 | |
 | |
| Type | Microbrewery |
|---|---|
| Location | Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Coordinates | 51°46′37″N0°58′09″W / 51.777°N 0.9691°W |
| Opened | 2011 |
| Annual production volume | 80 barrels per week |
| Employees | 12 |
| Website | xtbrewing |
The XT Brewing Company is a microbrewery based in Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, England.
The brewery was founded in 2011 by Russell Taylor and Gareth Xifaras, the company is based on the Notley Farm Estate. [1] The brewery has a brew length of 20 brewers barrels and produces mainly for cask beer. More recently, beers have been brewed for kegs, bottles, and cans. The beers are branded as XT or under the Animal Brewing Co. labels. The brewery underwent a building and equipment expansion project during 2015 to increase capacity. [2] In 2017, capacity was increased for the introduction of the Eisbar Lager. [3]
The XT brewery produces a core range of beers which are mainly numbered from XT1 through to XT9, which follow a pattern of increasing darkness. [4] A range of seasonal beers are also produced. The Animal-branded beers are named after animals, animal sounds, or animal slang terms. [5] Speciality beers have been produced to mark local celebrations, such as the Magna Carta, [6] or as collaborations with other breweries or food specialists such as Will Torrent and the Roast Cacao Beer. [7] XT has also been involved as a partner brewer in the development of new English hop varieties, [8] working alongside the British Hop Association and Charles Faram's hop breeding programme. [9] The programme aims to bring new hop varieties to the market and offers a wider range of flavour profiles as an alternative to imported varieties. One of the experimental beers, named Brit Hop, was released at the 2017 Great British Beer Festival. [10] Such beers are available across the south, west, and midlands of England. [11] [12]
XT is a founding member of the Alliance of Oxford Brewers and the Oxford Beer Week. [13]
Beers are occasionally made for national charitable causes such as The Lest We Forget project, which was initiated by XT to produce a nationwide collaboration beer to support the appeal, [14] [15] and for local charities such as the Florence Nightingale Hospice appeal. [16]
The brewery sponsors Wheatley Rugby Club, [17] Long Crendon Football Club, [18] and Thame Town Cricket Club. [19]
Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in the world, the most widely consumed, and the third most popular drink after water and tea. Beer is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the beer. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilising agent. Other flavouring agents, such as gruit, herbs, or fruits, may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, natural carbonation is often replaced with forced carbonation.
Pale lager is a pale-to-golden lager beer with a well-attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness.
Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer, than larger "macro" breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, new flavours, and varied brewing techniques.
India pale ale (IPA) is a hoppy beer style within the broader category of pale ale.
Beer was introduced to Canada by European settlers in the seventeenth century. The first commercial brewery was La Brasseries du Roy started by New France Intendant Jean Talon, in Québec City in 1668. Many commercial brewers thrived until prohibition in Canada. The provincial and federal governments' attempt to eliminate "intoxicating" beverages led to the closing of nearly three quarters of breweries between 1878 and 1928. It was only in the second half of the twentieth century that a significant number of new breweries opened up. The Canadian beer industry now plays an important role in Canadian identity, although globalization of the brewing industry has seen the major players in Canada acquired by or merged with foreign companies, notably its three largest beer producers: Labatt, Molson and Sleeman. The result is that Moosehead, with an estimated 3.8 percent share of the domestic market in 2016, has become the largest fully Canadian-owned brewer.
Beer has been brewed in England for thousands of years. As a beer brewing country, it is known for top fermented cask beer which finishes maturing in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery and is served with only natural carbonation.
Beer arrived in Australia at the beginning of British colonisation. In 2004 Australia was ranked fourth internationally in per capita beer consumption, at around 110 litres per year; although, the nation ranked considerably lower in a World Health Organization report of alcohol consumption per capita of 12.2 litres. Lager is by far the most popular type of beer consumed in Australia.
Beer in Norway has a long history, stretching back more than a millennium. Until some 200 years ago, most farms where it was possible to grow grain south of the Arctic Circle, brewed their own beer. From the early 20th century brewing was industrialized and home brewing was restricted. Significant consolidation in the brewing sector reduced the number of major breweries to just a handful. With the exception of the farmhouse ales, most beer styles brewed in Norway trace their ancestry to central Europe.
Beer in Africa, especially lager, is produced commercially in most African countries, and indigenous people also make varieties of beer. Beer is served in various locales, from neighbourhood shebeens to upscale bars. Many countries have standardized beer bottle sizes, which are cleaned and re-used, so when buying beer at a store, people often must pay a deposit on the bottle and the price of the beer. An alternative to glass-bottle beers is local beer sold in tetra-pak style paper cartons.
Brewing in Ireland has a long history. Production currently stands at over 8 million hectolitres, and approximately half the alcohol consumed is beer.
The Society of Independent Brewers is an organisation representing the interests of independent breweries in the UK. Founded in 1980, it was intended to fight the pub-tie system, under which large brewers owned 80% of the UK's pubs. It changed its name in 1995 to reflect the changing aspirations of its members, but retained its original acronym.
Beer is the most popular alcoholic drink in New Zealand, accounting for 63% of available alcohol for sale. At around 64.7 litres per person per annum, New Zealand is ranked 27th in global beer consumption per capita. The vast majority of beer produced in New Zealand is a type of lager, either pale or amber in colour, and typically 4–5% alcohol by volume.
The beer market in Denmark is dominated by the brands Carlsberg and Tuborg. Since Tuborg was acquired by Carlsberg in 1970, Carlsberg has held a near-monopoly. A number of regional breweries, however, managed to survive, and most of them merged into Royal Unibrew in 2005. As of 2020, Ratebeer lists over 300 active breweries in Denmark, most of which are microbreweries.
Beer, called maekju in Korean, was first introduced to Korea in the early 20th century. Seoul's first brewery opened in 1908. Two current major breweries date back to the 1930s. The third brewery established in Korea, Jinro Coors Brewery, was founded in the 1990s. It was later acquired by Oriental Breweries (OB). Hite Breweries's former name was Chosun Breweries, which was established in 1933. The company changed its name to Hite Breweries in 1998. OB Breweries established as Showa Kirin Breweries in 1933. The company changed its name to OB Breweries in 1995.
The beers of the Caribbean are unique to each island in the region, although many are variants of the same style. Each island generally brews its own unique pale lager, the occasional stout, and often a non-alcoholic malta beverage. Contract-brewing of international beers is also common, with Heineken Pilsener and Guinness Foreign Extra Stout being the most popular. The beers vary between the islands to suit the taste and the brewing method used.
Beer is often made from barley malt, water, hops and yeast and so is often suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Some beer brewers add finings to clarify the beer when racking into a barrel. Finings can include plant-derived products, like Irish moss, or animal-derived products, like isinglass and gelatin.
American lager or North American lager is pale lager that is produced in the United States. The pale lager-style beer originated in Europe in the mid-19th century, and moved to the US with German immigrants. As a general trend outside of Bavaria and the Czech Republic where the beers may be firmly hopped, pale lager developed as a modestly hopped beer, and sometimes used adjuncts such as rice or corn – and this was also true in the US.
Porter is a style of beer that was developed in London, England in the early 18th century. It is well-hopped and dark in appearance owing to the use of brown malt. The name is believed to have originated from its popularity with porters.
Beer in Northern Ireland has been influenced by immigration into Ulster, especially from Scotland, and the drinking habits in Ireland until the partition of Ireland. Whiskey drinking was always a tradition with Guinness from Dublin being a strong influence in the style of beer drunk in the 19th and 20th centuries. Brewing traditions almost ceased to exist as smaller breweries closed, or were taken over, and then the large breweries in turn closed down their facilities. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was founded in 1971; however, it was 10 years before the first new brewery, Hilden Brewing, opened its doors.
Cloudwater Brew Co is an independent craft brewery based in Manchester, England. Established in 2014, the brewery began making beer the following year and quickly gained a reputation for the quality of its products. In 2017 and 2018, Cloudwater was ranked among the ten best breweries in the world by beer scoring website RateBeer, becoming the only UK brewery ever to be featured. Several Cloudwater beers have also received accolades at the same awards.
