The Rebellion Beer Co

Location:         Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England

Website:          Rebellion Beer Co.

In the pretty little Buckinghamshire town of Marlow there lies a real Real Ale success story. Founded in 1993 the Rebellion Beer Company brought back the art of beer brewing to Marlow, which had all but disappeared since the demise of the local brewer, Wethereds, in the 1980s. The locality though had long been associated with brewing since the chalky Chilton Hills means that the local water is full of minerals and salts essential for producing high quality ales.

As I say Marlow is located in Buckinghamshire just across the border from Oxfordshire. It is round about 8 miles from Henley On Thames, 32 miles from Oxford and 36 miles from London. The countryside around this area is absolutely lovely and it's almost worth a drive out for this reason alone. The route I took was down the A4155 and entered Marlow from the west, although those that prefer motorway driving could take the M40 leaving at junction 4 and follow the A404 to come into Marlow from the other direction.

In my ever-constant quest to enlarge my collection of trade marked beer glasses (see http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/beerglasscollector/ for proof! (Don't forget to sign the guest book!)) I had found out about the brewery from a good friend and the fact that as part of the brewery tour you received a free etched glass. Needing to investigate further I arranged to make my way down to Marlow for the next available open evening. Every first Tuesday of the month, the Rebellion Beer Company opens the gates of the brewery to the public for what their website calls "Evening Brewery Tours". Officially the opening time is ½ past 7 (19:30) but we arrived at just gone 7 in order to avoid the potential queues and ensure 30 minutes more drinking time!

The brewery is located in something called Bencombe Farm, which seems to be a cross between a trading estate and a working farm. There's a collection of shed and barn like buildings along with some more modern portacabin type constructions. Entry to the brewery is just a case of walking down the path to the brewery shop, popping in and paying your money for entry. There's no turnstiles or ticketing which gives the experience a nice casual start. Upon paying your fee you're invited to select your beer glass, which will be your companion for the evening. There's a choice of either an etched glass or a printed label glass and each has a leaflet advertising the brewery shop inside. Luckily for me I had arranged with my friend that we'd take one of each type of glass ensuring that I then got both for the collection!

You're then invited to go inside the storage area where there are huge stainless steel vats, presumably full to the brim of beer! There's a little serving table with three members of staff all waiting to serve you your first pint. On the night we were there, there was a choice of seven different ales and in best beer tasting traditions I started with the weakest, Rebellion Mild, planning to work my way to the more robust beers by the end of the night.

The Storage Area

Just by the serving table was a chap handing out cloakroom tickets for those wanting to go on the brewery tour. My friend had already been on this (more than once I might add!) so decided not to accompany me. The ticket was a simple way to designate that I would be on the first tour starting at 8 o clock.

It's then really a case of making your own amusement as you're asked to leave the storage area, as it soon gets very full, and re-enter the brewery yard. There is a barbeque in the yard for those getting peckish and best of all, four self-service barrels of beer for those needing a top up. Once you've finished your pint you can either help yourself to one of these or re-enter the storage area and ask for a refill.

The Yard                                                                                     The Barbeque

By ½ past seven, the actual opening time, there yard was very full and I later heard that there were about 300 people that evening. If you think that this was a fairly chilly October night then you can imagine that lovely sunny summer evenings must be very popular indeed.

Almost to the dot of 8 o clock one of the brewery staff asks for our attention and gives a quick 5-minute health and safety talk about the location. He points out that this is a working brewery and farm and there are plenty of things to trip over, fall down, stumble into and bang your head on, especially as the evening goes on. He tells us where the toilets are and then asks for the first group to enter the brewing shed where the tour will begin. We entered the brewing shed and were asked to climb a flight of steel stairs to stand on a platform at the top of the brewing vessels. There were maybe about 30 of us taking the tour and there was plenty of room for us all on this platform.

Our tour guide then introduced himself and asked someone to stop him after 30 minutes of speaking. He then gave a humorous and interesting potted history of beer and brewing. He covered on how beer was probably accidentally discovered, the beginning of breweries and public houses, the formation of large regional brewers and then eventual founding of great brewing empires. There was much reference to social history and how this was reflected in the brewing history and all in all it was extremely well done.

The Tour                                                                                         A Brewing Vessel

After ½ an hour he was given his signal and then went into a much shorter talk on how beer is brewed and what the various vessels in the brew room were used. He passed around pint pots full of different barleys and hops for us to smell and examine. At the end he invited any questions and he looked to be then mobbed by the local CAMRA group so I didn't add to his woes!

We then returned to the brewery yard and as the situation seemed to sort of demand it, we carried on drinking until ½ past 9 which is when the open evening closes. You then pocket your glass, or glasses and make your way out of the brewery.

OK The Facts:

Opening Times:
The Evening Brewery Tours are held on the first Tuesday of every month. The advertised opening time is 19:30 although you can seemingly get in at least 30 minutes beforehand. The tour closes at 21:30, which actually is a pretty good time, it means that no-one has got plastered and if you want there is still time to catch another pint in one of Marlow's pubs.

Facilities:
Beer: Most importantly there is beer here! You can get refills from the serving table where service was quick, polite and friendly, I don't think I waited more than a couple of minutes to get a top up. Alternatively you can use the self-service barrels located in the brewery yard. By about 9 o clock these were running dry though, so either get in early or just go back to the serving table. The night I was there, there were seven beers for people to try. Without going into details too much (this is a review of the brewery tour after all, not the beers) they ranged from a tasty mild at 3.5% and their IPA at 3.7% right up to "Red" at 4.7%. I didn't manage to sample them all, but can say the four I did try well all excellent.

Food:
The barbeque runs all evening and the items on offer seemed to be burgers and very nice looking skewer kebabs. I must admit I didn't sample any of this so I have no idea of how it tasted or how much it cost, but it was doing a roaring trade so it can't have been bad.

Toilet Facilities:
Sorry ladies, but I guess the men were rather better served than the ladies here. There were three locations of toilets; two sit-down affairs at the end of the yard, one of which was nominated for ladies use only (the one with running water quipped our guide) two in the brewery building and a brilliant six-man urinal affair at the other end of the yard. There is something disturbingly comforting about peeing with 5 other blokes all with beer glasses in the open air. The only downside was the often-repeated jokes as someone new joined the wee-ing throng. "Oh yes, what have we here then, the water for tomorrow's brew"

The Amazing 6 Man Urinal

Car Parking:
There is a tiny little car park at the top of the estate but to be honest anyone driving there is missing the point, apart from the fact you can't then drink, the car park is sooooo small that customers were encouraged to double park. We had at least two incidents of calls for "the owner of the blue Renault can you move, you're blocking someone who wants to leave in" which must be annoying if you're in the middle of the tour.

Transport Links:
I was lucky enough to get a lift to the venue but we caught the bus back into Marlow at the end. In a brilliant piece of timing the bus runs just outside the brewery at about 20 to 10, so you can leave the brewery and more or less jump straight on the bus. Sorry I don't have the bus number, but it was just over a pound to get into Marlow.

Brewery Shop:
The brewery has a well stocked shop and you can buy both bottled and barrelled beer here. You can mix yourself a case of bottles or try one of the take home barrels or various sizes. There's also t-shirts, sweatshirts and bar towels for sale. Probably the best deal I saw and a nice presentation pack with two bottles of beer and a glass for £6.00 which isn't too bad at all.

Prices:
Entry for the brewery tour was £10. You then got the tour and all you can drink up until closing time at ½ past nine. Because entry isn't controlled at all if you were driving there then the designated driver really doesn't have to pay but could easily lurk around the yard. It would mean they don't get a glass, but I reckon this better than paying a tenner for nothing and I'm sure this duty could be shared around a group.

The Tour:
The tour lasted for just over 30 minutes and was fun and interesting, where I was a little disappointed though was that we didn't really hear much about this actual brewery. Also the tour wasn't much of a "tour" we only visited one location and didn't "tour" round at all! I would have like a little more of a look around and even though the brewery is very small I'm sure there must have been a couple more locations they could have shown us, the delivery yard, the bottling and barrelling area perhaps? Probably the best thing about the tour was you saw that these very old farm buildings were being put to a really good purpose and it was nice to see the big shiny brewing vessels reaching up to the wooden beamed roof.

Customers:
I was expecting the evening to be dominated by other wierdy-beardy CAMRA types in their chunky Aran knit sweaters and although I did spot a couple of likely candidates there was a great mix of other people there. The ages must have ranged from 18 (or younger!) right up to 80+, what was also very nice was there were a good proportion of ladies there although they were still vastly outnumbered. Anyone who doesn't think they are part of the Real Ale scene shouldn't be put off going.

Top Five Hints for a successful visit:
1) Get there early - By ½ past 7 the queue to pay and get in was quite large and as I say apparently 300 odd people were there on the night. Get in early and get that first pint down!
2) Wear or take a coat - You'll spend a lot of time outside and it was quite nippy on the night I was there. If it's raining then this is even more imperative as there is no shelter to speak of. If your coat has got big pockets to carry your glass home then so much the better.
3) Wear sensible shoes. The tour is up a ladder and onto a steel mesh platform. There was one lady in high heels that had a whale of a time trying to master this!
4) Ask for halves. If you want to try all the brews then you can just ask for a half or for just a taster. It's all free after all!
5) Even if you've done the visit once, I would definitely return for another evening. There's a great "open air pub" atmosphere and the beer is cracking and great value.

Details:
Rebellion's website is at http://www.rebellionbeer.co.uk/ and full details of the tours can be found within.
Their address is Bencombe Farm, Marlow Bottom, Marlow, Bucks, SL7 3LT and they can be contacted on 01628 476594.

Overall:
I feel quite strongly about the brewing industry in this country, we've allowed too many bland foreign imports to rule our drinking choice and it's important that small and excellent breweries, like Rebellion, are given a good chance to become successful. The beer I tasted was excellent and I would have no qualms about ordering a pint of Rebellion in a pub should it be on as a guest ale. The tour was a little disappointing but allowing for the size of the brewery (and the number of people there) it was perhaps understandable. Even if you're not a big drinker I would argue that value for money is very good. An average pint must be £2.30 in a pub nowadays, so as long as you had a least a couple of pints then you're probably going to finish the night "up on the deal". If you're a hollow-legged beer monster then you're going to be quids in, although you probably won't remember much about it.

All in all it was a great fun evening, the brewery staff were helpful and friendly and there was a real mix of ages amongst the other customers, which made the evening feel like it must have done back when pubs were the heartbeat of the locality.

Cheers!
Rich