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It's a rarity forme to sign up to any subscription service, even one that is promoting beer, butlast summer, a certain one really caught my eye. Before revealing which one,it’s worth noting that there has been a dramatic decline in the number of beersubscription services, with one outfit in particular dominating the scene.Since the demise of Flavourly, in October of last year, Beer 52 now seems tohave the monopoly in this field, apart from the growing number of breweries whosupply their own products, by mail order.
A much smallernumber of breweries will ship out a changing section of their beers, on amonthly basis, in exchange for a fixed sum, normally paid by direct debit.During the pandemic, local independent beer café Fuggles found themselves reallystruggling, so owner, Alex Greig came up with the idea of FUGSCLUB a monthly beersubscription service that featured 12 beers each month, complete with tastingnotes and occasional extra goodies. I signed up for the club, and duringthe real bad months of the COVID lockdown, was pleased to receive a selectionof 12 interesting beers, delivered to my doorstep on a monthly basis.Fast forward to 2023 when the Braybrooke Lager Club,appeared on my radar.The Braybrooke Beer Company is a specialist lager brewery situated on Braybrooke Farm. Situated onthe edge of the village of Braybrooke, just outside of Market Harborough in theheart of the peaceful English countryside, the brewery was set up in2017by Luke, Nick, and Cam, threefriends, with decades of combined experience in the food and drink industry.Braybrooke began with just one aim - to make really good lager for people whoappreciate it. Over the past six years the friends have become real masters oftheir craft.
The group’s love for quality and fine tasting lagers camefrom travels in Germany, which of course is one of the best lager-brewingcountries in the world. Whilst there, they met Stephan Michel, owner of thewell-known and highly respected Mahrs Brau brewery in Bamberg, which wasfounded in 1670. Stephan put the group in touch with the best malt, hop andyeast suppliers to make great lager. Head Brewer Alexis came on board, addingto Braybrooke his experience at some of the best breweries in Europe. Making the best lagers takes a lot of work, and it startswith the best ingredients. To source these the friends looked to Germany, andsource all their malt from that country. The malt is milled on site just beforeevery brew for utmost freshness, and the company also imports a range of classicGerman hop varieties, directly from a renowned hop farm in Tettnang. Theirhouse lager yeast comes from Bavaria and is shipped overnight for maximumquality. The final, and some say, most important ingredient is thehome-sourced, local Midlands water.
Braybrooke’s semi-automated, three vessel 10hL brew-house isused to turn these classic Teutonic ingredients into some of the finest lagerbiers, outside of Germany using traditional techniques such as decoctionmashing, to create a deeper maltiness in the final beer. This is really evidentin the finished products. Following mashing, boiling, and cooling, the beersare fermented at 9ºC, colder and slower than standard commercial lagers. Primary fermentation, which takes about aweek, is followed by a long period of maturation at 2 to 3ºC in traditionalhorizontal tanks for a minimum of 30 days. That’s 6 weeks from grain to glass!This process is called lagering and it’s the most important part of making thebeer, as the live yeast keeps working and the beer becomes naturallycarbonated, smoother, and brighter.
No fining agents are used, and no filtration takes placeeither, instead the beer clears naturally. In order to have total control overthe entire process, Braybrooke packages every bottle and keg themselves, andholds the finished product at 4ºC in their cold store to keep the beer as freshas possible. Every step taken results in beers that are well structured and rathercomplex, so with this in mind, how could I turn down the chance of enjoying someof these delicious lagers? The chance came when I stumbled across the Braybrooke Lager Club, a community for lager lovers founded on the principle good beer bringspeople together and focusing purely on the best lagers around from bothBraybrooke and other like-minded breweries. Members of Braybrooke Lager Clubenjoy a box of 12 bottles delivered to their door every month: a mixed case ofour classic core beers (including their famous Keller Lager), specials and collaborationsplus guest lagers each month specially selected by the club.


Members can pause or cancel their membership at any time,but with beers this good, why would you want to? I’ve been purchasing beersfrom the club, for the past few months, and have not been disappointed. Below areof some of Braybrooke’s best-selling beers, with tasting notes, and illustrations, from thebrewery's website.
For further information on the Braybrooke Beer Company, thebeers it produces, and the Braybrooke Lager Club, please click on the links, embeddedin the text.

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