Brewery Visit
Most of the club members enjoy a pint (or two or three) and with our very own local Brewery having recently been set up "round the bend" in Olney, it seemed only right to arrange an inspection of the premises - all in the name of Health and Safety of course. Being a service organisation as we are, we felt it was our duty to carry out an independent inspection of the premises, check out the owners and test the beer to ensure it was fit enough to find its way into the increasing number of licenced premises in and around the area.
An appeal for experienced and not so experienced real ale connoisseurs was launched and so it was that a group of 26 volunteer LIONS (Local Inspectors Of New Swigs) turned up at the door of the brewery in Yardley Road one evening to spend a night grilling the two owners, David Wright and Matthew Hargreaves. David and Matthew did their best to influence us with a never ending bribe of their recently brewed ale and provided us with details of their journey through the past 18 months.
Our fish & chip supper David Wright explains the intracities of brewing
Both local lads, it was fascinating to hear the passion coming from the two businessmen who obviously not only know the way to produce a fantastic range of real ales but clearly have the business acumen which has seen the brewery emerge from a dream to reality - all in such a short time.
Actually brewing beer is one thing, but having successfully placed their ever increasing family of ales in an equally ever increasing number of local outlets, it is clear that despite the current economic situation, new well run businesses can still flourish' One of our visitors has put together a blog about the evening and the brewery so if you would like to read more about the event and Hopping Mad, why not have a look at Mark Wilson's blog which gives a lot more detail of the night.
The evening gave us a fantastic insight into the Matthew and David's venture
and it is clear that they have a real success on their hands. Everyone present thoroughly enjoyed the visit and no doubt a new group of Hopping Mad customers have joined the already increasing fan base . If you want to sample one of the brews, why not drop into one of the outlets carrying their beer or visit Bacchus Wines in Olney where you can purchase a large 'tinny'of one of the ales, giving you the opportunity to run your own beer tasting evening from the comfort of your own home.
The success of the evening has been such that we have been asked to organise another visit in the near future for other Lions clubs in the area. If you would like to join us, just drop a note via our contact page and we will let you know if and when we will be arranging a repeat.
Just goes to show that we really can organise the proverbial, up in a brewery!!!!!!!
David & Matthew with some of the LIONS
All photos on our site relating to the Brewery trip have been reproduced with the kind permission of Mark Wilson, Olney.