Tutored tasting events!

We will be holding free tutored tasting events in our brewery shop on Friday 20th December and Saturday 21st December at midday. Benefit from some expert guidance from one of our brewers and enjoy the chance to taste some of our beers.

The Britannia

Wye Valley Brewery would like to welcome new landlord Mike Pygott to The Britannia in Hereford.

The Britannia is a distinctive Victorian end-of-terrace pub within walking distance of the centre of Hereford.

Pelican wins Pub of the Year!

Wye Valley Brewery pub The Pelican has won Gloucester CAMRA City Pub of 2014. 

The Pelican is a traditional city-centre pub, ideally located near to Gloucester Cathedral. The pub was bought by Wye Valley Brewery in 2012 and benefited from a thorough refurbishment.

Congratulations to Mike and his team on their success.

Brewery Shop Christmas Opening Hours

Wye Valley Brewery will be extending its shop opening hours in the lead up to Christmas.

As well as their usual opening hours 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, the brewery shop will also be open on Saturday 7, 14 and 21 December from 10am to 4pm and until 7pm on Wednesday 18th December.

The shop is located at the brewery on the A465 Hereford-to-Bromyard road, in Stoke Lacy.

Open Day proves popular with visitors!

On Saturday 19th October Wye Valley Brewery threw open their doors to the public for a special Open Day in association with h.Energy. Visitors came from near and far to experience a taste of Wye Valley Brewery hospitality. 

Over 600 people enjoyed a tour, where they were able to learn about the brewery's new state of the art brewhouse.

Local producers Gladwins, Loafers and Cooking Cooks were popular with visitors, and entertainment came in the form of dancing from Leominster Morris Men, music from Vo & Tyler, magic from Kiegan Vallely and face painting from Lucy's Glitterbugs. 

The bars served up five delicious beers and sold over 1,000 pints.

 

Thinking caps on!

On Sunday 6th October we held our Quiz League Shield Final at The Britannia in Hereford.

Three teams battled it out, The Bell, Tillington, The Late Achievers from The Victory and The Nags Head, Peterchurch.

The Late Achievers had a reasonable lead at the half time break, but The Bell team drew back and they were neck and neck for the tie break question!

The tie break was a tricky tennis related question and The Bell team emerged victorious after a very close contest!

Local Brewery hosts Family Open Day

Wye Valley Brewery will be participating in Sustainable Herefordshire Week, known as h.Energy (12^th to 20^th October).

h.Energy is a week-long county-wide celebration about living more sustainably in Herefordshire. Having recently installed an energy efficient brewhouse Wye Valley Brewery has teamed up with h.Energy to celebrate.

The brewhouse design retains all the features of a traditional English brewery including using whole hop flowers, however it will incorporate some truly cutting edge features that will represent a quantum leap in terms of energy consumption and therefore sustainability.

To celebrate Wye Valley Brewery will open its doors for a special Brewery Open Day on Saturday 19^th October, 10am to 4pm.

The brewery will be running free brewery tours all day (first come, first served), along with beer bread made by local bakery Loafers, a pig roast by Gladwins Butchers, handmade fresh pasta from the Cookings Cooks, music from Vo & Tyler, magic from the fantastic Kiegan Vallely, dancing from Leominster Morris Men, kids' face painting and more! Not forgetting the full range of beers from Wye Valley Brewery.

Public transport – why not leave the car behind as the Number 420 Hereford to Worcester bus stops right next door to the brewery (Plough Inn Stoke Lacy) and only takes 20-30minutes from Hereford and 10 minutes from Bromyard or circa 45 minutes from Worcester.

For those who cycle to the brewery, we will be rewarding your effort with an exclusive cyclist-only special offer in the brewery shop. We look forward to welcoming all our visitors!

Britain's best kept brewing secret!

The hopyards of the Midlands of England produce the majority of the hops grown in the UK, but most of our beer drinkers are unaware that they exist. The brewers of Herefordshire and Worcestershire have come together to proudly boast that the hops on our doorstep and the growers who produce them are the best in the world.

Along with other Herefordshire, Worcestershire & Shropshire brewers we have launched an initiative for local brewers to produce at least one beer each containing ONLY hops grown in our region. 

The beers are available in pubs throughout the Midlands NOW and we have presented the enterprise directly to the public at The Bromyard Hop Festival and Ludlow Food Festival and in October at The Green Hop Festival at The Talbot, Knightwick and in November at the Flavours of Herefordshire Food Festival.

Keep an eye out for eye catching point of sale in the form of beer mats, pump clip crowns and leaflets detailing local growers and brewers. http://www.thehopshires.co.uk/

Gold for The Barrels

We are very proud to announce that Wye Valley Brewery’s flagship pub, The Barrels, has not only won a Gold award in the Heart of England in Bloom, Pub & Hotel category, it has also been crowned overall winner (in its category).

This follows on from their success last year in the Heart of England in Bloom competition, and this year in the City of Hereford in Bloom, Hotel and Grounds competition.

Geoff Evans, the Gardener for Wye Valley Brewery pubs, stated, “This is a great accolade for The Barrels and it really puts Hereford on the map in the regional element of the national Britain in Bloom competition”.

Gold for Butty Bach

We are proud to announce that Butty Bach was judged Gold medal winner at the Ludlow Food Festival.

Every year The Ludlow Food Festival runs an ale Trail sponsored by Wye Valley Brewery, and the beers are judged by the people taking part and by a panel of professional's. This year Butty Bach was judged Gold by the professional's!

Butty Bach was served by The Charlton Arms, which is just to the south of Ludlow and overlooks the River Teme. More about The Charlton Arms here.

26th Charity Beer Festival

For 26 years The Barrels (Wye Valley Brewery's flagship pub) in Hereford has held a charity beer festival every August bank holiday weekend.

Thousands of pints were consumed by the hundreds of customers who came to enjoy many excellent beers and ciders from various British brewers, including Herefordshire’s very own Wye Valley Brewery.

The beer festival is run by volunteers and benefits local charities. In its first year the festival raised £1,000 for local charities, this year they raised a huge £17,500, donations included £2,000 to St Michael’s Hospice who are currently raising money for their redevelopment project.

Over the last 26 years The Barrels Charity Beer Festival has raised well over £350,000 – a fantastic contribution to local charities. 

The Hopshires

A brand new website has just launched to promote the hopyards of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. These counties produce more than half the hops grown in the UK, but most beer drinkers are unaware that these farms even exist.

For more information about The Hopshires click here.

The Barrels makes Top Ten Pub

We were delighted to see that The Barrels made The Guardian's Top Ten Microbreweries and Pubs: readers tips feature in Saturday's paper. 

The feature focuses on craft beers, real ales, breweries inside pubs, and tempting bar snacks.

The article praises 'fantastic Wye Valley beer at amazing prices' and suggests trying 'Hereford Pale Ale in summer or the stronger Butty Bach in winter'.

For the article visit The Guardian website.

Brewery wins Silver at International Beer Challenge

Wye Valley Brewery has been awarded a Silver medal for Dorothy Goodbody's Country Ale at the International Beer Challenge 2013. This competition is now in its 17th year and rewards quality and celebrates excellence.

With entries from over 30 countries, the competition is tough, judges study each beer in turn, considering the appearance, the aroma, the taste and the finish, before discussing their findings with other table members and reaching a consensus on which medal to award.

The panel of judges consisted of well known beer writers, publicans and brewers, they awarded 38 gold medals, 89 silver and 155 bronze.

You can see the full list of winners here. 

Brewery Open Day

Wye Valley Brewery's Open Day will be held on Saturday 19th October 2013, 10am to 4pm.

Discover fun for all the family with tours of our brand new brewhouse, beer breads, a pig roast, children's facepainting, magician Kiegan Vallely, music from Vo & Tyler and the Leominster Morris Men.

For more information see below or click this link 

The Barrels in Bloom!

We are very proud to announce that Wye Valley Brewery’s flagship pub, The Barrels, has been crowned winner of the ‘City of Hereford in Bloom 2013, Hotels & Pubs floral competition’. This award follows on from their success in the 2012 Heart of England in Bloom, Hotel and Grounds category where they won Gold.

On winning the award, Phil Pryce, the manager of the pub said, “We were absolutely delighted to win as this award recognises the commitment to creating a relaxing environment for our customers We aim to continue to develop the garden over the future years and hope that this is the first of many awards for our garden, of which we are very proud.”

The Barrels was the brewery's home from its establishment in 1985 by Peter Amor, until 2002 when it moved to Stoke Lacy.