Over in Chester, the premises formerly known as Kash Taps was occasionally pretty divisive; the level of décor/atmosphere/comfort was often a talking point, but the serving of beers from a brewery with a rather naff selection of pumpclips often got many people’s backs up (they were pretty sexist). Having only ventured there a handful of times myself, it was never a must-visit venue in the way that other places were for me. Things have changed hands; a few days since getting the keys and Deva Craft Beers have scrubbed, painted and exacted their own plan on the premises near Chester train station and stamping some authority on the pumps. They are making the place their own and have got a chef who is taking a beer snacks type menu very seriously, putting out some rather great food to go with the missed selection of Deva brews, guest beers and a healthy can and bottle fridge selection. The food menu changes depending on the ingredients available and what the season provides, with the visit I write about giving me homemade oatcake with whipped goats cheese, nduja on crackling flavoured crackers and some excellent sourdough with smoked butter. Everything and I do mean everything, was superb. Anyway, back to nuts and bolts for the Deva Tap, I had an afternoon in the place and had a good chat with Deva Craft’s Nick and Aidy Gilbody, with Nick being kind enough to give a proper interview of sorts… Hi Nick, good to talk to you, let’s start with an easy one… what made you want to set up your own Brewery Tap? ”Primarily it is so we can sell our product directly to the consumer - this is for increased revenue for reinvestment into the brewery, face to face feedback and its really fun to run a tap room.” So why did you choose Kash? ”Geographically we like the location and the building. We have The Artichoke, Cellar Bar and the Cornerhouse close too so wanted to add to the Chester beer scene and also try and make this corner of Chester the place to go for a good beer. The owners of KASH were looking to move onto other ventures so the timings all worked out nicely.” Was there a lot of work in getting things ready? ”It was so much work it was untrue! Got the keys on Sunday 26th Feb, opened 4pm Thursday 2nd March. The hours that were put in by ourselves and all the volunteers who came down to help made that turnaround time a reality. Couldn't have done it without all the help we received.” Do you have any plans to do exciting things from the Tap, aside from the sale of your own brews and the output of the rather excellent food? ”We are looking to do quite a few things in the next few months. The décor needs adding to and we will be increasing the size of the menu and increasing the amount of cask and keg lines available. It will go up to 6 cask lines and 10 keg - with the possibility of another 2 keg lines extra in the summer! We are going to be running beer tastings, food pairings and spirit tastings such as Gin, Whiskey and liquors. We will be changing the seating layout to get more table space and looking at making the best use of the outdoor space we have at the front of the building. We will also be tying in possible brew day experiences where small groups come down to the brewery, make a beer with us then back to the tap for dinner - all transport included. Meet the brewers too! Oh and a beer festival every 3 months throughout the year. So yeah its going to be one busy year!” Will this hold you back from making appearances at any other festivals this year, having a stall etc? ”We're actually at Chester Food and Drink at the end of April, Hoole Street Festival in the Spring and have a few other events we are looking into locally over the summer. We have a few meet the brewers planned as well. The main priority is making sure we have adequate supply for all of our customers and the tap. We'll have to see what else we can squeeze in.” And so what are the longer term plans now for the brewery given you have taken on a relatively large responsibility with this venture? ”We are brewing at our maximum capacity at the monument so we need more capacity. My hope is in the next 12 to 18 months is that we upscale to a 12 to 15 barrel brew kit with another small outlet and look at exporting. To further improve our beers we will be moving onto a house yeast strain. We also hope to be serving up some really fantastic food 7 days a week.”Was there a lot of work in getting things ready? ”It was so much work it was untrue! Got the keys on Sunday 26th Feb, opened 4pm Thursday 2nd March. The hours that were put in by ourselves and all the volunteers who came down to help made that turnaround time a reality. Couldn't have done it without all the help we received.” Do you have any plans to do exciting things from the Tap, aside from the sale of your own brews and the output of the rather excellent food? ”We are looking to do quite a few things in the next few months. The décor needs adding to and we will be increasing the size of the menu and increasing the amount of cask and keg lines available. It will go up to 6 cask lines and 10 keg - with the possibility of another 2 keg lines extra in the summer! We are going to be running beer tastings, food pairings and spirit tastings such as Gin, Whiskey and liquors. We will be changing the seating layout to get more table space and looking at making the best use of the outdoor space we have at the front of the building. We will also be tying in possible brew day experiences where small groups come down to the brewery, make a beer with us then back to the tap for dinner - all transport included. Meet the brewers too! Oh and a beer festival every 3 months throughout the year. So yeah its going to be one busy year!” Will this hold you back from making appearances at any other festivals this year, having a stall etc? ”We're actually at Chester Food and Drink at the end of April, Hoole Street Festival in the Spring and have a few other events we are looking into locally over the summer. We have a few meet the brewers planned as well. The main priority is making sure we have adequate supply for all of our customers and the tap. We'll have to see what else we can squeeze in.” And so what are the longer term plans now for the brewery given you have taken on a relatively large responsibility with this venture? ”We are brewing at our maximum capacity at the monument so we need more capacity. My hope is in the next 12 to 18 months is that we upscale to a 12 to 15 barrel brew kit with another small outlet and look at exporting. To further improve our beers we will be moving onto a house yeast strain. We also hope to be serving up some really fantastic food 7 days a week.” Thanks to Nick and the rest of the team at Deva Brewery and the Tap and am sure we all wish them the best of luck with whatever the future holds for their adventure. As ever, places like this need continuous support… the old adage ‘use it or lose it’ applies here too. Get down, eat, drink and be merry and support an excellent local business who currently deserves to go from strength to strength. Cheers Pedro. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to Alex and Nick for additional photos used in this article. These photos are property of Deva Craft Beer or of The ElectroKemist. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deva Tap 121 Brook Street, Chester.CH1 3DU Phone: 01244 401777 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DevaTapChester/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DevaTapChester Web: devacraftbeer.co.uk/
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