Festive cheer with local beer!

Karen Neville

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Rupert Thompson

Hogs Back Brewery gears up for Christmas with new beer and parties at its Tap

Hogs Back Brewery is getting ready for Christmas! The Tongham brewery has a trio of festive beers, available from the Brewery Shop and Tap as well as local pubs. For anyone after some festive fun in the brewery, ‘Winter Wonderland’ nights in December offer delicious food, drink and a crowd-pleasing disco.

Newly brewed for this Christmas is Fairy Tale of New Pork, a 4% ABV amber ale available on draught. Brewed with authentic beechwood smoked German malt, English pale and crystal malts, it has flavours of cinder toffee, caramel, biscuit and warm smokiness.

Fairy Tale of New Pork joins two returning seasonal favourites: Mistletoe & Swine, a 4.2% ABV, full-bodied cask ale with subtle hints of sultana, peppery ginger, warm cinnamon and orange zest and Advent Ale, a 4.4% deep chestnut ale with notes of sweet liquorice and rich dark chocolate aftertaste, which is available in bottle as well as on draught – making the perfect stocking filler for a beer lover! 

Fun on Tap

The brewery’s Tap has become a destination for great beer, food and regular performances from local bands when it becomes a party space every Friday and Saturday night, offering a range of menus – including vegan options – and drinks packages to suit every taste and budget. And with a DJ playing all the hits through til midnight, it’s a great way to celebrate the party season with friends or work colleagues. Book your table and dust off your dancing shoes now!

Other festive events at the Tap include a special family-friendly charity quiz on Thursday 21st December. Or just book a Tap table with friends for any night and enjoy a Snorter – a refillable glass flagon containing 31/2 pints of any of Hogs Back’s festive or year-round favourites, fresh from the brewery.

And for designated drivers or those wanting to take a break from drinking, Hogs Back’s Little Swine 0.5% is a full-bodied, flavourful pale ale. Brewed with speciality malts and three hop varieties including Cascade from Hogs Back’s hop garden, Little Swine allows offers all the taste of a full-strength beer, without the alcohol. Available in 330ml bottles from the Tap or Brewery Shop.

Managing director Rupert Thompson said: “The run up to Christmas is always a busy time for us: we’re brewing flat out to meet demand from pubs and customers in our Shop, and at the same time we’re hosting parties and other events in the Tap. There’s always a great atmosphere with many of our regular drinkers popping in to pick up supplies for their celebrations at home, or to meet friends for a drink.”

For more details on events at the Hogs Back Tap, go here. The Brewery Shop will be open for extended hours from December, for details go here.

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Hogs Back welcomes Little Ginger Swine

Karen Neville

Posted on

Rupert Thompson

New addition to the low alcohol beer family for Surrey brewery

Surrey-based Hogs Back Brewery is adding to its Little Swine family of low alcohol beers with the launch of flavoured craft ale Little Ginger Swine.

With an ABV of 0.5%, and spiced up with natural ginger extract after brewing, Little Ginger Swine is a full-bodied, flavoured pale ale, brewed with four speciality malts and three hop varieties including aromatic Cascade from Hogs Back’s own hop garden, and dry hopped with Mosaic for a robust citrus finish.

The addition of ginger gives a spicy kick which complements the crisp, smooth, ale, creating a memorable beer that punches well above its weight in flavour terms, despite its low ABV. Little Ginger Swine join Little Swine 2.8% and Little Swine 0.5% in Hogs Back’s expanding range of low alcohol beers.

Hogs Back Brewery managing director Rupert Thompson said: “We’re delighted to be expanding our Little Swine family. The strong consumer response to the existing Little Swine beers has shown that demand for low alcohol beers with plenty of character continues to grow.

“Little Ginger Swine has all the fiery character you’d expect from ginger with some to spare. We think that’s all part of its charm. It has a wonderful flavour that offers something different for the increasing number of beer drinkers enjoying low alcohol beers, making Little Ginger Swine a welcome new addition to the Little Swine family of beers.”

Little Ginger Swine 0.5% ABV is available in 500ml bottles with an RRP of £2.40.

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Hogs Back celebrates 30 years

Round & About

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Rupert Thompson

Hogs Back Brewery marked its 30th birthday with a special ’30 at 30′ celebration, inviting 30 local loyal drinkers to join them for a celebratory pint

The 30 at 30 celebrations, held at the brewery in Tongham, brought back happy memories for guests, as they recalled where they had enjoyed their first pint of Tongham TEA.   

For Nigel, his first pint at the King William IV at Mickleham, was ‘love at first taste and it has been an enduring love story!‘.  Martin was ‘lucky to taste the first brew of TEA, with the original Hogs Back brewer’ and John remembered drinking it “with my father, explaining to me what real beer tastes like.”  Several guests had enjoyed Tongham TEA at weddings and birthday parties. 

Hogs Back Brewery managing director Rupert Thompson said: “We wanted to celebrate our 30th birthday with thanks to loyal customers who have supported us for 30 years – as without them, we wouldn’t be here today. 

“Over the years, TEA has been requested as the beer at many weddings and other celebrations, so for a whole generation of local people, it has a special place in their lives.  

“Many also spoke about coming here with their parents to collect a barrel of Tongham TEA and are now doing the same with their own adult children. We’re of course delighted to see this tradition continue, and by inviting some of these younger drinkers to join our celebrations, we hope that they too become lifelong Tongham TEA drinkers!” 

Ready for harvest

The ’30 at 30′ gathering was one of the last to be held in the Hogs Back hangar this summer before it switches from being a bar and event space to become the hub of the hop harvest, which starts at the end of August. Hop bines cut in the hop garden just yards away are brought back to the hangar where they are sorted, then dried and vacuum packed that they can add flavour and aroma to the brewer’s beers all year. 

Bringing in the hops from the 8.5 acre field is expected to take several weeks and will be celebrated at the Hogs Back Hop Harvest weekend on 24th and 25th September. The Hop Harvest Festival on the Saturday offers a fantastic musical line up including top Queen tribute band Majesty, while the TEA Party on the Sunday is more family-focused with a range of children’s entertainment. The full range of Hogs Back’s beers, including Green TEA, brewed with hops freshly-picked in the hop garden, will be available on both days: https://hogsback.co.uk/products/hop-harvest-party-2022 

The biggest event on our calendar

Thompson said: “The Hop Harvest festivities are the biggest event on our calendar and were attended by 2,500 people last year. And as we’re the only brewer of any size to have our own hop garden, it is a uniquely Hogs Back celebration. 

“Hops, like all crops, need water to thrive and the recent drought will have an impact on this year’s harvest.  We’re not expecting to repeat last year’s bumper crop, but we will still harvest a good quantity of our own home-grown hops, which contribute to the distinctive flavour of our beers. And, as they are grown just yards from the brewery rather than imported from afar, they are reducing our food miles and helping us achieve our goal of being an ever more sustainable brewer.”   

Hogs Back will harvest three hop varieties this year: Fuggles, used in Tongham TEA; English Cascade, used in its Hogstar lager and Surrey Nirvana Session IPA and Farnham White Bine, a traditional local variety that the brewer saved from near-extinction. 

Contact Hogs Back Brewery

Visit their website

Give them a call: 01252 783000

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