The Tap celebrate ten years with a Birthday Beer Festival 7th – 10th Jun
Ten years ago The Royal Standard in Derwent Street faced the bulldozers. Luckily, help was at hand.
Noted local brewer Trevor Harris had taken early retirement after 15 years of running The Brunswick Inn, but it wasn’t long before he felt the barley and hops calling again and in 2004 set up as Derby Brewing Company. In 2008 Trevor, his wife Kes and son Paul, decided to get back into the pub business and rescue the Royal Standard from demolition. They renamed it The Brewery Tap, (rebranded 4 years later as The Tap Beer and Spirits House) and set it up as Derby’s leading ale house.
Ten years on and that focus remains: to bring the best of the world’s beers to the city of Derby. Manager John Moore has recently returned to The Tap after a brief sojourn elsewhere and has been working hard to introduce new and exciting beers to the pub. The unique corner shaped building is a buzzing community pub loved by traditional ale drinkers, craft beer lovers, musicians, businessmen, and football fans alike; and has become popular among the ‘beer tickers’ who determinedly seek out new and exciting beers to add to their lists.
The link with Derby Brewing Company enables The Tap to be the first to offer the latest experiments from the DBC brewery. The brewery, on Nottingham Road, is lead up by passionate head brewer Andy Marshall and his team. Under the direction of founder Trevor Harris who still takes an active interest in the brewing, the team are constantly working to push the boundaries of brewing. They have recently been experimenting with unfined beer which has been hugely popular amongst the many drinkers at The Tap who believe that the particles usually cleared by the isinglass provide body and flavour levels that are lost after the fining process.
To celebrate their tenth anniversary, The Tap is hosting a Birthday Beer Festival 7th-10th June. Manager John has been busily linking with breweries across the country to bring in the best of what the UK has to offer and introduce guest brews that have never before been sold in Derby. These will include beers from Manning Brewers and Beartown.
Andy at the DBC brewery has been tasked to produce a collection of one-off brews especially for the festival, which will be a combination of versions of DBC classics and totally new recipes.
John’s favourite DBC beer is their multi award winning golden ale ‘Quintessential’, so he’s been invited down to the brewery to make his own batch with a few extra special ingredients which will be named ‘John’s Special Quinty’ in his honour.
Merry Berry is a fruity summer blonde ale infused with fresh raspberries for a Summertime zing.
Inspired by traditional distilling techniques, the brewers are crafting a barrel aged porter, Whisky Dash, infused with whisky, coffee and oak.
Andy is passionate about experimenting with IPA’s and his latest brew with chilli and lime certainly has a kick to it.
Continuing on the exotic flavour theme they will be making a banana and date red ale.
And finally, adding a touch of class with an Earl Grey tea infused pale ale called The Drunken Earl.
The Tap has recently introduced a new head chef to run their kitchen and improve the food offer. The new menu will be an appealing selection of comforting pub classics, carefully designed to complement the extensive drinks range.
The team at The Tap look forward to welcoming patrons throughout the festival weekend to sample the fantastic selection of unique beers on offer.
