A Tale of Two Brewers....

I visited Bingley brewers Goose Eye last week and had a most interesting tour around one of Yorkshire's most popular traditional brewers. Meanwhile a few days earlier, by way of a contrast, I went to a Meet the Brewer event with one of the country's leading modern brewers, The Kernel. And so here's some thoughts on the brewing world....

The original Goose Eye Brewery originated in the small Pennine village of the same name a few miles from Keighley in the late 1970's, started by Brian Eastell in an old building close to the village pub, the Turkey Inn, which became the main outlet for the fledgling brewery. These days it would be classed as a micro brewery, but back then, its small scale meant it was something of a novelty. I remember making the trip a few times and braving the incredibly steep roads that converge on the village, but it was always worth the visit to enjoy the novelty of drinking a pint of Goose Eye in the Turkey Inn in Goose Eye! I also have vague memories of going on a pub trip there, but when and with which pub is lost in the mists of time!

These days, the Turkey Inn still sells Goose Eye beers, having been bought in the last couple of years by ex-Keighley Cougars player Simon Mortimer and his partner, but the brewery has long since moved on. It had continued brewing in the village, on and off until 1988 when it closed and Brian Eastell moved to Australia. Returning in 1991, he started it up again along with Jack Atkinson, the father of the current owner, this time being based in Ingrow, just outside Keighley, where they stayed until 2017. Meanwhile, Brian moved on to run the Old White Bear at Cross Hills, and Jack's son David joined the business. The brewery continued to prosper, and the need for extra capacity eventually led to a move to their current home on the Castlefields Industrial Estate in Crossflatts, near Bingley. Goose Eye continues to be a family business, and whilst Jack has now retired, Dave has been joined by his sons, Joe and Jack, with the team being completed by Jamie Rowell.

Cut to a cold Monday afternoon in mid-December, and I was with a group of my colleagues from the Grayston Unity in Halifax, and as part of our Christmas do, our boss Michael Ainsworth had arranged for us to have a quick tour of the brewery. Michael had mentioned to me years ago that he had family connections with the area on his mother's side (these connections incidentally being where the Grayston name comes from). The family had owned a brewery called Aaron King and Co which was situated in the middle of Keighley. It had been formed in 1865, and several pubs were owned in the local area, including the former Globe Inn and Eastwood Tavern in Keighley, the Hare and Hounds in Lothersdale, and the Guide, high on the hills between Cullingworth and Keighley. The brewery finally closed in 1958, with one of their last three surviving pubs being the Turkey Inn as mentioned above, but the distinctive K sign that was the brewery's trademark is still etched in the windows of this attractive village pub.

We had caught the Skipton train from Bradford Forster Square and got off at Crossflatts station. We walked out of the station, crossed the road, entered the industrial estate, and there behind Screwfix, in a modern unit, was the home of Goose Eye Brewery, their home of the last five years. We walked around the side of the building into a tidy yard, where there was some outdoor seating, a van, barrels, pallets, waste bins and the like. Not surprisingly given the weather the large shuttered door was closed. A phone call later, and it started to open, revealing a warm, clean, tidy room with a number of brewing vessels. Dave broke off from what he was doing and walked over to welcome us, and as we were exchanging pleasantries, a large black dog padded down from a mezzanine floor to greet us with a friendly sniff.

Dave then showed us around the brewery, as Joe and Jamie were cleaning down. Despite sticking pretty much to a traditional range of beers, the brewery has some modern and impressive kit, which enables them to ensure the quality is consistent. Only the best ingredients are used, with malts sourced from Thomas Fawcett of Castleford and hops from Charles Faram of Worcestershire, whilst the yeast was originally from Thwaites Brewery. The brewery sells their beers predominantly in West and North Yorkshire, and East Lancashire, although they have a few customers who are a little further afield, deliveries generally being undertaken by themselves, with little going through distributors. Many customers, like the Grayston, where their 4.2% Chinook Blonde has been a constant on the bar since it opened in 2016, have been with the brewery for years.

The most popular beer is Chinook Blonde, although Dave said the bitter was also performing very well. One I have always liked, and which I haven't seen for a while, is the 5.2% deceptively strong pale Pommie's Revenge, which is still in the range. Listening to Dave as he showed us around, it was clear that the team are very well-organised, they care very much about the quality of what they produce and what goes into it, and they know what their customers want.  It hasn't been easy with prices increasing, he said, and with the cost of malt set to increase significantly in the New Year, there will be further pressures on costs for the business. But at a time when the list of breweries closing seems to sadly be getting longer every week, I sensed with their steady, down to earth, pragmatic approach to their business Goose Eye won't be joining them anytime soon.

As the tour drew to a close, Dave took us upstairs to the taproom, which opened in 2019. Situated on a mezzanine floor with a view over the brewery, it is a large comfortable room with light wood flooring with plenty of seating. A number of clear roofing panels help to give it a light, airy feel. The long bar has six of the brewery's beers on handpump. It opens on Fridays and Saturdays, and with it being only yards from Crossflatts station, it is in an ideal location, particularly if you need to pick up some bits from Screwfix. There is street food available in the yard downstairs some Saturdays as well, whilst in the cold months of winter a wood-burning stove keeps the taproom toasty and warm. I will certainly be taking a trip back there in the coming months. And as we left the guys to catch our train on to Skipton I remarked that I had been very impressed by what I had just seen.

Just going back to my earlier comments about breweries closing - the number is currently running at over 80 this year - I noticed that Leeds Brewery were on the most recent list, apparently facing a winding up petition from HMRC. Whilst it is of course sad news for all involved, I did comment in a recent blog that I had recently found the beer to be at best indifferent on a visit to one of their former pubs. But for all those involved of course I hope that there is a positive resolution.

Now by way of a contrast to my visit to Goose Eye who are proudly traditional in what they do, I attended a Meet the Brewer event at Dukes in Halifax where the guest was pioneering London brewery The Kernel. Their beers are rarely seen in the town, and to find so many on both cask and keg in one place at the same time was a real kid in a sweetshop moment! 

The Kernel started out in a railway arch in Bermondsey, east London, in 2009, heralding the arrival of what would eventually become the the home to many new, predominantly keg, breweries, the area coming to being dubbed The Bermondsey Mile. They began to brew an eclectic range of beer styles, using innovative methods and ingredients, winning many admirers on the way, and such was the demand for their beers that in 2012 they had to move into new, larger promises. They brewed bottle-conditioned beers and keg, all packaged with a standard simple minimalist label or keg badge. The first time I came across Kernel beers was at Browton's Bottle Shop in Ashton-under-Lyne. A couple of my friends from the Buffet Bar in Stalybridge had been raving about a 3% Table Beer that was available there, so one week I headed over to join them. The beer was bottle-conditioned, and despite its low strength, there was plenty of flavour and body to it, an absolutely stunning beer, which has spawned many imitators over the subsequent years.

Table Beer was on at Dukes, but on keg, a pint of which was eagerly consumed by our Tom. I was drawn to two beers that they had supplied on cask. The brewery were represented by Rick, a friendly guy who was originally from Philadelphia, who explained that had started to produce some cask, but that they were still learning the art of brewing it. I tried a half of both that were available, a 5.4% pale ale brewed with Centennial and Mosaic hops, and a 6.5% strong bitter, based on a recipe from the old Simmonds brewery. Both were very impressive beers, full of flavour, but particularly with the bitter, hardly quaffing ales! Interestingly, Rick did say that they had brewed a lower gravity bitter at around 4.5% which had gone down well with customers at the taproom, and they would be producing it again.

All smiles: Sean from Dukes and Rick from The Kernel

I made it back to try a couple of the other beers. I had a deliciously refreshing 4.9% Foeder Beer featuring Nelson Sauvin hops (the foeder being a 4,000 litre capacity oak vessel previously used for red wine production), and a 4.6% Dunkel which was full of malty character. It was a most enjoyable showcase featuring one of the country's most innovative brewers, and I look forward to trying Kernel beers again soon....

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