RCH PG Steam Bitter

Another brewery that I had not come across before. RCH Brewery started in the early 1980's at the Royal Clarence Hotel at Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset (hence the name). It was purchased by the Davey Family in 1984. In 1993 Graham Dunbavan was employed as a brewer and new beers were developed by him and Paul Davey. Production quickly grew from 5 barrels a fortnight to 15 barrels a week, which was the capacity of the brewhouse in the hotel. Brewing became a problem then because the brewery used all the cold water supply to the hotel in the afternoon and guests could not wash because it was all being used in the paraflow. New premises were found at a hamlet called West Hewish near Weston Super Mare. The building had been used for making cider and previously as a transport yard. This proved to be a problem as the yard was 18 inches thick with reinforced concrete. It took three weeks to dig a trench for the new drains. Finally after about three months they were ready to brew in the new 15 barrel plant. This they did quite happily until 1999 when they found that they could not keep up with demand and decided to extend the brewhouse and upgrade to a 30 barrel brew plant. The work was started in 2000 but took over 2 years to complete. More details can be found at http://www.rchbrewery.com/.

PG Steam is designed to be a complex, multi-layered ale with a floral hop aroma and a medium-bodied hoppy bitter taste with some fruit and sweetness. It was named after brewery owner Paul Davy and brewer Graham Dunbavan and was the first beer brewed at the new brewery using steam to heat the copper. I found it quite acceptable but not something I would go out of my way to find.

It is bottle conditioned. All the information given on the ingredients is that, in addition to barley and yeast, it may contain wheat, oats, rye and spelt, which I can't help thinking is unlikely to enhance the flavour. ABV is 4.0%