The Brewer’s Art is a Celebration of Life!
Celebrating 200 years of the Art in Wiveliscombe!

Mr William H.J Hancock, scion of the great brewing family, will officially open the Wiveliscombe BrewFest at midday on August 25th 2007 at the town’s Recreation Ground.

The Jim Laker Fund, together with Exmoor Ales and Cotleigh Brewery, will host a Real Ale Festival that promises to be the biggest entertainment event to be experienced in Wivey this century.

The Festival is to be held during the August bank holiday weekend, Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th 2007, from noon until midnight, and will be a feast of top quality real ales, live music by local bands, and excellent food from specially selected caterers.

Exmoor Ales and Cotleigh Brewery, each in their own individual style, are celebrating the Festival by producing two separate brews with the shared name of ‘BrewTown’!

The BrewTown, this August, at BrewFest, will present, from these two fine breweries, 20 different ales to be savoured by the connoisseur! Are these yours and Exmoor’s beers or others?
Exclusively from Cotleigh and Exmoor.

This is a festival for all the family, no matter how old or how young they may be! Entry is just £2 for the two days, and everyone under 18 will be admitted free.

There will be children’s entertainment in the afternoons. So come and enjoy a diverse range of music, quality food and many craft stalls… and the BEER!

A limited number of sites, for tents and campervans, will be available on the recreation ground for this event. They can be booked by email at the following addresses.
jimlakerfund@googlemail.com  and jlf@artfoyer.co.uk

 

Wiveliscombe
the Burton-on-Trent of the west

The weekend will be a unique celebration of 200 years of brewing in the small town of Wiveliscombe, which sits on the edge of Exmoor and the Brendon Hills and has the distinction of being one of the major brewing centres in the west. The southern approach to the town on the Taunton road is a sight guaranteed to stir the soul of all beer romantics. The great redbrick tower of the Arnold & Hancock brewery still stands, a prominent landmark. Beer had been produced on this site since the time of Napoleon until its untimely demise in the late 1950s when Arnold & Hancock were seen as the largest beermakers in the west.

In 1980 brewing returned to Wiveliscombe with the Golden Hill Brewery (now called Exmoor Ales) setting up home in the former bottling plant of the old brewery, while later in the year Cotleigh Brewery moved into town from their original home in Devon. They can now be found in a purpose-built plant down the hill. Both breweries have grown steadily since their inception and are two of the most successful microbreweries in the country.

Wiveliscombe is in the heart of the most beautiful countryside, which makes the survival of brewing so gladdening to the heart. Take time for a wander. Up Golden Hill house and street names echo the brewing past, while plaques on the sides of homes note the sites of long gone pubs. But it’s not all history. On brewing days you can catch the bittersweet aroma of the boil as beers such as Exmoor Ale and Tawny are crafted, and a visit to the Bear Inn will reward all beerhunters.

 

Issued by the Jim Laker Fund