I started feeling sad as soon as I got to Dorchester South station. Ornate tiles on the wall proudly proclaim "Dorchester Home of Eldridge Pope brewery". "Not any more it isn't" I thought.
Though Eldridge Pope are now best remembered for their bottled barley wine Thomas Hardy's Ale, I can remember enjoying their cask beers too.
I was in Dorchester for a pre-Brewery History Society AGM event. We were taken on a tour round the brewery buildings, which still dominate the town centre, by Adrian Woods, an ex-Eldridge Pope brewer.
The brewery produced 80,000 barrels a year.
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| Brewery offices |
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| The brewery |
They made ales and lagers (both own brand and brewed under licence). Thomas Hardy's Ale had an Original Gravity of 1.125 and had a primary fermentation with ale yeast before being pitched with Carlsberg lager yeast and left in a conditioning tank for six months.
Various plans have been put forward over the years for what to do with the brewery site but it's finally being turned into flats.
They had two coppers (150 and 75 bbl) which they used to parti-gyle four different beers.
Thomas Hardy's Ale was all malt made from strong wort, the rest of the weaker wort going to make a rather indifferent bitter. The maltings building is still next door to the brewery site, though they hadn't done their own malting for years.
Interesting stuff. I always though the last years of Edldridge Pope were a textbook example of how not to run your family brewery.
ReplyDeleteNone of what happened was inevitable but the family just went along with it.
Apparently at one point they tried getting into computer distribution using the brewery drays, which unsurprisingly didn't work very well.
DeleteAlthough not the best beers in Britain, Eldridge Pope's Huntsman Ales, enjoyed a good reputation within their native county, and a little way beyond that too - including London.
ReplyDeleteI have fond memories of a camping holiday in the New Forest c. 1977, and enjoying a few Eldridge Pope beers.
Comments about poor management, made by yourself and John Clarke, tie in with the involvement of a certain Michael Cannon - the same "entrepreneur" who sealed the fate of Devenish - another well respected, West Country brewer, that is no longer with us.
That reminds me of another story I heard that day: Tetley's and Eldridge Pope once had the same huntsman logo, with rights for the North and South of England being split. Eventually Eldridge Pope sold their rights to Tetley's and got a new huntsman drawn!
DeleteFrom the records I've seen, Hardy Ale was parti-gyled with several different Pale Ales: various combinations of BPA, BAK IPA and DB.
ReplyDeleteMy first visit here so apologies that its a request for help. Having recently found a cold cast bronze bust of a Huntsman my immediate thought that it was a Tetley item, and then I discovered Huntsman Ales. I was baffled how 2 companies could have so similar logos & I note the Eds comments about the north/south split. The bust could be either, even down to the monocle worn.
ReplyDeleteIm no further forward and apart from a poor quality plaster back bar bust of Popes Huntsman I can find nothing like this bust anywhere.
Any thoughts would be appreciated & I do have photos available, unsure if I can load them here.
Your best bet is to contact the Brewery History Society. They regularly have stuff from people that have sent in questions in their newsletter.
DeleteThanks for that Ill give them a try ..:)
ReplyDelete