West Berks bucks trend with beer boost

West Berkshire Brewery, creator of Good Old Boy and Renegade Lager, has launched a rebrand across its entire portfolio of British beers following a £9 million brewery investment. Available nationwide, the rebranding ushers in a new era for West Berkshire Brewery, reflecting the company’s ambition to secure significant national growth and its dedication to creating innovative, authentic beers of the highest possible standard. 

The brewery recently increased capacity by 12 times and introduced state-of-the-art brewing technology including an automated canning and bottling line. Best known for cask beer and its best seller, Good Old Boy 4%, West Berkshire Brewery launched Renegade Lager, an English Pilsner brewed with only English malt and hops in 2016. Bucking the trend of the declining cask ale market, Good Old Boy remains a continual success story, with a 61 per cent increase in volume. 

Managing director Tom Lucas,says: “At West Berkshire Brewery we’re true to our principles and our love of all beer styles. Our portfolio of beers represents a blend of heritage styles and innovative, modern beers. As a business that has been at the forefront of the independent brewing movement since it started, it's important to us that we remember where we came from, and why we started brewing in the first place – so that while our branding might evolve we don’t break with the past.” 

As well as the new contemporary design, brewery expansion and introduction of new brewing equipment, the size of the brewery team has also grown – allowing for an even wider range of beer styles and innovation to be explored. 

Head brewer Will Twomey (pictured below) says: "The main focus for us is to brew exceptionally high-quality beer in a range of styles that are authentic and honest in terms of ingredients, style, as well as being well balanced and drinkable. Having learnt our trade producing exceptional cask ales like Good Old Boy and Maharajah IPA, the new equipment allows us to play around and brew many styles that we wouldn’t have been able to do justice previously.

"The expansion has allowed us to accommodate more Renegade Lager production, and its 45-day aging process, and to create our India Session Ale, which combines a medley of American and Australian hops for a beautifully floral hop-forward beer that manages to be balanced at the same time. 

“We’ve got some exciting collaborations lined up with several awesome breweries this year and we’ve already been lucky enough to brew a Pastry Stout and a Red Ale with Tap Social Movement and a Belgian Blonde with Solvay Society.’’ 

West Berkshire Brewery is determined to minimise the environmental impact of its brewing process and has already invested more than £1 million in environmentally sustainable production equipment; the PakTech can handles and fridge-pack cardboard machine, both reducing the need for plastic wrapping. In addition, it has implemented a reedbed drainage system and the creation of a natural habitat surrounding the brewery site.