Wychwood Brewery is a brewery in Witney, Oxfordshire, England, owned by Marston's. The company's

flagship brand A core product or flagship product is a company's primary promotion, service or product that can be purchased by a consumer. Core products may be integrated into end products, either by the company producing the core product or by other companies ...

is Hobgoblin, a 5.2% abv brown ale. Wychwood Brewery produces around 50,000 barrels () of

cask ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...

each year, and is the United Kingdom's largest brewer of

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

ales. Wychwood filtered and bottled beers are exported all over the world, including North America, Germany, Sweden, France, Australia, Russia, Japan, Israel and Singapore. The brewery is known for its character-based label artwork, inspired by the myths and legends surrounding the ancient Wychwood Forest.

History

David Cameron and Barack Obama at the G20 Summit in Toronto

The brewery is sited at the old Eagle Maltings, built in 1841 to

malt Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...

barley for Clinch's brewery which had an estate of seventy-one pubs in Southern England. In 1961,

Courage Courage (also called bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, h ...

bought Clinch's for its pub estate and closed down the brewery. In 1983, part of the original Clinch's Eagle Brewery site was rented by Paddy Kenny, but named the brewing company Kenny Brewery. Chris Moss took his interest in exchange for a debt from Paddy and took over after Paddy Kenny moved away. In 1990, the Eagle was renamed the Wychwood Brewery after the ancient

Wychwood Forest Wychwood or Wychwood Forest is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Witney in Oxfordshire. It is also a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 1, and an area of is a national nature reserve The site contains a long barr ...

which borders Witney, at the same time the brewery moved to the Two Rivers Industrial estate still in Witney. In 1994 the brewery was moved back to the site taking on more of the old site. The brewery was taken over in 2002 by Refresh UK, a subsidiary of Marston's. Marston's then bought Refresh and Wychwood Brewery outright in 2008.

Beers

Hobgoblin

Hobgoblin is the best-known and most popular beer brewed at Wychwood Brewery and was created by Chris Moss. It is 5.2% abv in bottles, 4.5% in cans and 4.5% (previously 5.0%, and before that 5.6%, and originally 6.5%) on cask, and is described by Wychwood as a "Ruby beer". Jeremy Moss, Wychwood's head brewer, describes the drink as "full bodied and well balanced with a chocolate toffee malt flavour, moderate bitterness and a distinctive fruity character with a ruby red glow". It was the first bottled beer in the UK to feature an illustrated label, as opposed to a simple text-based one, and it is currently the second best-selling bottled ale in the UK. During a meeting at the

2010 G-20 Toronto summit The 2010 G20 Toronto summit was the fourth meeting of the G20 heads of state/government, to discuss the global financial system and the world economy, which took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, during J ...

, Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

and President Barack Obama gave each other bottles of beer from their respective home towns/cities, with Cameron presenting Obama with twelve bottles of Hobgoblin, which is brewed in his Witney constituency. In return Obama gave Cameron 24 bottles of Goose Island beer, from Goose Island Brewery. The President remarked that he would drink his beer chilled, as opposed to the optimal room temperature (15.5 °C/59.9 °F) at which strong ale should be drunk, prompting Wychwood to create a T-shirt in their online store reading ''"What's the matter Obama, afraid you might taste something?"''.Wychwood Online Gift Shop

King Goblin

King Goblin, essentially a stronger and more flavourful variety of Hobgoblin, is a 6.6% abv "Special Reserve"

ale Ale is a Type of beer, type of beer brewed using a Warm fermentation, warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typicall ...

.King Goblin Beer – Beer profile at Wychwood.co.uk
/ref> To date it is available bottled in Asda, Sainsburys, Morrisons and Tesco supermarkets, Draeger's supermarkets in the US, in "Broken English" shops in Berlin, and on draught during "real ale" festivals at Wetherspoons pubs.

Brakspear

Wychwood took over the brewing of the newly acquired Brakspear beers in October 2002. The new Brakspear brewery was integrated into an expansion of the Wychwood plant, and includes parts of the copper (boiling vessel), as well as some of the fermenting vessels which themselves had been refurbished at Henley. There is only one brewhouse at Witney but two separate fermenting rooms for the separate Wychwood and Brakspear beers. The Brakspear beers are still brewed in Witney by Wychwood and not in Henley, where the original brewery site has been converted into a boutique hotel.

Hatherwood

Using the name Hatherwood Brewery, Wychwood brews beers exclusively for the supermarket Lidl. These include: * Golden Goose * Ruby Rooster * Green Gecko * Amber Adder * Purple Panther (porter, 5% ABV) * Gnarly Fox * Total Legend (golden ale, 4.5% ABV)

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Wychwood Brewery Website

Quaffale

Refresh UK website

Opening Times Supermarkets
Companies based in Oxfordshire Witney Food and drink companies established in 1983 Breweries in England British companies established in 1983 1983 establishments in England