The fifth anniversary of Slater's Eccleshall Brewery, based at the George, took place in March. Ged and Moyra Slater took over the George ten years ago and from their earliest days there talked of plans to establish a brewery in outbuildings behind the town centre hotel. Inevitably the meticulous planning took time and it seemed a very long wait until 9th March 1995 when Slaters ales were launched.
Slaters' success and the consistent high quality of their beers results from several factors.
Consultant David Smith of York, who has considerable experience in the brewing industry, provided invaluable advice in setting up the brewery.
A top of the range brewing plant was installed, rather than the cheaper somewhat haphazard configurations of equipment used in some micro breweries. The Keystone Brewery of Yorkshire and Mundane Brewery in Burton were the two earlier homes, for about a year each, of most of the brewing plant, which is now well established in Eccleshall.
Ged and son Andrew use the finest quality ingredients for their beers. Halcyon malt and Whitbread Goldings hops are the main ingredients for most of Slaters' ales, which are brewed with yeast that originated from the Malton Brewery in Yorkshire.
The ten barrel plant is capable of producing forty barrels of beer, 1440 gallons, a week and is running at about three-quarters capacity. Having been extended in 1997 to cope with increasing demand, the brewery now consists of a fifteen barrel copper, ten barrel mash tun, 5 fermenting vessels and twelve conditioning tanks.
Sixteen different beers have been brewed by Slaters and light coloured hoppy bitters have always been the mainstay of the brewery's production. Slaters Bitter (3.6% abv), Original (4%) and Premium (4.4%) have always been brewed, with Supreme (4.7%) added to the range in February 1997 and TopTotty(4%), which had just been intended as a summer beer, in June 1997.
There have been eight seasonal beers, starting with All Mighty (5.6%) from November 1995 to March 1996. HiDuck (4.1%) was the spring beer of 1996, '97 and '98 and Bees Knees (4.5%) was a porter brewed from November 1997 for a while. Mild (3.7%) was available in February 1998 and Organ Grinder (5.1%), a darker beer, from September 98. 1999 saw Top Notch (3.8%) from April until November and then two winter beers, Over and Out(6%) and Mad Jaffa (7%). Downfall (3.8%) in March 1996 and Princess Bitter (4.1%) in September 1997 were blended beers, sold with 50p a pint going to a charity. Since late January this year a Monkey Magic, a (3.4%) dark mild, has been brewed, primarily for Slater's Crewe pub
Not surprisingly Slaters have won many awards for their beers. As CAMRA West Midlands Champion Beer of the Year, Slaters Bitter was, in 1997, judged to be the best of the region's three hundred real ales. Slaters have already brewed about two million pints, and their beers are widely distributed throughout England. There aren't however as many local outlets as would be expected, but the full range is available at the Monkey in Crewe as well as the George, Eccleshall.