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Brewery Trip to the Loddon Brewery

URL: http://press.arrivenet.com/entertainment/article.php/793991.html

Headline : Brewery Trip to the Loddon Brewery
2nd Headline : Better than Brakspears - better by far!

Distribution Source : ArriveNet
Date : Monday, January 09, 2006
Author: Dean Beedell

Thursday 20th April - Same as before twelve of the local boys arrived at the pub expectantly looking forward to the evening's entertainment. A kitty was created to fund the evening's fun, then a quick one in the pub before the short journey to Dunsden. The driver was much more sympathetic to his passengers than last time, the journey went without mishap and although in the back of the van it still felt like the inside of a submarine's  conning tower, condensation running down the windows, everyone was happy and expectant of the evening ahead. We had to suffer the usual typical men's talk on the journey with much childish giggling, talking stupid and being rude, especially from Paul Jackson who seems to like this sort of behaviour..

We arrived at the brewery ready for the usual brewery trip but were most surprised and encouraged at the friendly welcome we received from Chris Hearn, the Loddon Brewery's owner and Head Brewer. Chris started by opening eight barrels for us to sample and drink as much as we wanted. The beers he had to offer us were Ferrymans Gold, Hoppit, Hullaballo, Bamboozle, Flight of Fancy and one other which due to the amount of alcohol we drank has temporarily slipped from my mind...but these were only a selection of  the Loddon Brewerery's sixteen regular beers. All the beers were delicious.

Chris gave us a grand tour of the modern British-made brewing facilities which were highly automated but still needed his unique touch to manufacture a beer to Chris' high standards. Chris Hearn was on the brewing team of Brakspears in the days when Brakspears cared about their beers rather than being just focussing on their property management. These were the days when Brakspears beers were handmade in old brewing vessels using the same processes they have used for two hundred years. Chris has carried over some of these age-old techniques to his own brewery assisted by modern technology that allows one or two skilled personnel to make significant quantities of good quality beer.

The Loddon Brewery is situated in rolling Dunsden countryside within an old brick built  renovated barn. The Brewery is the very model of efficiency and cleanliness and we were all very impressed by the combination of modern methods and the traditional environment.

The beer tasting was interrupted by the delivery of fish and chips for everyone, we sat down to a very pleasant meal with a load of slightly tipsy but very happy Bear at Home locals. The guest book came out and everyone wrote down their thoughts on the trip. One of our party however wrote some very rude things about the others on the trip, we firmly believe it was Duncan despite his denials.

Afterwards we had a short trip to the Black Horse at Checkendon, a lovely virtually untouched pub in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside. After a single pint we headed back home for cards and more refreshment back at the Bear at Home Inn  Thanks again from all the attendees to Tim Haworth, the Landlord for organising the trip. Once again, a superb time had by all.