Adnams

In 2008 Adnams recorded a profit of �1.6m, down from �4.2m the previous year. But there has been a rapid improvement in 2009. Interim figures for the first half of the year were looking good, chairman Jonathan Adnams says. He has bought three pubs from Punch and the company was trading well.

Jonathan Adnams (right) admits the company went through a difficult 18 months. A major refit of the brewery, offices and depot was underway at the cost of several million pounds when, he says, "the world hit the buffers". The economy went into free fall, Chancellor Alistair Darling increased beer duty by 17% and people stopped going to the pub for a while. "It's been tough," Adnams says. "But beer sales in our own pubs are up this year. We've held prices to help share the pain, especially in rural area. The pub is not dead but it needs innovation."

Innovation in Adnams' 74 pubs comes courtesy of the new brewhouse that gives head brewer Fergus Fitzgerald the flexibility to make a wide range of beers. My first taste in Southwold was not the legendary Bitter, Adnams' flagship brand, but Kolsch, a golden ale based on a warm-fermented style from Cologne in Germany. The 4.2% beer has a pale straw colour, with spicy hops and light malt on the nose. It's fruity in the mouth, with soft malt and spicy hops. The finish has more bitterness, balanced by buttery malt and tart fruit.

There will be a rolling programme called Beers of the World over the following months. Kolsch will be followed by a Belgian Abbey beer in November, a German wheat beer in December, American-style IPA in January and an Irish Dry Stout in February. Fitzgerald, an energetic and passionate young brewer, hails from County Limerick and, as he cut his teeth on Beamish and Murphy's in Cork, he had to brew an Irish stout.

All the Beers of the World will be cask conditioned though some may be bottled at a later date. The beers will be available to the free trade as well as Adnams' 74 pubs. As 93% of the company's beer is sold outside its own estate, it needs that wider market. The new brewhouse is part of Adnams' commitment to aiding the environment. "Brewing is a sustainable business and we must help to sustain the environment," Joanthan Adnams says. "We have to give something back. There's no point in planning a business if climate change will destroy the planet." The brewing kit was built by Huppmann of Germany and is based on the continental system of mash mixer, filtration vessel, and a whirlpool kettle for the boil with hops. The design of the kettle means that heat generated during the boil can be reused for the following brew. Fermentation takes place in conventional square vessels but they're enclosed to stop carbon dioxide escaping. The beers have two days of primary fermentation following by seven days conditioning.

The brewery has an energy recovery system that recycles C02, steam, spent grain and hops. It saves 30% a year on gas and water. A new distribution depot in the neighbouring village of Reydon saves 50% on electricity and gas. The sunken buildings are almost invisible from the road and have grassed roofs that catch and recycle rain water.

"It's in our culture - everything is focused on the environment," Jonathan Adnams says. He's naturally delighted by the cask beer revival. "Licensees are looking at cask as a way of hitting back at the supermarkets.

"And drinkers are fed up with the global brewers. There are fewer and fewer global players and not many of them are doing cask beer. Consumers are concerned about provenance - where their beers and the raw materials come from. Beer fits with the interest in local food."

The emphasis on the new brewing system and the range of international beer styles doesn't mean Adnams is neglecting its core brands. Bitter is one of Britain's biggest-selling standard cask ales while Broadside is in the top 20 premium brands league. mainly available, along with the golden ale, Explorer, in southern and eastern England but go further afield with wholesalers. Strong beers such as Tally Ho! and Old Ale will be on sale during the winter months. A new dark seasonal beer, Gunhill (4%) , is available during the autumn.

The Southwold brewery disproves the criticism levied by large producers that the regionals are stick-in-the-muds living in the past. Jonathan Adnams and his board realised the brewery had to be renewed. "The mash tuns were 100 years old," he says, "and they were hard to clean and were not sterile. The coppers were splitting at the seams. I toured Europe looking at brewing systems as I felt that a traditional English brewery was no longer on the right lines. We needed flexibility to brew different styles, using malts and hops from other countries."

The new plant has the only wet mill in the country that cuts out oxygen when malt is crushed in preparation for brewing. All vessels are filled from below to stop oxygen pick up. There is a further reduction in oxygen by using a mash mixer and lauter tun system. The brew kettle and hop whirlpool use heat recovered from previous brews and there is a 97% per cent extract from malt and hops - a much higher level that in conventional breweries. The brewhouse can produce three brews every 16 hours.

"The improvement in beer quality has been phenomenal," Jonathan Adnams says. "We have consistency of product. The beer is infection-free and licensees know our beer is sound, with no wastage."

When Jonathan Adnams joined the brewery in 1974, it produced around 27,000 barrels a year. Today production has grown to 130,000 barrels. And Adnams is not neglecting the bottled sector. Sales of its bottled beers have grown by 19%, admittedly from a small base, and the beers are getting wider distribution throughout the country, including in Tesco stores. Tally Ho!, brewed in July, will be available in bottle-conditioned format for Christmas, the first time the beer has been bottled for 20 years.

PART II features reviews of Adnams beers and pubs