Member Article

Chantry Brewery pioneers new beer with plenty of character for iconic stately home

Visitors to Wentworth Woodhouse will soon be able to treat themselves to a tasty tipple after the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust teamed up with local brewers, Chantry Brewery to create a brand new beer, named in honour of the iconic stately home.

With numerous tours to explore, as well as the prospect of climbing 135 steps to soak up the panoramic views of the surrounding countryside and inspect the current roof repairs, anyone could be forgiven for thinking that a visit to Wentworth Woodhouse can be thirsty work and following a chance encounter, Chantry Brewery has developed a brand new beer, to tantalise the tastebuds of visitors.

The new brew, which has been named Palladian Pale, is a 3.9% golden ale, which has been carefully developed to reflect different aspects of the historic stately home. Featuring plenty of character and a crisp floral taste, even the hops featured in the beer were chosen because of their connections to the Wentworth Woodhouse story.

The mouth wateringly smooth and refreshingly light pale ale will be sold exclusively by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust and will be available with the stately home’s recently opened gift shop, with every penny generated from sales go directly towards funding restoration projects within the Grade I listed building.

Following a competition organised by the trust to design an eye-catching label on it’s social media channels, the winning design was created by Wickersley-based graphic designer Richard Calise, who was encouraged to enter the competition by his wife.

Palladian Pale will be sold exclusively at Wentworth Woodhouse, with proceeds from the beer contributing to the essential renovation works currently underway.

Palladian Pale was developed by Mick Warburton, co-director at Chantry Brewery following a chance discussion with a member of staff, during a visit to Wentworth Woodhouse and will be brewed from Chantry’s Parkgate-based headquarters, which once formed part of the Fitzwilliam Estate.

Mick Warburton, Co-Director, Chantry Brewery said:

“During a visit Wentworth Woodhouse, I sparked up a conversation with one of their fantastic tour guides. He arranged an introduction with the trust and the team came down to the brewery to help us develop a beer which they felt reflected Wentworth Woodhouse.

“The beer we’ve created features Cascade hops, which were chosen to reflect the famous performance by Russian ballerina Ana Pavlova who performed for King George V in Wentworth Woodhouse. We chose it because the hop was first developed using English and Russian seed varieties, whilst the floral flavours reflect the impressive gardens surrounding the house.

“We’re all really excited to be working alongside the Wentworth Woodhouse team on the new beer. Being given the opportunity to create something new for such an important local landmark is something that I and everyone here at Chantry Brewery are immensely proud to have produced and if it proves to popular we’re hopeful that it will be the first of a number of different beer varieties produced for the Trust”.

Richard Calise, winner of the competition said:

“I’ve always been passionate about design and after my wife spotted the competition on social media, she encouraged me to submit an entry, I felt as if it was a bit of win-win for me and combined three loves in my life: local history, graphic design and of course not forgetting quality beer.

“I wanted to create a design which not only encapsulated the spirit of the stately home, but also reflected the long history of Wentworth Woodhouse. After spending of bit time trialling a few ideas I came with one which I liked and decided to enter it into the competition. One of the best things about graphic design is seeing how people respond to your work, and I feel very honoured that my design was chosen for the new beer.”

Jen Wicks, Visitor Operations Manager, Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust said:

“Since work by the trust began, where possible we have always collaborated with local businesses and after meeting Mick and the Chantry team, we felt a specially produced beer would be a great addition to our gift shop and café. We met the team at the brewery, tried a few of their different beer types and as a result Mick was able to develop a beer which reflected exactly what we were looking for: A refreshing drink with plenty of character.

“We chose the name Palladian Pale, in homage to the 185m palladian-style façade, the largest of its kind in England, and to put that into perspective, if the beer bottles were lined up, it would need more than 2300 to reach the other end!

“That left just one problem to overcome, the beer label design. We decided to run a competition via our social media channels to try and find a worthy winner. Richard’s simple and elegant design proved to be a worthy winner.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chantry Brewery .