On Monday 4th December 2022, it was announced that Warrington’s Twisted Wheel Brew Co had ceased trading. Numerous factors contributed to the closing of this much loved brewery, including Covid, consumer confidence, cost of living crisis and the escalating costs of raw materials.
The announcement came within days of Wild Beer Co – a brewery renown for its barrelling programme – statement that they had gone into administration and were seeking a buyer for the business.
As you can imagine, the craft beer industry is on tenterhooks right now as businesses throughout the supply chain do what they can to survive the bleak midwinter.
Former Twisted Wheel brewer, Anthony Barrett, joins us this week to share his experiences of working as a brewer over the years, including his time at Vocation Brewery, and shares his reflections on the state of the industry and moving forward once a brewery has ceased trading.
This conversation was recorded the day after the announcement went live. By the time you’re listening to this, Twisted Wheel may be resurrected with Anthony at the helm or may, like many other, be another causality of the economic wrecking ball.
We’re also joined again this week by Will Rogers, Technical Director of Charles Faram & Co, who gives us an update on their breeding programme.
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Charles Faram have been hop factors and merchants since 1865 and hop growers for even longer than that.
While importing a vast catalogue of international hops, they have also developed their own varieties through their Hop Development Program set up to create wildly different aromas and flavours whilst also working closely with growers to produce varieties with good yields and disease resistance.
Every year a new class of plants are set off on their journey, involving disease assessments, aroma assessments, plot and brewing trials, to get from 10,000 individual variety seedlings to one super successful variety for commercial release. The Faram’s Family range brings to you Archer®, Emperor™, Godiva™, Harlequin®, Jester®, Most™ (pronounced Moss-t – it’s Czech for bridge), Mystic™, Olicana®, and Opus™.
They stock nitrogen flushed leaf hops, Type 90 pellets and T45 pellets; and – to ensure their hops remain in optimum condition – they have state of the art cold stores at their sites in Worcestershire in the UK and Yakima in the USA, with their Yakima site being a staging point for quality checks and the safe journey of US hops to the UK.
Charles Faram are fully committed to providing quality hops to customers at home and around the globe through their Well-hopped quality program.
Did you know that they also supply yeast, malt, fruit purees and other brewing products? Get one delivery and one invoice. The full range and product specifications can be found on their website charlesfaram.co.uk.
If you would like more information or expert advice on the different uses, applications and recipes, one of their Technical Advisors will be really happy to help. Visit charlesfaram.co.uk for more details
Notes:
All brand varieties are British and grown in Herefordshire and Worcestershire except for Most™ which is Czech.
Charles Faram have site in the US (Charles Faram Inc), Canada (Charles Faram Brewing Supplies Inc.), and Poland (Charles Faram Europe).
Partners in Charles Faram’s portfolio (but aren’t limited to):
Fermentis – yeast
Crisp – malt and malt extracts
Weyermann® – speciality malt and malt extracts
Murphy & Son – Brewing aids
Rankin Brothers & Sons – Closures
Totally Natural Solutions – Hop products and non-hop flavourings
