Brewery Tour and Tasting for Two

Lord Conrad's Brewery, Dry Drayton, Cambridgeshire

Stuart finance director

What did you get up to?
What do you get when an arts student becomes a marketing professional who then starts up his own brewery? The short answer is you get Lord Conrad's brewery. A professional brewer, who has an eye for detail, and a creative flair for new artwork, new beers and even the odd cider.

Once nicknamed "Lord" your brewer for the tour, in this micro-brewery, is both very knowledgeable and very passionate about the detailed process that goes into making a good brew. In fact, this tour is ideally suited to those who want to get stuck into the finer points of brewing, stage by stage, process by process, with Lord on hand to answer any relevant questions you can think of.

I started my tour by selecting a beer to have on hand, for tasting purposes of course, as the next couple of hours went by. I knew a little about how beer was produced but like all recipes the end product is only as good as the ingredients and the execution of the process, which is what you really get an understanding of from Lord. Tasting and smelling the different grains, discussing the other ingredients from vanilla pods to lavender, and even brewing a tea like substance from dried hops, to tasting what the hops will bring to the flavour as opposed to how they smell. That's a revelation in itself.

The tour is very informative but informal in the relaxed setting of the production area. You leave with a chance to purchase some of the brewery's bottled products but also armed with the knowledge of what an Alpha % is, knowing a Citra hop from a floral earthy hop, and most importantly an insight into how to choose the right beer the next time you are at the bar!

What did you enjoy the most?
Tasting the beer was certainly a highlight...