KNUTSFORD’S Tatton Brewery is celebrating 10 years of brewing – and their 1,000th brew – with the launch of Tatton Ten – a tropical pale ale brewed to a unique recipe.
Owner Gregg Sawyer wanted to celebrate the milestone with a beer that stands out for its delicacy and decided to showcase the American hop Idaho-7.
He said: “We’ve always made experimental beers and we liked the idea of creating something that has a crisp and clean mouthfeel that really accentuates the hops. Tatton Ten is double dry-hopped with Idaho-7 and lemon drop.
“We’ve added rice to the recipe which gives it a lighter flavour that really lets the hops shine.
“It’s a far cry from our 666th brew which was a 12 per cent Russian imperial stout called Gyle 666. It’s easy to make a beer that hits you in the face with flavour, so instead we wanted to make something more subtle but equally interesting.”
Head Brewer Lee Gannon, who has been with the Longridge Trading Estate brewery since 2010, added: “When I first came across the Idaho-7 hop I fell in love with it. It’s a progressive hop that’s heavy on the tropical fruit. It smells like three hops in one because it has so much aroma. I couldn’t wait to brew with it so it seemed like the obvious choice for the Tatton Ten recipe.”
Gregg cut his teeth in the brewing world when he began an internship at Harpoon Brewery in Boston, shortly after he’d gained his craft beer diploma in Vermont.
On returning to England in 2005, Gregg took a position at Westerham Brewery before realising his dream of opening his own brewhouse.
He said: “For many years it was my dream to set-up my own brewery but a catalogue of challenges, including the credit crunch in 2008, got in the way.
“In 2009, it finally all came together and I secured the lease to our site. I still remember the phone call from my surveyor, he said: ‘Congratulations Gregg, you have a warehouse full of debris’. He wasn’t wrong, it was a completely empty shell. I spent that first Christmas Eve grinding down the floors ready to start putting the brew kit in.”
The inaugural brew was ‘Tatton Best’ – a classic amber best bitter which was first poured at the Church Inn in Mobberley, in February 2010.
The official launch of Tatton Ten is at the brewery’s open evening on Friday, February 28, and is available in pubs and bars now
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