Shipstone’s Beer Relaunch – 25 July 2013

The sun was shining on Thursday evening to toast the relaunch of Shipstone’s beer at the former Brewery Site on Radford Road in New Basford, Nottingham.

Now owned and occupied by John Pye & Sons, the historic court yard, part of the former Old Star Brewery where Shipstone’s was originally brewed over 150 years ago was the perfect spot to raise a bottle or two to celebrate the return of one of the best-loved names in Nottingham brewing, returning after a 20 year hiatus.

The drinks reception to officially relaunch the iconic Nottingham brand (often affectionately referred to locally as ‘Shippo’s’) was hosted by Nottingham company Tank PR who were on site to hand out free bottles of new brew. Catering was supplied by Annie’s Burger Shack who cooked up some tasty beasts of a burger for the thirsty guests and NottinghamLIVE Food were lucky enough to be invited along.

The story of Shipstone’s begins in 1852 when James L Shipstone opened his first brewery in Nottingham. The company stayed in the family for 120 years before being sold in 1978 to Greenall’s leading to brewing in the city ending in 1990.

The brand has now been revived by Nottingham-based, Richard Neale, who started his career with the Whitbread Beer company before going on to work for international drinks company AB-InBev for 16 years, leaving, partly he sites due to a mid life crisis, to set up the Shipstones Beer Company in March 2013 and acquired the rights to the Shipstone’s name.

Along with Colin Brown, a former Brewer at Shipstone’s Star Brewery, Richard has spent a great deal of time going through the Shipstone’s archive gathering information from Nottingham City Library and the vault at John Pye Auctions reading through books and ledgers that listed hops and details in order to achieve his dream and ensure that the new beer followed in the footsteps of 150 years of brewing history and tradition staying as true to the original family recipe as possible in order to create the truly distinctive, dynamic flavour which Colin says captures the very essence of traditional brewing.

Richard and Colin have started on a small scale initially brewing 500 ml bottles, carrying an ABV of 3.8% at the Belvoir Brewery in the Vale of Belvoir owned by Colin which will be once again stocked in pubs, bars and retail outlets but Richard already has plans in place to move into cask production and expand the Shipstone’s range to include a series of original craft beers.

I’m not a big drinker of Bitter but was pleasantly surprised by the new beer.  It has a classic taste but smooth with a malty flavour, different to a lot of other bitters on the market. I just hope I create something like this when I have a mid life crisis rather than buying a very fast sports car or sky diving!

To find out more or to find your local stockist visit: www.shipstones.com/

By Tanya Raybould