A Visit to the Weatheroak Brewery

Our Treasurer, Peter Tomlinson, hails from Birmingham and his parents live in the Bourneville Village Trust area, dominated by Quakers, so pubs are virtually non-existent. The Coach & Horses at Weatheroak near Alvechurch was 7 miles from home and he used to cycle there every Friday for some decent beer, something he started doing in 1980.

He hadn’t been back for some time, until July 2001, and, in doing so, found they had a brewery. Following this discovery, he offered to take us there as a Branch Outing last year. Due to it’s popularity, he repeated the trip on 9^th July this year.

Dave Smith (r) and Peter Tomlinson (l) enjoying a pint of Weatheroak ale

On arrival, we started by getting our first pint; most of us chose Light Oak at 3.8%, perfect for a hot summer evening. Then Dave Smith, the brewer, arrived and gave us a tour of his brewery. He started 5 years ago as a long standing regular customer in the Coach & Horses. He asked the landlord, Phil Meads, “If I set my own brewery up, would you sell my beer in your pub”? Well, he set up in a small outbuilding close to the road by the pub and by January 1998, the first pint of Weatheroak Maybe (now called Weatheroak Bitter) was served. He brews with his son three times a week and plans to add a fourth fermenter in the near future. There are four regular beers, Lightoak 3.8%, Weatheroak 4.1%, Redwood 4.7% and Triple Tee 5.1%. 

The Leicester Beer Festival 2002 featured 2 of Weatheroak’s beers and, this year, Dave Smith brewed Golden Mile as a Festival Special for us. The Coach & Horses has been awarded the local CAMRA “Pub Of The Year” award, 5 years running. The Coach and Horses is approximately a one hour drive from Leicester and is well worth a visit.

K Williams.

 This page last updated: April 15, 2011

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