work page Freeminer Brewery, Cinderford, Forest of Dean

BREWERY PAGES

Last 30 September 2007 11:14

I joined Freeminer Brewery in June 2002. These work pages are unofficial and due to activities from our competitors no longer feature pubs where our beer can be found. The official website can be found at http://www.freeminer.com.

BREWERY NEWS

New Co-op Organic Beer launched - October 2007

After a period of development Free miner and the Co-op have launched a new bottled beer - Co-op Organic. It is also Fairtrade.

New Fairtrade beer temporarily available in cask - November 2006

Fairplay 4.8% ABV is made with organic malt and Fairtrade Demerara sugar and brewed to create an enjoyable drinking experience that is well worth repeating. Bringing the finest Fairtrade products together with the finest malt available in Britain today, our Head Brewer believes that this is a product with quality at its heart and fundamental goodness in its soul. Named after an old Forest free mine.

Under New Ownership - October 2006

The brewery has now been bought out by Peter Thomas who has dealt with the bottling contracts for the brewery for a number of years. A number of improvements have been made to increase capacity and optimism quality.

Iron Brew 4.2% ABV Spring beer for 2006

J D Wetherspoon chain will be selling iron Brew for the months of April, May and June 2006. It is a couple of years since this beer was brewed, so ask your local publican for it as well!

'The Best' launched by Morrisons Supermarket - January 2006

Morrisons launched a new beer as part of its 'Best' range in January, quickly establishing good sales. It is a bottle-conditioned full bodied beer weighing in at 6% ABV it is priced at£1.59 and moves, to some degree, away from the budget end of the marketplace. Freeminer is pleased that another supermarket has recognised the quality of the beer it produces.

Speculation and Gold Miner (Co-op Bottled Beer) - December 2005

Both the above beers are featured in the new book '300 Beers to Try Before You Die!'

Silver Award for Speculation in Premium Beer Category - August 2005

In the Regional SIBA Beer Competition held at the Barrel Beer Festival in Hereford, Freeminer picked up Silver with our premium beer Speculation.

CAMRA Gloucestershire Beer of the Year - July 2005

Awarded after a tasting for the first time, Strip and at It has been awarded the title of Beer of the Year. Traditionally brewed at news of the first hosepipe ban in the country it is a fine award for a light Summer ale, and it is a shame that this style of beer cannot be held over for sale during Autumn and Winter months.

Cotswold Life Drinks Producer of the year 2005 - June 2005

In 2004 Don Burgess was awarded a Lifetime Acheivment award. This year Freeminer Brewery has been awarded Drinks producer of the Year! Good to get recognition from an independent established body.

Bumble Bee Fairtrade Ale - March 2005

The Co-op have commissioned another beer from Freeminer Brewery. Made using Chilean Fairtrade honey, it is a light tasting beer, with hints if pollen in the aftertaste. This beer will be available for the foreseeable future.

Abergavenny Food Fair - 18th and 19th September 2004

Freeminer had a stand at the ever expanding food festival which has now spread out around the town, and featured a bar run by Gwent CAMRA in the Castle grounds. Happily, this did not affect sales in the food hall with a good volume of bottles being sold.

Dean Heritage Centre Big Ploughman's Day - 19th September 2004

In addition to Abergavenny, Freeminer also had a stand at the Big Ploughman's Day. Various local suppliers attended with bread, cheese, salad, pickles, wine and, of course, beer! You could select what you wanted and make your own ploughman's lunch. We were lucky with the weather, Sunday being bright and mostly dry. A slow start was soon made up for, and everyone seemed to enjoy this novel event.

Hop Walk - 8th September 2004

Charles Faram, hop merchants from Worcestershire, hosted a very enjoyable day showing brewers from all around the country - and abroad - hop harvesting at Pridewood Farm. A number of brewers had supplied beer for the event, which finished as a social event after the tours around the picking and drying areas.

Achievement Award for Don Burgess - 10th July 2004

Cotswold Life magazine today presented Freeminer Brewery founder Don Burgess with an achievement award. Full press release follows -

Don Burgess crowned with Cotswold achievement award

Don Burgess from Freeminer Brewery was recognised with an achievement award at the second annual Cotswold Life Food and Drink Awards in a ceremony staged at the weekend (10-11 July) in the Suzuki Cotswold Show & Country Fair showground.

Cotswold Life introduced this award to celebrate someone who has worked tirelessly in the pursuit of championing local food and drink. Don was picked from all the finalists at the awards evening for not giving up against all odds, including a fire and foot and mouth. Don is a real believer in what he does, sources locally where possible, sticks to tradition, and is helping to bring much needed tourism to the Forest of Dean . Freeminer Brewery has even had Americans visiting them because of their love for this product!

More than 200 guests and finalists toasted winners across fifteen categories which had been nominated by the magazine’s readers. Tension was high as a menu of locally produced food and drink was consumed in the lead up to the ceremonious unveiling of the winners in a special presentation hosted in the grounds of Cirencester Park .

Cotswold Life Publisher Peter Waters explained why the magazine introduced the awards to the region: “The Cotswold Life Food and Drink Awards are simply a reflection of the magazine itself: we believe in supporting local, independent businesses and highlighting the things that make this area such a great place to live.”

“The awards evening is a celebration of Cotswold produce and the best thing about them is that they have been voted for by our readers, the public. To win an award or be a finalist means that the business is offering great customer service, value and local knowledge,” he added.

The full list of winners in each category was; Butcher/Meat Producer of the Year – Chesterton Farm Shop; Best Specialist Food Shop – Longborough Farm Shop; Best Farm Shop – The Dickenson’s Beeches Farm Shop; Best Organic Trader – The Natural Grocery Store; Best Food Producer of the Year – Hobbs House Bakery; Best Drinks Producer of the Year – Days Cottage Apple Juice; Newcomer of the Year – Ruddle Court Farm Cheese; Staff Training & Development Award – Ensors Abbatoir; Best Farmer’s Market – Stroud Farmers’ Market; Most Distinctive Menu – The Bell at Sapperton; Dining Pub of the Year – The Trouble House in Tetbury; Country Pub of the Year – The George at Stonehouse; Chef of the Year – Michael Finlay from Mad Hatters in Nailsworth; Restaurant of the Year – The Mulberry Restaurant at the Manor House Hotel; Cotswold Life Achievement Award – Don Burgess from Freeminer Brewery.

Editors’ note:

PR contact: Gemma Irvine , CMc Media, 19-23 Market Place , Cirencester, Glos , GL7 2NX .

Tel: 01285 654777. Fax: 01285 642100. Email: girvine@cmcmedia.co.uk

Saul Canal Festival - 2nd, 3rd and 4th July 2004

Freeminer Brewery provided the behind the scenes backup to the real ale bar at this years canal festival. In preceding years the real ale has always run out early, so 180 more gallons of beer than was drunk last year was brought along. Featuring beer from four local SIBA brewers, the selection of brews was reduced from last year, but with more of each beer the speed of service was improved. Extending the bar to 50 feet helped a lot in this respect. Each brewery - Freeminer, Wye Valley, Wickwar and Teme Valley - supplied three different beers, all of which were made available at once. The first beer - Freeminer Speculation - sold out early on Saturday lunchtime, 54 gallons of this brew being served. On Saturday evening Further supplies of Freeminer beer were on site, luckily giving the new beer time to settle before serving on the Sunday! The real ale ran out 10 minutes before the bar closed on Sunday night, with some 7200 pints of real ale having been consumed. In addition, Keith Orchard had supplied just under 100 gallons of dry and medium cider, and 300 gallons of keg lager, cider and bitter had been sold. Other alcopops and wine were also available.

The bar plan worked well, and plans are already in place for next years event which has been scheduled for the first weekend in July 2005.

Going Green - January 2004

Freeminer Brewery is first Carbon Neutral brewery!

Freeminer Brewery is already a fuel-efficient brewery as it stands. However, we still produce global warming gases through staff transport, delivery and sales costs as well as the inevitable use of fuel during the brewing process.

We think that companies ought to do something of value to communities over and above the nuts and bolts of their business. That’s why we’ve chosen to make our brewery CarbonNeutral. What that means is that we commissioned Future Forests to measure the global warming gas - carbon dioxide C02 - we produce in operating our business. We are then paying them to ‘offset’ or compensate for these emissions by planting trees in the UK to offset our production of carbon dioxide.

Coming from a Forest based brewery this may seem obvious, but it’s a small step to helping protect the environment for the next generation.

Bottle Sales

Background

Freeminer used to get its beers bottled at Wessex Craft Brewers in Mitcheldean. Due to financial and quality reasons we stopped using Wessex eighteen months ago; the business subsequently went into administration. In our search for bottling plants when securing the Co-op contract, we settled on Marstons in Burton on Trent. When re-launching our own brands - Trafalgar, Speculation and Waterloo - in bottles we went back to Marstons and are pleased with the quality obtained. The higher volume has also given us a chance to re-design the labels so that the beers stand out on the shelves and give a professional impression. The move from paper labels means that it does not wrinkle when placed in a fridge or water bucket if you prefer it chilled! Trafalgar India Pale Ale, Speculation and Waterloo are available now from the brewery in cases of twelve 500ml NRB. All are bottle conditioned.

Co-op

Fairtrade Honey ale - Bumble Bee 4.6% Launched March 2005

The first honey ale from Freeminer, this beer is available in filtered and pasteurised form exclusively from the Co-op. Made with 23% Fairtrade honey from Chile it is not sweet and sickly as you may fear. Instead it is light with a small aftertaste of pollen - very refreshing chilled.

Award Winning Gold Miner 5.0% ABV Launched 2003

Gold Miner is bottled exclusively for the Co-op as part of their Truly Irresistible range. Demand means that the Freeminer brewed beer is bottled at Marstons in Burton on Trent, being shipped there by tanker. Christmas sales in 2004 were helped by winning a Q Award sponsored by Checkout and Independent Retail News. Judges were impressed by the ale’s unique taste and appearance. Gold Miner beat Hoogarden Premier Cru. Gold Miner is available nationwide from Co-op stores.

Golden Mile - a one-off celebration ale 4.0% ABV (brewed April 2004)

Freeminer have produced an ale to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the four minute mile. Suitably for a golden anniversary, we used Golden Promise and Caragold malt, complemented by First Gold and Brewers Gold hops. The result was delightfully golden beer, shown off to its best advantage in its clear bottle.

Morrisons

The Best 6.0% ABV Launched January 2006

Strong, quality ale brewed for Morrisons. Bottle conditioned for quality.

Technical Tips – hard spiles

To ensure that real ale has the longest possible shelf life, and stays in the best condition, you should hard-peg the cask after each session. If using vertical spears, the breather valve does the same job as the spile. This action prevents too much air oxidizing the beer, and helps retain the natural carbon dioxide levels. It is good practice to also close the cask tap. This means that when you come to serve the beer at the next session, you won’t forget to remove or loosen the spile before serving. Pulling against a hard spile may result in the beer being disturbed and needing to re-settle as well as removing condition from the beer. The plastic casks that are now becoming evident in the trade have also been know to “jump” on the stillage due to the flexing that a vacuum produces!

An alternative is to use a simple valve-breather system. No external gases are used: these only allow air to be drawn into the cask when beer is pulled out. This system means that you don’t need to hard spile the beer, or remember to loosen it at the next session – it is all taken care of automatically. They can be ordered from the brewery at a very reasonable cost.

I have included below a selection of photo's taken since I have been at the brewery.

Various brewing pictures