History is the point of this modern brewery
By Phil Mellows
It’s not recommended, for health and safety reasons, but if you walked blindfold into Brewpoint in Bedford, you’d immediately know you’re in a brewery.
At first breath your nostrils are infused by the sweet, malty aroma of the mash, one of the best smells on Earth, wafted on warm, moist air to the tune of a low, thumping bassline overlaid with syncopated bangs and squeaks, industrial jazz.
Being in such proximity to production, drinking beers made within yards of where you’re sitting, watching the brewers at work, is one of the attractions of a tap room like this. Somehow you feel privileged to be allowed so close, and it makes your journey worthwhile.
Brewpoint is the new home of Wells & Co, a family business that started brewing in this town in 1876 when Charles Wells bought the Horne Lane Brewery, along with its three dozen pubs, and put his name above the door. You can see it on the huge slab of concrete laying on the grass outside.
Exactly a century later, the company opened a new brewery that was, at the time, one of the most advanced in the country. It enabled Wells to grow and contract-brew international brands such as Red Stripe and Kirin Ichiban, and eventually made it the target of Marston’s, an expanding rival, in 2018.
Wells kept the pubs, including the ones it has in France, but if it wanted to brew its own beer it would have to start all over again. The deal with Marston’s, which has now merged with an even bigger brewery to form Carlsberg Marston’s, meant it needed new recipes and a new brand.
So Brewpoint was born. As you approach the modern glass frontage on the ring road there’s no indication that this is your familiar local brewer. Only on the cask pump clips on the bar can you spot the words “Charlie Wells” in small letters.
In the past few years, the family firm has had to reinvent itself. There are similarities here with Everards, which I wrote about a few weeks back. Except that while the Leicester brewer sealed its new brewery behind glass as a visual spectacle for visitors to its beer hall, at Brewpoint you’re in the midst of the action.
Because of that, it has a slightly edgier, industrial feel, and the bar nods to hip craft breweries, a backlit menu of beers on tap stretching most of its length. The styles on offer suggest, too, that Wells is engaging with modern tastes.
The permanent keg range consists of On Point Pale, Checkpoint Hazy Session IPA, Midpoint Pilsner and Nil Point Low Alcohol Lager (sensibly, they have resisted the temptation to call it No Point).
In addition there’s a dry hop lager, a triple hop IPA, a New England IPA, a 6.7% West Coast IPA and a stout, plus two beers brewed for the French pubs, Simply Red, a 7% cherry beer, and Crafty Seadog, an 8.5% Helles Bock. It wasn’t on when I called by, but there’s a third beer that you can only get on draught here and in France, a 9% Scotch ale called Hop Scotch.
Tradition takes its place on the handpumps with Origin Pale Ale, DNA Amber Ale and Legacy Golden Ale, while members of Brewpoint’s brewing team are able to flex their imaginations with a series of one-off beers under the Passion Project heading. Currently, it’s hoppy pale Summer Sesh on tap.
What’s left of the old Charlie Wells? Apart from the slab of concrete on the lawn, there’s a subtle nod to an old logo in the Brewpoint icon and a small, but interesting, museum that forms part of the brewery tour. Plus the family members are still steering the business, of course.
Down in the tap room I spot a familiar face. It’s Tom Wells, who I met on my first visit to his state-of-the-art brewery back in the 1980s. Now retired, he’s here for a meeting of the pensions committee. The company has done a great job with Brewpoint, making itself relevant to the modern brewing world, but I’m pleased to see Tom, a reminder that the Wells heritage survives as a point of difference in a competitive market.