About us,
who we are,
what we do,
& how we do it
Nestled in the
warwickshire
countryside
We are a proudly independent craft brewery based in the beautiful Warwickshire Countryside, in the shadow of one of the county’s most striking landmarks.
Born out of a desire to create unique beers that both uphold traditional values and utilise our expert scientific knowledge, Windmill Hill Brewing Company is now gaining recognition, both locally and beyond.
We’re a small but passionately dedicated team. We love the brewing process and we’re obsessive in our mission to find the perfect blend of ingredients that make our beers taste so good.
As fiercely independent brewers we’re proud to be members of The Society Of Independent Brewers (SIBA)
The freedom of independence – we’re a proud member of The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) – meaning we can experiment with our processes and our flavours to deliver artisan ales that you just won’t get anywhere else.
We have a range of four core beers and regularly introduce seasonal offerings to keep you on your toes. If you like something and it does well, we keep it. Having the autonomy that allows you to help define our range is part of what we love about our company.
We’re multi-award winning and in 2020 we were delighted to be recognised with an accolade from SIBA for our pale ale.
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Gavin Leach - Director & head brewer
“I have a background and degree in biological sciences and have previously worked for world-leading pharmaceutical manufacturers. I wanted to work for myself creating a product that was unique, and that I could be really passionate about. I have a love for craft beer and home brewing so decided to jump into brewing full time! I want to make exciting beers for myself and others to enjoy. The best thing about brewing is the experimentation, trying something that may never have been thought of or made before. Each experiment is different with unlimited parameters to change. Finding that perfect brew can be difficult – but the results are always rewarding!”
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Robert Singleton - Director
“I’m a big foodie and always have been. Making beers and ales that pair perfectly with my favourite dishes is a great passion of mine. The complexity and subtleties in our creations mean they complement a wide variety in flavours and it’s very rewarding when you find a perfect match. It’s also important to make beers that can stand alone and when we get the brew just right I want everyone to try it.”
Our Brewing Process
At Windmill Hill Brewing Company our mission is simple. We want to make beers that evoke the same excitement and passion when being enjoyed as we put into making them. When it comes to our brewing process, we like to keep things straightforward and simple. Good quality, natural ingredients but with a pinch of science to create something new. The entre brewing process is done by us in-house from the grain store to the bottle packaging and we like it that way as we know we’re putting the very best into every stage. Here, you can see how we do what we do.
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We start every brew with the finest crushed malted grains. Milling is the physical crushing of malt kernels into smaller particles in preparation for mashing and lautering later down the production line. The finer the grind, the greater the amount of sugary wort that can be extracted. The ratios and type of base malts we use varies depending on the beer we’re making and the exact flavour we want from the final product.
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This is where the brewing process begins. Malted barley, wheat and other grains are mixed into the hot water from the HLT to form the mash. The water is absorbed by the malt bill and releases the natural starches, flavours, and colours inside. The starches become sugars which is the food the yeast consume to produce the all-important alcohol. After mashing, more water is added to the mash tun via the sparge arm, filtering through the grains and carrying the sweet sugary liquid with it, leaving any solids behind. The liquid, now known as wort, then escapes via the mash tun’s perforated base into the kettle. The wort is initially cloudy due to unwanted particulates so is put back on top of the grain bed to percolate further. Once the wort runs clear it is time for the boiling process
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The kettle is used to vigorously boil the wort for more than an hour. The exact time depends on the beer being made. This prolonged heating stops the enzyme activity from the mash stage, fixes the amount of sugar that will become available to the yeast, and sterilises the wort. Anything that touches the beer from this stage on will have to be completely sterile. The boil stage is also when the hops are added. The heat helps release alpha and beta acids from the hops. Carefully timing when we add them allows us to control the flavour of the drink, from its bitterness to aroma.
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Once the boil is done, the wort is cooled and then transferred to the fermentation vessel. Here, the yeast gets busy reproducing by dining out on the sugars that have been produced in the earlier stages. The more sugars we have at this stage, the higher the final ABV of the beer. Different yeasts produce different flavours and aromas in the beer by creating different alcohol esters during fermentation. The flavours and aromas of our beers are also perfected during fermentation by adding further hops to the beer or “dry hopping” them.
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The aim of this final part of the brewing process is to perfect the beers’ look, aroma and flavour. We chill and further dry hop our beers and add vegan finings to clear the beer of unwanted yeast, proteins, or hop particles. We then apply carbon dioxide pressure to the tank to give the beer its all important carbonation and mouthfeel. It can take days or weeks for the beer to be ready for packaging, depending on the flavours and levels of carbonation we're trying to achieve in the finished product. Once we’re happy it’s perfect, we start the bottling process.
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At Windmill Hill, even this final stage is done by hand. That’s right we bottle and label every single beer ourselves. We think this shows our love for our products and guarantees each one is exactly how we want it. This is also the part of the process that really makes the beers our own. All that’s left to do now is deliver you your drinks so you can enjoy them and share in our love for some of Warwickshire’s finest craft beers.
