New craft beers on tap

The final nuts and bolts and pipes are being put in place at the microbrewery in Playden.

Two and a half years ago David Roder and his friend Tim Morgan came up with the idea for this enterprise.

In conversation with David I learned about how it all started and the journey they had made.

“We thought that it would be a good idea to start to brew some beers. It seemed the next natural progression for the Waterworks to have a brewery. It has taken two and a half years to get to this stage with planning and building. We are hoping to open on Saturday October 29. There has been masses and masses of work on this place. The plan is to open up the brewery and to sell beer through our taproom. It is quite common nowadays for breweries to have a taproom. They are incredibly popular when you have a bar in the actual brewery, especially with south-facing views as we have here.

“The brewery side will be feeding the Waterworks and we shall sell the beers from here. If any local businesses / publicans want to take our beers we are open for discussion.

“Let’s start at the beginning, because we had never brewed beer ourselves so we had to have a plan. So I spoke to Three Legs Brewers and asked them what they were going to do with their smaller tanks as they had enlarged their capacity. They asked why so I told them I wanted to brew some beers. They asked us if we knew how to brew and of course we replied, ‘No’. Would we like to learn? ‘Yes, please’.

“We went there and had the time of our life the first day. We listened and learned and cleaned tanks and added some malts and hops. That beer went down well at the pub so I asked them if we could do another one.

“Because of Covid everything there was taking so long so I spoke with Peter at Brumaison at Marden and asked to do a brew at his place. It was an interesting experience because we went from Three Legs Brewery, which had a vast amount of equipment, to a smaller brewery each with its own challenges. Peter had a reputation for brewing consistently good beers so we learnt a great deal from him. The thing we took away with us is that it isn’t just the equipment that is important: it is the chemistry, it’s the brewing, that is the most important thing. We did another brew at Peter’s and every time we tweaked the recipe. Our beers went down exceptionally well. Then Peter retired and we still hadn’t got our brewery up and running and people were asking for our beers so I asked Matt at Romney Brewery if we could do a brew there. We did five brews, all very successful. They have a middle-range brewery so we ended up experiencing three different-sized establishments and we learnt all the time. We experienced different brewers, different brews and different premises and we have gained a wealth of experience. So, although there have been frustrations with not getting this place ready faster, in the end it has been to our advantage.

“We don’t want to run before we can walk so Peter is going to be a consultant for us and will help with the first brew. We are making big strides at the moment but we shouldn’t be running yet.”

David showed us round the brewery and his pride and joy was certainly his taproom with a four and a half metre oak bar. It is a place where you feel at home straight away. There are five hand pumps, lager, keg beer and eight ciders. Alongside this there are wines, gins, prosecco and soft drinks. David said many breweries have small taprooms but he wants his to be the hub of the community, a place where you can stand at the bar and be content to walk in on your own. David has a natural understanding of how people tick and what will make them happy. He reads his punters well and has provided a large taproom where they will always find a warm welcome. He creates an environment where people feel safe. No bad language, no laddish behaviour, just a place where singles and groups can have a good time.

Lots of volunteers have given up their time to work on the building, too many to name, but such an essential part of the process, and David and Tim are so grateful to them all. They have built a cold room and a conditioning room for keeping the beers at the right temperature during the winter months. A great deal of thought has gone into the planning and now we wish them all the very best for a sparkling future.

So put the date in your diary: Saturday October 29 from 2pm until 6pm,
October 30, 12 noon until 5pm.  Come and experience it for yourself.

The winter hours of opening will be
Friday 3-7pm
Saturday 2-7pm
Sunday 12-5pm

The micro-brewery can be found  at The Old Dairy, Rye Road TN31 7UL

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Image Credits: Kt bruce , google maps .