Brewery News

Beer, Games, Music & Food for Tryanuary Beer Fest

24 Jan 2019

We’re getting really excited about our Tryanuary Beer Festival this Saturday (26th January). We hope you can join us at Brentwood Brewery anytime between 11am – 5pm.

The aim of the festival is to try something new for the first time.

Along with a diverse drinks menu which includes interesting, new beer flavours and styles, there’ll be fermented mocktails using shrub sodas and water Kefir by Caro B, forager Prosecco cocktails as well as Choc and a Shot – hot chocolate with a shot of something (alcoholic) in it.

The Cart Shed Restaurant (based in Epping) will be joining us to tempt you with some tasty game fare including their Venison Curry.

Our friends at SNAP charity are organising some fun games and ‘World Record’ attempts for you to get involved in. Have you ever tried to find out how quickly you can drink half a pint of beer with a teaspoon? Or seen how far you can throw a cocktail stick? These are just some of the zany activities the brewery has planned.

The entertainment is set to continue with music from The Disney Guy – Matthew Haslam-Hammond from 2pm. The Brentwood singer, who performs gigs throughout Essex, describes his genre of music as ‘pop, punk, acoustic Disney’ and himself as ‘a hero to some, village idiot to others’. His burning ambition is to perform at The Brentwood Festival.

Tryanuary has lots of new and interesting beer, food, activities and music for you to experience. Don’t worry, we’ll have some of your Brentwood Beer favourites to enjoy too. See you for a pint on Saturday?

Love Beer, Love Brentwood

Go Low-Cal, Low Alcohol BBC1

14 Jan 2019

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by Wendy

If you’re struggling to complete your Dryanuary challenge or have kicked off the new year on a weight loss diet, Brentwood Brewery has some marvellous news for you.

If no alcohol in January is proving too tough going, can we suggest going low alcohol with us instead? Our BBC1 is bursting with real ale goodness and flavour yet is just 1.5% ABV.

Low-Cal BBC1

More wonderful news. A 500ml bottle of BBC1 is just 80 calories. That’s fewer than an apple (about 95 calories) and less than half the calories of a standard beer. Typically a 4% beer is approximately 200 calories and 6% about 250.

Wine drinkers might be tempted to switch tipples too when they discover a bottle of BBC1 is half the calorific value of a standard 175ml glass of wine at around 160 calories.

Calories V Exercise

For anyone not completely au fait with calorie counting, what does this mean? In terms of the amount of exercise required to burn off a standard 4% ABV beer at 200 calories, it would take roughly:

half an hour of moderate swimming or singles tennis or football
three quarters of an hour walking or walking the dog or yoga
1 hour playing darts or bowling or volleyball

BBC1, our Beer of the Month for January, is a ridiculously drinkable, light brown coloured ale. It offers loads of flavours that burst on the palate from the mix of Columbus, Chinook, Citra and Cascade hops. BBC1 is available in 500ml bottles or Polypins from the Brewery Shop or online.

Head Brewer Ethan Kannor Pouring Himself a Bottle of BBC1 | Photo by Wendy Pike

Brentwood Brewery Tap Room is open six days a week. Why not pop in for a pint?

Love Beer, Love Brentwood

Tryanuary Beer Festival

07 Jan 2019

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by Wendy

Trying something new for the New Year is the idea behind Brentwood Brewery’s Tryanuary Beer Festival on Saturday 26th January. From new beers to new foods and new pastimes, Tryanuary Festival will be the perfect opportunity for you to experience something you’ve not tried or done before.

The Cart Shed Restaurant (based in Epping) will be joining us at Brentwood Brewery to tempt you with some tasty game fare including their Venison Curry.

As for new entertainments, have you ever tried to find out how quickly you can drink half a pint of beer with a teaspoon? Or seen how far you can throw a cocktail stick? These are just some of the zany activities and challenges the brewery has planned.

There will be some new beer styles and recipes to try too along with some spiced cider and speciality soft drinks.

More details to follow closer to the event.

Hope you can join us.

Love Beer, Love Brentwood

Panto Brings Festive Cheer

10 Dec 2018

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by Wendy

As tradition dictates there was a panto dame, a hapless hero and plenty of audience participation. That perhaps is where most similarities to any other panto you’ve ever seen, end. But this free-to-watch, low-to-no-budget production, Jack and the Beer Stalk, was hugely energetic, heartwarming and so very uplifting. Of course, unique. Brentwood Brewery MD Roland Kannor, who acted as narrator, was solely responsible for the script. And most likely, all the corny jokes. As you might expect from Roland, they were plentiful.

The cast of Jack and the Beer Stalk, Brentwood Brewery’s Panto
Photo by Wendy Pike

Enthusiastic Cast

Goldie and Jack ‘treading the boards’. Photo by Wendy Pike

Performed by an enthusiastic cast of brewery staff and friends, other roles included a hard-to-sell cow called Brexit, which the audience front rows soon learned had very leaky udders, a lumberjack (Andy Webb) and a talking bottle of Brentwood Gold, otherwise known as Goldie (Penny Hollington). The brewery’s own Statler and Waldorf Muppet Show theatre balcony critics, along with a host of extras, completed the cast.

Goldie the talking bottle of Brentwood Gold (aka Penny Hollington) with Jack (Ethan Kannor).
Photo by Wendy Pike

Lumberjack Andy
Photo by Wendy Pike

Hard-to-sell Brexit the cow (with leaky udders)
Photo by Wendy Pike

Audience enjoying the panto.
Photo by Wendy Pike

(Losing) The Plot

The audience was taken on an entertaining journey which sees the fortunes of poor Jack (Head Brewer Ethan Kannor) and his rather eccentric mother (Brewery Manager Dean Beckwith) take a turn for the worse when Jack has one too many in the pub and sells the family cow, Brexit, for a bag of hops. Miraculously things do eventually turnaround for the family of craft brewers and the story culminates in a happy-ever-after ending for all.

And they all lived happily ever after.
Photo by Wendy Pike

Quirkiness

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any quirkier, the whole production was filmed by another cow, an over-sized Friesian in the front row, with the intention of live-streaming it on Facebook.

Oversized Friesan seen in front row eating ice cream and filming whole production. Has anyone seen Shannon?
Photo by Wendy Pike

Sing-a-Longs

Action at the panto.
Photo by Wendy Pike

Familiar sing-a-long tunes with words written out for the audience to follow, with help from a large pointy stick, ably wielded by office manager Carol Tomsett, and some hilarious dancing from Jack’s Mum with help from a variety of other cast members, added to the fun.

Jack’s Mum – rather eccentric, bit bossy and a fashion sense best described as quirky. (Brewery Manager Dean)
Photo by Wendy Pike

One festival goer was spotted napping. But ten week old bulldog puppy Rubble can be excused for falling asleep on his owner’s shoulder.

Too much excitement for Rubble the bulldog puppy. Photo by Wendy Pike

Beer Elves Were Busy

Good Elf, Elf ’n’ Safety and Elf ’n’ Happiness behind the bar served those who bought participation tickets for the panto with a variety of six different Brentwood ales at the appropriate moments throughout the show.

Good Elf, Elf ‘n’ Safety & Elf ‘n’ Happiness busy serving beer to audience members taking part in the Panto.

SNAP Charity

Included in the participation ticket price was a donation to Warley-based charity Special Needs and Parents (SNAP). The charity also had a stall at the Brewery’s Christmas Beer Festival on Saturday (8th December) which is when the panto took place. SNAP volunteers were kept busy selling the charity’s Christmas cards and raffle tickets as well as running games and competitions for children of all ages.

Sam Tandy from SNAP with the SNAP stall run with help by volunteers. Photo by Wendy Pike

JW Ice Cream Company

There were mince pie flavoured ice cream samples to try in the short interval, supplied by J W Ice Cream Company, specialist alcoholic ice cream makers based at Chafford Hundred (www.jwicecreamcompany.ltd). The company also had a popular stall at the festival, serving ice cream tasters and selling individual tubs of their delicious products.

JW Ice Cream Company L-R Shans, Jay, Tracy and Mia
Photo by Wendy Pike

Shenfield Operatic Society

Earlier in the day, members of Shenfield Operatic Society came along with their Musical Director Alli Smith to sing Christmas carols to festival goers and to promote their latest show, All Shook Up, which runs at The Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch 30th Jan – 2nd Feb. Along with lots of popular, traditional carols, the group gave a hearty rendition of The Twelve (Brentwood) Beers of Christmas. (See the video – in the brewery’s next blog post.)

Members of Shenfield Operatic Society in fine voice at the brewery’s Christmas Beer Festival.
Photo by Wendy Pike

Next Year

If you happened to miss the panto, (and it really was an amusing sight to behold) there are whispers of another possible panto production next year. Let’s raise a glass to that.

Local CAMRA members with Brewery Liaison Officer Beryl (in pink) with Roland.
Photo by Wendy Pike

BIG THANKS

Roland and the Brewery Team would like to thank everyone who came along to watch, participate and perform in the panto. Special thanks go to our local CAMRA group and Brewery Liaison Officer Beryl, Shenfield Operatic Society, SNAP charity, JW Ice Cream Company and Lillypuds, as well as all visitors to the Christmas Beer Festival.

Panto Audience Participants enjoying a beer and a sing-a-long.
Photo by Wendy Pike

Love Beer, Love Brentwood

Beer Hampers

05 Dec 2018

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by Wendy

If you’re stuck for a Christmas gift idea for someone who loves real ale, we’d like to recommend … a Brentwood Beer Hamper.

It contains 4 x bottles of Brentwood Beer, a pint glass, a bar towel, a pen & a bottle-opening keyring, all packaged in a gift hamper. All for £22.

Beer Hampers can be ordered on our website but are for collection only from the Brewery Shop (we feel the glass is quite likely to break if we try to post them).

Or if you’re passing, you could call in and buy a hamper from the Brewery Shop. As you know, we’re next door to Calcott Hall Farm Shop.

Love Beer, Love Brentwood

New for Christmas 2018

04 Dec 2018

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by Wendy

To help keep you refreshed this Christmas here are four new festive Brentwood Beers to tempt you:

Crimble Crumble 4.5%

Santa’s Sack 4%

Toblerone Stout 4.5%

Jungle All the Way 4.3%

We ho-ho-hope you enjoy a tasty, festive pint of Brentwood Beer this Christmas.

Love Beer, Love Brentwood

Beer Tasting at Library – New Date

09 Nov 2018

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by Wendy

Following a highly enjoyable evening at Harold Wood Library’s Beer Tasting event, which Brentwood Brewery was invited to run as part of Havering Library Festival, Havering Libraries have invited us back. This time the Beer Tasting event is at Elm Park Library on Thursday 15^th November at 7.30pm.

Debbie and Roland Kannor at Harold Wood Library Beer Tasting

Tickets for the Elm Park Library Beer Tasting, costing £10 each, are available from Eventbrite or local libraries. Here’s the Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/brentwood-brewery-tasting-event-tickets-49984461871

Elm Park Library, 12 Saint Nicholas Avenue, Hornchurch, RM12 4PT.

Attendees Enjoying Some Brentwood Beer at Havering Libraries’ Recent Beer Tasting Event at Harold Wood Library

There’ll be a good range of different Brentwood-brewed beers to taste. Hope you can join Roland and team for a fun night out.

Love Beer, Love Brentwood

Gold Wins Gold at SIBA East

12 Oct 2018

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by Wendy

Brentwood Gold has won the Gold award in its class at SIBA East’s Beer Competition. It came top in the Bottled British Bitter (up to 4.4%) award and is the East of England region’s champion beer in this category. The Society of Independent Brewers East (region) Beer Competition was held at Elgoods Brewery in Wisbech earlier this month (September).

The brewery is so delighted that Roland and Bill, with a little help from Ethan, have made a short video in celebration:

It means that Brentwood Gold goes through to the national beer competition at SIBA Beer X which will be held in Liverpool next March where the eight regional Gold winners will battle it out for the national title.

Brentwood Brewing Company MD Roland Kannor said: “We’re very pleased to win a gold award for one of our most popular beers and one of my personal favourites; Brentwood Gold. On to the finals in Liverpool!”

Love Beer, Love Brentwood

Festival Went Fine & Dandy

09 Oct 2018

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by Wendy

Visitors to our recent Beer & Sausage Festival really seemed to enjoy the occasion. As well as a varied beer menu of Brentwood and Elephant School beers, all brewed on site in Brentwood, guests were entertained by jazz band Fine and Dandy.

Photo by Ricci Fothergill

Sausages from prestigious local butchers proved to be so popular that extra supplies had to be speedily bought in on the day. Our suppliers included Bert’s Butchers, Broad Oak Farm, Oliver’s Butchers and Neil S Risdon based next door at Calcott Hall Farm Shop. Rest assured, there was never any chance that the brewery would run out of beer.

Photo by Ricci Fothergill

Collection pots were strategically perched on both bars to encourage donations for Warley-based charity SNAP (Special Needs and Parents).

Photo by Ricci Fothergill

Brentwood Brewery’s MD Roland Kannor said: “It was another great, fun event at Brentwood Brewery. If you were unlucky enough to miss it, maybe you’d like to come along to our next Beer Festival events.

“To celebrate National Curry Week and Yorkshire Pudding Day we’re holding a Beer & Curry in a Yorkshire festival which we’re calling Chicken Bathia Day this Saturday (13th October). Planning ahead, another one to pencil in your diary is our Christmas Beer Festival on Saturday 8th December.”

Love Beer, Love Brentwood

Getting Arty with Craft Brewers

10 Sep 2018

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by Wendy

Among the many bottles and barrels at Brentwood Brewery, members of Ongar Art Society found inspiration for some sketching practise, transforming the brewery into a temporary art studio one Saturday morning recently.

The society’s membership secretary, Nicola Rhodes, said: “We like to go to different places on sketch days. In the past we’ve been to Greensted Church, Epping & Ongar Railway, Hylands Park and very often we go to our members’ gardens. It’s the first time we’ve been to the brewery.

“It’s good because it really gets you looking at different shapes and textures and you’re practising your skills”

The brewery environment certainly provided the group with some different and interesting, if somewhat challenging, subject matter to work with. All the artists agreed that beer barrels were the trickiest of shapes to tackle.

Ongar Art Society Chairman Beverley Hughes said: “New members are always welcome. You don’t have to be an artist to join, you just need to have an interest in art and some enthusiasm. Our members have a wide range of artistic experience and backgrounds.”

Relaxing in The Tap Room

After toiling over their sketchbooks, some members of the group relaxed in the brewery’s onsite Tap Room, sampling some Brentwood-brewed, draught BBC1 which is just 1.5% ABV but just as flavoursome as higher ABV beers.

Brewery MD Roland Kannor said: “We’re proud to serve, help and play an active part in our community. In the dozen years we’ve been trading we always aim to help the local community where we can.

“Whilst it’s always a pleasure to be of assistance, we always end up having fun and enjoying ourselves at the same time.”

We would like to thank all the artists (Nicola, Beverley, Loueen Morrison, Hugh Rayner and Fred Ambrose) who kindly allowed their work to be photographed and shared with our beer fans and readers of the brewery’s monthly newsletter The Beery News. Thanks also go to Hugh Rayner from Blackmore for donating his pencil sketch to the brewery.

The brewery and our Tap Room are open six days a week. See our home page for opening times, more details about the brewery or to sign up for The Beery News (www.brentwoodbrewing.co.uk).

Ongar Art Society

Ongar Art Society meets regularly on the second Thursday evening of each month (except August) at High Ongar Village Hall. The group is holding its Winter Art Sale at The Budworth Hall in Ongar on Saturday 10th November.