Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> The book aims to act as a gazetteer of those known to have brewed in the county with particular emphasis on sites that can be identified. However it is not exhaustive and is very much work in progress’ as new information comes to light. It takes the present boundary of the county – i.e. it does not include the old North Somerset now part of BANES (Bath and North East Somerset). On the whole it does not include domestic brewers – those who brewed for their own household consumption or those who brewed for the large country houses and estates. Those included are:- publican brewers – selling their home-brewed ale only through their own single public house (such as the Castle Inn in Taunton); retail brewers owning no public houses but selling directly to families estates or farmers (such as Wembdon Brewery); and common or commercial brewers – selling to publicans often through several/many tied houses (such as Greens of Holcombe). Some moved between these definitions such as Jacobs of Mary Street Taunton who started as a publican brewer but went on to sell directly to the public. The majority of entries of necessity rely on commercial directories for the county. The earliest of these is Bailey’s British Directory of 1784 the Universal British Directory of c. 1794 James Pigot of 1830 and 1842. William Slater of 1850 the Kelly’s directories from 1861 onwards and individual one-off directories. This has been supplemented by Jury Lists of the early 19th century. records in both the Somerset Records Office and Exeter Records Office and newspaper articles and advertisements. The book also stops short of the micro-breweries started as a result of the Real Ale Revival i.e. at a date when there were no commercial brewers producing in the county. As a result the earliest reference is 1638 and the latest date for brewing is 1966. Covering this period when records are more readily available means that identification of sites is easier. (LL)