Brakspear
| Industry | Brewing |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Henley-on-Thames, UK |
| Products | Beer |
WH Brakspear & Sons Ltd was a brewery in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Its beers are now principally brewed by Wychwood Brewery.
In 1711, W.H. Brakspear bought a brewery on Bell Street, Henley-on-Thames. The Brakspear family was distantly related to Nicholas Breakspear, who became Pope Adrian IV in 1154 — the only Englishman to become Pope. In 1812, the brewery moved to a Thames-side location on New Street.
In 2002, W.H. Brakspear & Sons licensed the brewing of its beers to Refresh UK, owner of Wychwood Brewery, and the brewery ceased production and closed. The site was sold and part of it converted to a Hotel du Vin boutique hotel.
The now non-brewing Brakspear Pub Company and its estate of 145 pubs was bought in 2006 by pub chain JT Davies for £106 million. After being brewed at Burtonwood, Cheshire, production of Brakspear beers was moved, along with some of the historic Henley brewing vessels, to Refresh's Wychwood Brewery in Witney, Oxfordshire. Refresh UK was subsequently bought out by Marston's. reportedly for c.£10-11 million.
In spring 2013 Brakspear Pub Company made a limited return to brewing with the commissioning of The Bell Street Brewery in its Bull public house in Bell Street, Henley-on-Thames.
Brakspear's beer is brewed using the traditional double drop fermentation method. This involves allowing fermentation to start in vessels on an upper floor, before 'dropping' into a second vessel below. This leaves tired or dead yeast and unwanted solids ('trub') behind and encourages a healthier fermentation. Refresh UK claimed that Brakspear beers possess a butterscotch flavour due to diacetyl produced through this method and their particular long-lived, multi-strain yeast, thought to have originally come from a defunct London brewery, possibly Mann, Crossman & Paulin.
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