369 Years of Brewing Heritage: Fawcett’s & Batemans Brewery
On 22nd September, two independent family businesses with a combined 369 years of heritage came together to brew something special: Spiced Route Pale Ale.
With the cooler months approaching, the aim was to create a warming pale ale with plenty of character – and when it came to choosing the base malt, we felt a heritage variety deserved to take centre stage.
The choice was Halcyon.
Why Halcyon?
Halcyon was bred at the Plant Breeding Institute (PBI) in Cambridge as a cross between Maris Otter and Sargeant. It became a hugely successful malting barley throughout the 1980s and 1990s, before gradually giving way to more modern varieties and eventually being removed from the UK Recommended List in 2000.
One of Halcyon’s challenges was its long, relatively brittle straw, which could leave the crop vulnerable to adverse weather and made newer varieties increasingly attractive to growers.
At Thomas Fawcett & Sons, however, we believed Halcyon was worth preserving.
We continued working with a select number of farmers to keep the variety in production, and today Thomas Fawcett & Sons is the only maltster in the world still producing Halcyon malt.
Given Halcyon’s prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, there is every chance it would have found its way into the mash tun at Batemans during its heyday. So, with a nod to the brewing and malting heritage of both businesses, Halcyon felt like the natural choice for Spiced Route.
Brewing at Batemans
Unfortunately, Batemans’ Head Brewer Giuseppe was back in his native Italy for the day, but Lead Brewer Ben took control of proceedings and did a fantastic job of guiding the brew.
Ben and I had a terrific day putting Spiced Route together – and he made sure I was kept suitably well-watered throughout!
“One particular highlight was enjoying a glass of 5G in the sample room. The beer is itself a celebration of Batemans’ heritage, marking the five generations of the family who have worked at the brewery.”
There was something particularly fitting about drinking a beer celebrating five generations of Batemans while brewing with a barley variety that Fawcett’s has worked to preserve for future generations.
We now look forward to tasting the finished Spiced Route Pale Ale and seeing Halcyon take centre stage once again.
