History of Brewing in Marlow & The Rebellion Beer
Company
Like every town and village
throughout England, Marlow's brewing tradition dates back
centuries. Beer had been the drink of the day for most people
throughout the ages, as beer was safer to drink than water, so the
local brewer was a much respected and important person in any
community. Beer was traditionally brewed on a very small scale, and
sold at the brewer's own 'public house', until the advent of the
new steam powered technology during the industrial revolution
allowed for the production of beer on a larger commercial scale.
Thomas Wethered started brewing in premises on the west side of
Marlow high street in the middle of the 18th Century,
and was soon producing about 30,000 pints per week, and selling his
beer to local inns and pubs. And so the town brewery remained the
centre of the working and social life of the local community right
up until the middle of 20th Century when the emergence
of large national brewing companies threatened the existence of
local traditional brewers, who found it increasingly difficult to
compete. From over 2000 independent breweries in 1900 the number
dropped to under 200 by 1970, which inspired a small band of real
ale enthusiasts to start CAMRA, the pressure group whose aim was to
support and champion the dwindling number of small traditional town
brewers. There is a well known saying that real ale doesn't travel,
and it simply wasn't possible for the national brewers to produce
quality real ale in huge centralised breweries and transport the
beer across hundreds of miles to the pubs. Real ale is a living
product where the yeast continues to ferment and produce intense
flavours in the cask, and as such it is un-filtered, un-pasteurised
and doesn't have preservatives pumped into it. From a point of
almost total extinction in the 1970s a consumer lead backlash
against the poor quality and non-descript mass produced national
beers, inspired a revival in small scale brewing, which since 1980
has seen the number of microbreweries in Britain grow from a
handful to more than 400.
The story of the Rebellion Brewery
starts in 1987 with the closure of the Thomas Wethered Brewery. Two
friends, Tim Coombes and Mark Gloyens, had gone through school
together at Sir William Borlase, at a time when the old Wethered
brewery was in full production and the smell & noise from the
brewery clearly marked Marlow out to locals and visitors alike as a
brewing town. Having discussed the idea to set up in business
together earlier in their careers, and watching the old brewery
close, the idea started to take shape of reviving Marlow tradition
in 1991. After a couple of years of planning, research and failed
attempts to secure small premises on the old brewery site, which
was owned by Whitbreads, the Rebellion Brewery was established on
the Rose Industrial Estate in Marlow Bottom in April 1993.
From an initial investment of
£60,000 of their own money, the two partners have reinvested
retained profits over the intervening years to expand the brewery
to its current capacity of 70,000 pints/week. In 1999 the brewery
moved to its current premises on Bencombe Farm, occupying the old
grainstore and other redundant farm buildings. Most of the brewing
equipment installed has been purchased 2nd hand from
other breweries that have been closed down over the years. The
Rebellion Brewery is a working brewery museum, containing as it
does tanks & equipment from old, closed breweries such as
Morlands of Abingdon, Morrells of Oxford, Flowers of Cheltenham and
Brakspears of Henley. Most of the beer produced in the brewery is
traditional cask conditioned ale for sale to local pubs and in the
brewery shop, with the remainder going into bottle for sale through
the brewery shop, local restaurants, hotels and off-licences. As
support from local people has increased the Rebellion Brewery has
reduced the area it actively sells to and now considers export as
anything that goes out of Bucks, Berks & Oxon. The strategy of
concentrating on local sales is better for the quality of the beer;
better for the environment and ultimately better for the long-term
profitability and sustainability of the brewery. The number of
people employed by the brewery has grown over the years from the
initial 3 to the current level of 50 full & part-time
staff.
The Rebellion Brewery has always
prided itself in its involvement with the wider community, through
support for local charities, schools and other community
organisations. Every 2 years since 1999, Rebellion has thrown the
doors of the brewery open over a weekend in the summer, and
welcomed as many as 7000 visitors to enjoy a free beer festival,
including tours of the brewery and live music provided by local
bands. Whilst entry to the festival is free, visitors are invited
to donate money to the local hospital charity, 'Scannappeal', and
since 1999 over £100,000 has been raised to buy vital scanning
& diagnostic equipment for Wycombe Hospital.
The brewery also aims to minimise
the impact it has on the environment. All the surplus bi-products
of the brewing process are re-used locally, with the fresh &
highly nutritious spent brewers grains going off to 2 local farms
to the feed the cattle.
In today's world of brewing, it
appears you have to be either a small local brewery to produce the
quality and variety of beers appealing to the discerning drinker or
be a multi-national brewing giant producing cheap, mass marketed
beers. Our strategy now is to focus our attention on continually
developing the range of beers we produce, as well as working
tirelessly to ensure our loyal customers can always enjoy our beers
in the best possible condition, wherever they try them. Thankfully
for us, the industry has gone full circle and the demand for
locally produced, distinctive and high quality beers is growing and
the Rebellion Brewery in Marlow is here to stay.
Email us or call 01628 476594
