Binghams Brewery

I went to check out the Binghams Brewery Tour in Twyford. It was a hot summers day and man, this was definitely the best thing to do!I started off by meeting Chris, (AKA the legend), head brewer and the most laid back guy I have ever met, everything that a brewer should be or aspire to be. The tour was packed, everyone walked in to a welcome drink of the original brew ‘Twyford Tipple” and wow, that was a way to welcome us. A burst of oaky flavour, met with a sweet hoppyness … perfect!Chris started brewing in his teens, and went on his first brewery tour when he was eighteen at King & Barnes brewery. This fuelled his hobby even more throughout university. He then became an computer programmer (completely unrelated), but after surviving a number of rounds of redundancy at his work, his position was finally made redundant so he started to think about his life and how to move forward. He thought to himself, what do I enjoy? And came up with two main things… brewing and drinking! He ended up scoring a job at Hogsback brewery, here he did everything, from brewing to bottling and selling. In the meantime, he was constantly brewing in his garage and having to persuade his pals to try his beer for free which was “a hard job”.Moving into their current premises was a mission and on the final night they were there until three in the morning, but Chris didn’t mind because it was no longer an industrial unit, they were now a fully working brewery!Twyford Tipple was Chris’ first beer brewed at Binghams, followed later the same week by their next brew, “Brickworks Bitter”, a rustic, malty, bitter, brew.Chris has done all kinds of crazy experimental things, from naming a brew (Doodle Stout) after his dog who's a labradoodle called “Stout”, to brewing a beer with chilli! He’s even done a recipe swapsy with a brewery in the States!Another great part of the tour was checking out the ingredients. Not the way other breweries do though (take a look, have a sniff). Chris says take a look have a sniff and taste a bit! NOT THE HOPS THOUGH! Chris showed us the more complex the recipe the bigger the variety of flavors.The whole tour is epic and you almost get a “walk through” with beer, letting your taste buds open up your imagination. The analogies were amazing, with the combination of male and female hops being compared to “going down to the cinema together”It’s what makes Britain so brilliant, real ale at the pump is all that you need to rememberToday Binghams produce a whole array of different brews. They have now launched a Craft Hop series of extra pale ales, each one using a single variety of hop for both bittering and aroma. The hops are sourced from diverse locations such as New Zealand and Poland, going round the world to showcase how different hops produce different flavours. Each brew in the series is likely to only be available for a few weeks before it runs out and they move onto the next one, so keep a look out for them at the pub or at the Binghams Brewery shop, twitter feed (@binghamsbrewery) or Facebook page.Chris said he’s not a microbiologist, he’s just a guy that likes brewing beer. It’s his passion and love for beer that makes the tour. Also the fact that he is thankful that he has the best job in the world!Afterwards I got to ask Chris a couple of Questions;What does ale mean to you?“It’s what makes Britain so brilliant, real ale at the pump is all that you need to remember”What inspired you to do these tours?"It was something that they did at Hogsback that was a great success and it worked really well. One tour that I did here, there was a women on, who said that she didn’t like ale and walked home with a crate!"I’ve been on some brewery tours but this it by far the best, skips out the rubbish and gives you an amazing experience! Chris’ passion really shone throughout, he’s a really noble guy and he seems to give back everything that people gave him when he started. If you're looking for inspiration to start doing homebrew, or just find out how your pint you drink down the pub is made, these are the guys to do this. Chris kept everyone totally engaged so even if you aren’t that keen on brewing, you will be by the end of this! Tours run on most Saturdays of the year at 3pm. Booking by phone in advance is essential.