Visit to the Wychwood Brewery and Tap
We made the fairly easy trip to the legendary Wychwood Brewery in the town of Witney, Oxfordshire. Witney is historically famous for its 3 Bs; bread, blankets and yes, BEER! Although the town is in the middle of the Oxfordshire Cotswolds, the brewery is only a 30-40 minute bus ride from Oxford city centre on the S1 bus and with the rolling countryside, the journey is more than idyllic. Wychwood needs no introduction, established in 1983 it created their signature brew, Hobgoblin which has been renowned nationwide and is also known as the “unofficial beer of Halloween”. Walking through this historical town which is full of traditional pubs, the brewery doesn’t actually look out of place at all. This is because it’s on the original site of Clinches Brewery, dating back to 1811, with much of the same building still in use. 
Entering the very traditional looking office side door we went up the steps, took a right and were immediately in one of the bar’s lounge areas which are family friendly. It was great to see a traditional Wychwood bike and plenty of other original Hobgoblin memorabilia knocking about the place. Walking downstairs we entered into the main bar area, it had a completely different feel to your traditional “sterile”, white walled brewery tap. The original stone brick wall exterior created a cosy feel, as though you’d just walked into a traditional local, with a pub-like atmosphere.
The taproom launched in November 2018 and since then has proved a hot spot for beer lovers and sports fans alike. England was facing Ireland in the Six Nations, so people were already congregating to take up their reserved table, grabbing a beer and chatting about the game that was about to begin. On the bar were four cask pumps and four keg lines, with something for everyone and a few bar snacks to keep you going. 
We were then met by Assistant Brand Manager, Hannah Scott and over a pint of Dirty Tackle, she told us how well the tap had been received, “People love the tours that we run all through the weekend and I think that the general feeling is that it’s added to Witney’s beer scene. We’ve established ourselves as a good local pub and we’ve got two Aunt Sally teams [an Oxfordshire pub sport], it’s now claimed to be one of the best because it’s under cover.”
“Since then we’ve been showing the rugby which has gone down really well. People can book tables, sit and enjoy the game, on occasion we serve food too. So far we’ve only been showing the rugby, but this year we will be showing the football too.”With the game due to kick off, we just had enough time to take a look around the brewery with Senior Brewer - Steve “Mack” McCormack. 
The brewery produces approximately 1200 barrels of beer per week and had a multi-million redevelopment in 2002 that saw Wychwood Brewery undertake the brewing of the Brakspear beers. The historical ambiance of the building has been complemented by the traditional kit that was moved from Brakspear and still remains in full use. 
This includes Brakspears legendary ‘Double Drop’ fermentation vessels, which is a traditional brewing method that removes the cold break/ proteins that form haze and inactive excess yeast. On day one the beer goes into the tanks with fermentation and on day two this is then dropped into the tank below to produce a clearer beer. Although it is a low tech system, it is very effective, which is why it was kept when Brakspear moved to Wychwood. Amongst other quirky traditional factors, the original top of the copper from Brakspear dating back to 1779 is still in use, along with a four roller mill, originally from the Balblair Distillery, which is over 100 years old. The original kiln room still remains and is now the board room, surrounded by historic bottles of beer including the very first batch from 1983 and an uber cool Hobgoblin stained glass window on the ceiling.
Mack first joined Wychwood in 1988, after doing his work experience at the brewery he remained there part time, gaining his masters in brewing. He eventually left in 2001, only to return in 2016, “What’s weird is although hands have changed, the brewery still has the same feel, as when I started,” he said.
Mack had a fair few stories to tell from his previous stint at the brewery, including how the local farmer that used to pick up the spent grain had to help dig out the mash tun. He always refused to take off his tweed jacket saying, “What keeps out the cold, keeps out the heat”, which sounds like pretty sticky work!
After the short tour of the actual brewery we grabbed a pint of Hobgoblin IPA and settled down to enjoy the game, the atmosphere was electric! The tap isn’t just for sports games, it’s open Wednesday to Sunday, you can check out the hours here. There’s plenty of other things to check out; regular brewery tours and some awesome merch!
The taproom’s beer is tried and tested by the brewers too, which means that it’s going to be the best that it can be. It’s also the place where you can find some of Wychwood’s limited experimental brews on cask. They have a few lined up for this year including; Diceman stout, Shy Giant American hopped amber and 5Head session IPA. 
It’s great to see how far this brewery has come and despite being larger than its original two man outfit they are still keeping certain brewing traditions alive. The Wychwood Tap has plenty of character, so whether you’re local or from further afield go and check them out. If you’re driving, they also do growlers to take home too! :)
