Castor Ales: liquid assets

[prev] …exciting new beers, giving extraordinary flavours. The trick is to balance your hops which provide bitterness, aroma and taste with the sweetness of the malts. Porters, stouts and milds are also making a comeback, brewed using a mixture of darker and burnt malts. They’re not to everyone’s tastes but for beer aficionados they are sought after. Of course, other fruits and vegetables can be added to provide an altogether different experience. Take Steve Saldana at Bexar County Brewery – he’s creating quite a stir locally with an eclectic range of exciting beers.

WHAT ABOUT YOUR BEERS? WHAT’S YOUR UNIQUE SELLING POINT?
I’m happy to be quite conservative in terms of the types of beers I sell to satisfy my customers’ needs. My beer is handmade, low-tech and carefully nurtured. My beer names have tended to reflect Castor’s Roman heritage. For example, Roman Gold, my version of an IPA: Imperial Palace Ale, or my new beer Durobrivae, which is the Roman name for Waternewton across the River Nene from Castor. Castorware Mild is named after the dark pottery made in the Nene Valley. Then there’s Old Scarlett, who was a 16th-century gravedigger in Peterborough Cathedral. He was something of a legend – he lived to be 98 and buried Mary Queen of Scots and Catherine of Aragon among others. So I do like to have a historical connection to the area. Being small and independent means I can have some fun with naming beers. For example there’s the Peterborough United connection: the 12th Man, which was a nod to long-suffering supporters of any team and Posh at Wem-‘beer’-ley was for a Wembley appearance in May. For the World Cup I named a beer They Drink It’s Ale Over. And for the Tour de France, the ironically-named Où sons Les Montagnes for the start in Cambridge. I’m also lucky to have local artist John Elson design my pump clips. He adds his own style to the brand.

HAVE MANY PEOPLE ASKED YOU TO BREW A BEER FOR THEM?
Yes. One of the benefits of running your own brewery is that you can offer that personal service. Sometimes a beer can become unexpectedly popular. Hopping Toad was originally brewed for two brothers, Andy and Stuart Simmonds who run two pubs in Werrington – The Ploughman and The Dragon respectively. They wanted a beer to celebrate the life of their sister who had recently passed away at Papworth Hospital. It’s a light-coloured beer that turned out to be popular with punters at both pubs. Andy and Stuart are two regular guys who have raised over £18,000 for Papworth Hospital by running charity events. I’m not averse to helping out by making a beer for people that want it for a charity event. As a small brewer I have the luxury of being able to do that; I can put a bit back into the community. Another example is Liam Scanlon of The Ostrich in Peterborough, who asked me to brew a beer that he wanted to call Customer Service. When I asked him about the name he said it was because his customers kept on commenting that ‘this would be a good pub if it had any customer service!’. We brewed it, he sold it and it went down a storm.

HAVE YOU GOT ANY NEW BEERS IN THE PIPELINE?
I’ve got some interesting hops that I haven’t used yet and I want to dabble in some more interesting darker beers. So keep your eye out for new beers from Castor Ales this autumn and winter.

Castor Ales 30 Peterborough Road, Castor, Peterborough PE5 7AX.
T: 07828 048664
www.castorales.co.uk