Stonehouse Brewery Visit 2015

Thanks to Shane and Alison Parr, who invited us, Becky Ransley, who organised the bus and sorted names and finance, and Ollie and Kyle who looked after us on the night, Shrewsbury and West Shropshire Branch visited Stonehouse Brewery on Friday, 17 April.

As always, we were made very welcome and had a great time. It’s particularly nice to see the outside areas developing, with the new orchard trees becoming more established. Speaking of which, it was the first visit with new ciders were on the bar. They are well worth seeking out. Available in medium and dry, although to my palette I would have said medium sweet and medium dry, they are both 6.2% ABV with good condition. This batch was produced with apples bought in from commercial producers and pressed on site. The first batch from home produced apples will be available in three years from now, or possibly two with luck.

Both ciders have a clean refreshing taste, neither as challenging nor as complicated as some other local producers. I think they would make a great introduction to real cider for those currently limited to fizzy keg muck. Which is also true of Stonehouse’s other keystone product, Station Bitter – great for weaning drinkers off nitro-keg and onto the good stuff.

Stonehouse Brewery hospitality suite is open to the public most Fridays until 7pm, and products can be purchased direct from the brewery almost every day. Best to check by phone first, though.