Brewtown Tours

brewtowntours.co.uk

Everyone knows that York has a plentiful supply of great pubs, but few realise the sheer scale of how many breweries and microbreweries there are in York and the surrounding area, and the list keeps on growing.

Apart from Brew York and York Brewery who are both based in the city and offer tours, most of the breweries you see supplying the bars of York are based on farms and industrial estates out of town. Unless you know the brewer you're unlikely to get through the front door, and even if you did, you'd still have to drive home limiting the enjoyment of any tastings.

Luckily Mark Stredwick has recently moved back from Australia and brought with him a solution for beer lovers which has become Brewtown Tours. Designed with locals, tourists, and organised events all in mind Mark has put together a selection of different tours that start at York Tap at the station and take in a tour and tasting session at some of the area's best breweries that are usually behind closed doors, finishing back in town a either the Brew York tap room or back at the York Tap.

I met up with Ben from York on a Fork for a quick pint in York Tap while we waited for Mark to pick us up at 13:00 then we were straight off to Rudgate at Marston Moor Industrial Estate. There are three different tours available for York and one in Leeds:

• North West - Rudgate, Yorkshire Heart, then Brew York
• South East - two from Hop Studio, Half Moon, Ainsty Ales then Brew York
• Malton - Bad Seed, Brass Castle, then Brew York
• Leeds - North Brewing, Northern Monk, then Brewery Tap Leeds.

The first thing we realised when arriving at Rudgate is that this is a working brewery in full swing and you are in the thick of it rather than looking in from a viewing gallery.

We started with a full tour of the site, followed by the opportunity to chat with the head brewer while we sampled some of the beers being brewed around you which included Jorvik, Battleaxe and our favourite, a superb Chocolate Stout.

Back in the van and Mark talked us through some of the other beers and breweries in York before we arrived at Yorkshire Heart in Nun Monkton.

Driving down the farm track to the sheds that house the brewery make a stark contrast to the industrial unit housing Rudgate, and that's when it hits you that we're really lucky to have such a diverse range of brewers, processes, ideas, and equipment that all together lead to such a range of quality beers. I wouldn't have made that link without seeing the two breweries back-to-back.

Head Brewer Tim showed us round and described a similar process to Rudgate, but with subtle differences created by the setup of the brewery. We had some time to ask questions as we looked around the brewery and saw the new pump clips and bottle designs that were under consideration.

Five beers later we had surprisingly for the second time that day settled on a flavoured beer as our star pick, enjoying the tuck-shop tang of the rhubarb beer.

Our final stop brought us back into town as we headed to Brew York where we were given the option of either another tour or to dive straight into trying a few of the beers. Knowing the process by now and with the brewery on full view from the tap room we went for the latter and Mark returned with pork pies and the first round of half pints for us to try while we played a few frames of bar billiards.

After an engaging, insightful, and fun day of exploring and tasting our way around some of York's breweries with Brewtown Tours we finished up at around 6pm. I really enjoyed the afternoon and have got my eye on the Malton route for next year!