DOWNLOAD THE PDF OF DAVE WICKETT AND KELHAM ISLAND (beta) HERE.
When we put together our Thornbridge Brewery ‘Rock Family Tree’ a while ago, several people responded with suggestions that we do the same for Kelham Island. Then, last month, we heard the sad news of the death of Kelham Island’s founder, Dave Wickett (and read tributes from Simon ‘Reluctant Scooper’ Johnson, Melissa Cole, Adrian Tierney-Jones and Pete Brown).
That spurred us on and, with help from Stuart Ross, a former head brewer at Kelham Island, now working his magic at, er, Magic Rock, we’ve put together a first cut. We also referred to some old Kelham Island newsletters and Linkedin, which is great source of information on brewers’ CVs. (Though it makes you feel like a stalker.)
Our first thoughts: this format doesn’t quite capture all that Dave Wickett did for beer and brewing. He’s there in the first box as the first head brewer at Kelham Island, but his role as owner was more than just ‘money man’. The consulting, advising and encouraging he did is also not recorded.
Nonetheless, it shows how many brewers passed through Kelham Island and, when put side by side with the Thornbridge chart, the strands connecting Britain’s breweries do become more obvious.
Corrections and suggestions welcome! Off you go.
An amazing legacy and one which I feel very lucky to have access to on my doorstep.
When I see it laid out like that, it pretty much encapsulates my core drinking habits of the last ten years.
Another relatively new brewery of note that is a Kelham Island offshot is Welbeck Abbey Brewery in Nottinghamshire who make some superb beer.
What’s the Kelham Island connection? We’ll try to fit it in, if we can.
It’s joint owned by Kelham Island Brewery and The Welbeck Estates Company
I think the head brewer at Welbeck (Claire Monk) might have been at Kelham Island prior to Welbeck being set up too