BULL BOX BREWERY

Suppose that you had been home-brewing for 20 years or more with a deep love for the quality of your beer. And suppose that you had reached a point at work where the day-to-day grind was becoming more tedious. What might you do?

For Alan Gates, head (and only) brewer at Norfolk's newest brewery this 'mid-life crisis' (the name is appropriate, as you will discover below) had only one potential resolution. And so, in October 2005, the Bull Box Brewery came into being.

Not many of us live in a house that can accommodate a functioning commercial brewery, and Alan and his partner Liz were no exception. So the first challenge was to find a site for the brewery. That was met by renting an outbuilding at a farm in Stradsett -- which also neatly solved the second problem of what name to give the brewery!

The first brew came to fruition just after Christmas 2005. It was a memorable event -- a hose split and both Alan and Liz got covered! The first brew was Bull Box Bitter, the 4% ABV beer that is the brewery's mainstay. There was a sense, Alan says, that they were 'slinging it together' -- a bit of this, a bit of that. And then one night, carrying out covert consumer surveillance in the Denver Bell pub, Alan overheard someone remark: "That's how beer used to taste!" The recipe has remained unchanged ever since.

There's a lot more to commercial brewing than a gallon or two on the kitchen sink; you can't just scale up domestic production. Alan had to collect together the second-hand brewing vessels needed, and invest in the barrels necessary to get the beer out to the waiting customers. Barrels are an especial nuisance -- at £60 a time, the ones that aren't returned promptly can easily cause a bottleneck in the production line. And this is still a small-scale operation: Bull Box can brew just 72 gallons every five days. Meanwhile, Alan hasn't given up the day job!

You also have to find your outlets, and here the local hostleries -- prompted mostly by word of mouth approval of the brews -- have risen to the challenge maginficently. If you want to try any of the current offerings, you need to keep a close watch on the handpumps at the Denver Bell, the Downham Market Crown, Cock and Downham Market Club, or travel further afield to the Kings Head in Magdalen Street, Nowrich. But in our opinion, you'll find it worthwhile.

You also need the ingredients. The grain comes from Stowmarket, the hops (mostly Challenger) and yeast from Malvern. The all-important water, which can make or break a beer (why else was Burton built on Trent?) is local. And there's also a fair amount of 'waste' to dispose of -- the brewery doesn't have mains drainage, so Alan has to face the problem of disposing of chemicals. Spent malt is less of a problem: there are a lot of happy cows in Fordham!

It's probably true that there are no original beers -- all brewers start from an existing favourite and try modelling and improving it. In the case of Bull Box's second offering, the 4.5% ABV Mid-life Crisis (we told you it was relevant) the starting point was Theakston's renowned Old Peculier. At present, there's only one further beer on offer -- 5.2% Kerb Crawler -- but brewing, like cooking, is a matter of continually refining your output. Alan's immediate project is a beer in the Belgian style, flavoured with coriander, caraway and cumin. Modelled on one of his favourites, La Chouffe, it's likely to be called 'Chou-Chou'. However good Alan's beers might be, his names seem to fit the rule: 'the better the beer, the sillier the name'.

At first, Bull Box beers were only available on draught -- bottling was an expansion that began in October 2007. The first range to go on sale -- two of the draught staples listed below and a new, most excellent draught and bottle brew, Bagge's Bitter, are illustrated below.

The nearest stockist to Nordelph is 'Beers of Europe' (www.beersofeurope.co.uk) signposted off the A10 at Setchey, just South of Kings Lynn.

Because of Alan's determined and continuous concentration on customer satisfaction, you may well find -- although you won't know -- that he's watching you when you sample your first pint. In which case, you'll be able to afford him the greatest satisfaction a brewer can have -- the moment when you drain your glass and go back for a refill!

Bull Box Bitter : 4% abv,
A Copper coloured beer, intense hop flavouring finishing with a clean dry bitter aftertaste
Mid-life Crisis : 4.5% abv.
Ruby red in colour, full of fruity flavour with a nice hoppy bite to finish
Kerb Crawler : 5.2% abv
A pale well rounded beer gently hopped with Goldings