NEW LOCAL BEER TO LAUNCH AT CHESTER FOOD AND DRINK FESTIVAL #News

Victoria Hayes
12th August 2021

A new local brewery is launching at the Taste Cheshire Food and Drink Festival.

Chester Beer Company is a Low Intervention brewer based in Handbridge, Chester founded by local entrepreneur Neil Chesters.

Chesters’ beers are all vegan: made using mineral water, whole grains, hops and nothing else. It contains no additives, and no chemicals are used at any stage of the Chester Beer brewing process making the company unique among British commercial brewers.

We are super excited to announce that Chesters is launching with a range of four beers to be available in around a dozen local outlets, and has brewed a new beer exclusively available at the Festival.

Chesters use the best ingredients of the season to make great craft beer in tiny batches. They leave out all the chemicals that the mass producers (and most craft brewers) use. This has several effects. Some of those just mean they have to work harder. They put in more elbow grease to clean out the copper. They have to be perfectionists – getting the mash temperatures exactly right. And they have to accept that low intervention Chester beer won’t last as long on the shelves as supermarket beer. Each batch of Chester Beer will be small, and it won’t be as clear as beers that put ‘process aids’ in your glass but never on the label.

But it also means that Chester beer tastes wonderful. Just like the live yeast, the flavours of the malt and the hops don’t drop out of Chester beer. This means that Chester beer tastes more flavoursome than other beers with similar measures of bitterness, for example.

All Chester beers are naturally sparkling. They are live products which condition in their final container. By fermenting in the bottle, cask or can the beer makes itself fizzy. As the yeast eats the sugars, those sugars are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The CO2 goes back into the beer in the container so it’s like pouring it straight out of a cask.

So this is real ale? Yes it is. They don’t filter the beer. Unless you pour very carefully, you will get hop residue and some yeast in the your glass but this is natural and though you will see it it will not effect the taste of Chester Beer.

If you’d rather it doesn’t see the inside of your glass, then pour it out of the bottle or can slowly, and most residue will be left behind.  

They’re doing this because they believe that people do want better quality drinks. That people do want drinks that are local and produced ethically. That people want to be cared about by those they spend money with. That people want to deal with businesses that behave equitably with all their stakeholders.

They believe that you want to spend your hard-earned money on great products with great teams. Teams like theirs; people that care about each other, that want to get to know you and care about you, and the quality of the beers they serve.

And they’re doing this because the beer tastes fabulous. You can find out more about each of their beers here

Chester Beer Company was founded by Neil Chesters, in 2020 during the Covid lockdowns as a social enterprise, and a route to coming home for good to the city that he loves. Chester. Although, The Chesters family have lived in Chester since at least 1509.  

They are selling through Chester’s local independent beer and wine merchants and they will supply restaurants, pubs and bars that are allowed to stock their beers.

Their business is brewing delicious craft beer. It’s made with hand-turned floor malted British grains, water, hops and nothing else.

We can’t wait to see them at Chester Food and Drink Festival.

If you haven’t got your tickets yet, head to chesterfoodanddrink.co.uk