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We Hopped on a Brewpoint Tour and this is what we thought…

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Disclaimer: We were invited to tour Brewpoint and the tour and drinks were provided free of charge. However, all the views in this article are our own.

Bedford and Breweries go together like fish and chips or having a child and relying on coffee! The name  Brewpoint  might be relatively recent, but Wells & Co and the family behind it have been brewing beer in Bedford since 1876 when Charles Wells bought the old Horne Lane brewery along with 36 pubs and set out to change the face of Bedford’s beer seen forever

We were delighted to be invited to come along on what turned out to be their 500th Brewpoint tour to see how they brew their beer and learn about the history of the company which so many in Bedford hold so dearly in their hearts. 

The Brewpoint Tour

We spend a fantastic 45 minutes touring the facility and learning all about the brewing process. Tim, our superb Brewpoint tour guide, explained everything from the time it takes to brew the perfect pint to the number they can produce in a year!

The Tasting

After the tour comes the tasting… and this was one of the highlights for us. Not only do you get to have 6 x 1/3 pints, but you find out all about the different flavours and comparative beers on the market. Tim explained what gives them their unique flavours and what makes them so special.

I’m not sure we could review a Brewpoint Tour without mentioning the beer. At any given point, they have their four signature brews and as many as 15 beers as part of their “extended range”. These raise from the 0.5% Nil Point (a low alcohol hoppy larger) to a whopping 9% Hop Scotch traditional Scotch Ale. 

I cannot recommend the tour of Brewpoint enough. Compared to some of the major breweries (you know, all those supermarket brand names) it’s cheap as chips and our tour guide was knowledge, funny and got the perfect balance between history, facts and time to taste the good stuff.

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Wells & Co.’s new home, Brewpoint, opens its doors!

Bedford’s brewing family are excited to welcome guests inside for the full Brewpoint experience!

145 years of progressive brewing culminate in the opening of Bedford’s newest visitor attraction this week as Wells & Co. celebrate the opening of Brewpoint, a brewery, shop, eating and gathering hub built on five generations of craft beer.

Construction on the new site in Fairhill began in the summer of 2019 and progressed well despite the obvious stumbling block that Covid-19 presented the following year. Whilst a large proportion of the UK’s working population– including every pub in the Wells & Co. estate – were forced to down tools, construction sites remained an exception, and the Brewpoint build team forged ahead.

In autumn 2020 Brewpoint’s external garden area was transformed into a Covid-safe pop-up bar; the result, ‘A Taste of Brewpoint’, did exactly what it said on the tin. Visitors enjoyed a real flavour of Wells & Co.’s new home thanks to the ground-breaking beers, delicious food, retail opportunities and entertainment on offer, whetting appetites for the opening of the building’s interior this spring in line with government guidelines. From printing supplies and signage to coffee beans, the Wells & Co. team are working with local suppliers wherever possible, placing Brewpoint at the heart of its local community.

Peter Wells, Group Manager Director for Wells & Co., picks up the story:

“Necessity is the mother of invention. I’m truly proud of the way that our fifth-generation family business has rolled with the punches over the past twelve months, finding innovative ways to bring Brewpoint’s spirit to life ahead of its grand opening this week. We’ve created an entirely new range of Brewpoint beers, shared the excitement with beer fans via online tasting sessions and got our new brews into their hands by fast-tracking the development of our online shop. Our ‘A Taste of Brewpoint’ bar saw Bedford locals enjoy a safe return to the great pub experience they’d missed so sorely for the bulk of 2020. We now couldn’t be more excited to welcome everyone inside our beautiful new home to enjoy all that Brewpoint has to offer.”

Tables are available to book now at www.brewpoint.co.uk; visitors can look forward to a freshly crafted restaurant menu, an ever-evolving selection of pioneering beers and a wide range of unique Brewpoint merchandise to take their pick from.

More will follow this summer – brewery tours being a particular highlight – as soon as government guidelines permit.

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Visit A Brewery

Brewery Tours and Information

Well’s & Co's new home, Brewpoint is a state-of-the-art brewing facility with the flexibility to produce the styles of beer that consumers are demanding, equipped with the technology and brewing expertise to guarantee consistently excellent beer. We're focused on quality over quantity, with an evolving beer range that places a premium on flavour. Bedford’s brewing family are excited to welcome guests inside for the full Brewpoint experience!

We're an independent, family-owned business based in the heart of Bedfordshire. Since 1876 we've been focused on two things: running great pubs and making great beer.

Brewpoint Cut Throat Lane Bedford MK41 7FY T: 01234 244444 | E: [email protected]

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Tour of Brewpoint- 2/2/2022

Home » Industry News » Tour of Brewpoint- 2/2/2022

Thank you to Ian Jones, James Hunter and Tim Hickford for hosting three tours of the new Brewpoint Brewery.

Opened in August 2020 the site benefits from its own borehole, tapping into the underground aquifer within the Oolite strata under Bedford.  Water goes through reverse osmosis and is remineralised to the required specification of each brand.

The brewhouse is a BrauKon kit with a 5 vessel, 30hl capacity, with the capacity to brew up to 9x in a 24 hour period.  With expansion, ultimate capacity would be 100,000hl.  Steam from the kettle is reutilised to heat the brewing liquor for subsequent mashing.

The brewery still uses the original house ale and lager yeast strains.  The new hop gun, named Maverick by the marketing team, aids  hop oil extraction.

The KHS keg filler, CIMEC can and bottle fillers, Gruber cask racker package the 75% keg, 20% cask, 5% smallpack.  Of the smallpack, nearly 100% is cans, although this may change with the newly commissioned bottling plant.

A distribution agreement with Carlsberg Marstons means that no warehousing capacity is currently needed, with each day’s production being picked up and distributed on behalf of Wells and Co.

A new beer to the portfolio is the 0.5% low alcohol beer, Nil Point, brewed to abv rather than brewed at a higher abv and then pulling the alcohol out.

History of Brewpoint:

Charles Wells, born in 1842, joined the Navy and, in the 1870s, whilst on leave, met Josephine Grimley.  In 1875, Charles Wells bought Horne Lane Brewery for £6,500, which comprised the brewhouse, 35 pubs and a pig farm.  Charles Wells died in 1914, leaving the brewery to his sons and establishing a brewing lineage down the line.

In 1976 Charles Wells Brewery sold the Horne Lane site and bought a plot on Havelock Street, producing up to 950,000hl/year by the mid 1980s.  A wide range of brands were brewed on the Havelock Street site, with Guinness being canned on site at one point.

2017 saw the sale of the whole site and a portfolio of brands to Marstons for £55million.  Wells retained the ownership of their pubs and the right to sell beer.

The name “Brewpoint” came about as it was agreed with Marstons that neither company could be called The Charles Wells Brewery, with no Wells branding.  The deconstruction of Brewpoint is:  Brew = brewery; Point = a major point in the journey of the Wells family.  The arrows within the logo represent the previous starfish logo (and not the five exits to the nearby roundabout ?)

The tour of the brewery was followed by a beer tasting, led by James Hunter.

• Nil Point – a 0.5% abv beer with added maltodextrin to give mouthfeel and fullness.  Dry hopped with US hops Citra and Mosaic and lactose-free
• Midpoint – a 5% abv continental style lager, which uses maize in the grist to give it a continental, Pilsner style.
• Checkpoint – 4.5% abv hazy session IPA, using 35% wheat to give the haze and US hops (5 varieties) with a high dry hop charge.
• Alpha – 6.7% abv West Coast IPA – a throwback to IPAs from 20 years ago brewed in the Pacific northwest of the US.  A beer colloquially referred to as ‘designed by brewers for brewers’, targeting bold flavours, intense but balanced.
• Inkwell – 5.2% abv nitro oatmeal stout (known as Chocolate Toothpaste within the brewery).  An oatmeal stout developed for the export market, in particular, France.  Uses 7 different grains from light to heavy crystal malts to chocolate and black malt.
• Hop Scotch – 9% abv revival of 18 th century Scottish ale, again developed for the export market.

All beers were top notch and a fantastic way to finish a tour.  BFBi gives its thanks to Brewpoint for giving time, expertise and beer to BFBi members.  A truly great way for supply chain and customers to engage and support each other.

Click here to see the photos

Makisha Schultz

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