Welcome to Hoggleys Brewery

 

Welcome to the Hoggleys Brewery website. If anyone has any comments about the site or of course, the beer, please let us know, there is a comments section especially for this.

 

The brewery officially began in 2003, but this was really the culmination of years of home brewing by Hoggleys brewer Roy Crutchley.

 

Roy began brewing in the same way as thousands of others, as a teenager buying tins of concentrate from the local brewshop. After a number of years trying to make the one brew that would be as good as the real stuff you could get in the pub, he decided to look into full mash brewing. From this point onwards he was hopelessly addicted to the whole business of brewing and having a much greater control over the final product began experimenting with different beer types and different brewing techniques. After a while the beer improved and the golden chalice of licensed brewing became a goal to aim for. This goal, at first the dream of an idle moment (although as any full mash brewer with family commitments etc. will confirm, idle moments are few and far between) grew and grew until it became an irresistible burden. A licence was applied for, planning permissions were applied for, environmental health were contacted etc. etc. After an intense few months of climbing a steep learning curve, Hoggleys Brewery was born and took its first faltering steps into the big wide world.

 

The first beer to be sold was Northamptonshire Bitter and was brewed using the simplest of recipes, pale malt only and a combination of Northdown and Fuggles. This was served up at the Alexandra Arms in Kettering amid great publicity from local press, regional television and national press (the brewery was even a factoid on Radio 2). The dream was complete, fame had been found (but not fortune, that remains a myth).

 

Back in 2003 when the brewery first went commercial, it was largely regarded as the smallest licensed brewery in Britain; this is no longer the case. After expanding from the original half barrel run to a one and a half barrel plant it has, since August 2006, become a full-time brewery running an eight barrel plant based in Litchborough in South Northants.

 

 

Left: Bottling is a major part of the work at the brewery

 

Nowadays Roy is ably assisted by his partner Julie Hogg. "it was a case of if you can't change him, join him!!"

 

Right: Roy and Julie toast their new venture