UP CLOSE: Wincle Brewery founder and Macclesfield resident Giles Meadows
By Alex Greensmith
26th Sep 2022 | Local News
Meet the Macclesfield brewers which were one of the trailblazers of the craft beer boom, and are celebrating a milestone anniversary next year.
Wincle Brewery, set in stunning scenery in the picturesque Macclesfield village of Wincle, will celebrate their 15th anniversary in 2023.
Founder Giles Meadows invited Macclesfield Nub News down to find out more about their award-winning operation.
"We're very lucky to have the majority of our commercial customers be in a 30 mile radius from Macclesfield", he said.
"We love all our customers, but our biggest buyer of beer is probably Sutton Hall.
"With the pandemic, we adapted our business as the pubs had shut and we could not invite the community down for a tour of our site.
"We launched our new website with national delivery, and started to consider requests for specific brews from the corporate sector.
"We had already done specific brews for clients before, like Standard Bearer which was launched in support of The Royal British Legion in 2018.
"We were very lucky to have started just before craft beers started going popular.
"There were hundreds of UK breweries when we started, out, and now there are thousands today [3018 as of 2021].
"How I got into brewing is a funny story. I actually ran The Ship Inn in Wincle for six years, which is just up the road from us.
"I was there between 2002 and 2008, and I still wanted a job that involved beer.
"I'm delighted to say that 15 years later we've maintained all of our ten staff, including COVID, and employed new staff too.
"We've also started the tours back up again, which allow you to see how the beer is made and enjoy our products on draught inside our shop or outdoor beer garden."
"Walkers are also invited to come up for a drink, without booking. There's also coffees, snacks and soft drinks for those who do not like beer. We also have regular pop-up kitchens as well."
This year they have launched a second IPA, and added a lager to their core line of beers.
They have also produced seasonal ales and beers based on local characters from the community as well.
"In the next five years, I could see us becoming more of an environmental brewery," he added.
"Especially with the cost of living crisis, it has highlighted the need to generate your own electricity.
"We have to keep all our tanks temperature controlled at 20C at all times. So we are going to invest in our own solar panels to help power the site.
"We also are already different from our competitors in that we do not import any malt. We use strictly English malt, a lot of it from Norfolk.
"Thank you to the people of Macclesfield for your support."
As well as creating beers for good causes, Giles also raises money for charity in his spare time.
This past weekend, Giles hiked to raise almost £2000 for The Christie Macclesfield. You can donate here.
Wincle Brewery is open from 10am to 4:30pm Monday to Friday. They are also open 10am to 6pm Saturday to Sunday.
Beers can be consumed on site or purchased to be enjoyed at home.
You can also buy their beers online via this link.
Macclesfield: Please click here to follow Wincle Brewery on Facebook.
Wincle Brewery is located at Tolls Barn, Barlow Hill, Wincle, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 0QE.
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