June and July was the first to sell out and was awarded a bronze medal at the recent Boxmoor ( Hemel Hempstead ) CAMRA beer festival.
The forthcoming JD Wetherspoon beer festival (4th - 17th October) will feature two new Loddon Brewery beers brewed exclusively for the event. Both beers will be in a continental style. Further details will be available soon.
Our beer naming competition has now closed. The winner will be announced here shortly.
May 2004:
Flight of Fancy wins awards. Our latest seasonal beer has been awarded gold at this year's Guide Dog Beer Festival in Southampton and a silver medal at the recent CAMRA Reading Beer Festival, where it competed in a field of 350 beers.
Because of this outstanding success, we will continue brewing Flight of Fancy during June and July.
April 2004:
Flight of Fancy, a refreshing Wheat beer for April and May is available now.
Chocs Away! Chocolate Porter was produced specially for Easter and proved a great success.
Due to popular demand, Hocus Pocus will return as this year's Christmas special.
|
Test brewing of cask conditioned Finns Irish Stout will begin at The Loddon Brewery in late April. Brewed from an old Irish recipe, Finns is currently only available as a canned version in and around Boston, USA. |
March 2004:
B'Gorrah, a multi-grain beer brewed specially for St Patrick's Day is now available.
Ferryman's Gold wins gold! Voted beer of the festival at the CAMRA Bath Beer Festival. Ferryman's Gold will now be entered into the final judging for the Champion Beer of Britain at this year's Great British Beer Festival, to be held in July at Olympia.
February 2004:
Win a brewery tour and a Polypin of beer! We haven't been able to think of a name for this autumn's ( October & November ) seasonal beer. So we're asking you to instead. You have until the 31st of July to send us your suggestions for a name. Don't forget to include your own name and contact details! If we choose to use your idea then we will welcome you and up to twelve of your friends for a tour of the brewery and present you with a Polypin of your chosen Loddon Brewery beer.
Bloomin 'Eck, the new seasonal beer for February and March is on sale now.
January 2004:
Ferryman's Gold in Japan. From the end of February The Loddon Brewery will be shipping bottled Ferryman's Gold to a distributor in Japan. Details of the distributor will be announced soon.
Beer awards. We are pleased to announce that Loddon Brewery beers have already received two awards. These are silver for Bamboozle at the Eastleigh Beer Festival in October 2003 and bronze for Ferryman's Gold at the North Hants Beer Festival in November 2003.
December 2003:
Hocus Pocus, the first seasonal beer from The Loddon Brewery is now available. This ruby red traditional Old Ale with a wonderful hoppy aroma is ready for your enjoyment.