This is Main Street in Great Heck, which is a linear village with the pub at one end. The green circle in the hedge bottom is just a raindrop on the lens, not a bouncing balloon out of The Prisoner.
The former butcher's slaughterhouse on Main Street, Great Heck, which is now the brewhouse of Great Heck Brewing Co Ltd, Harwinn House, Main Street, Great Heck, North Yorkshire DN14 0BQ Tel: 01977 661430 Mobile: 07723 381002 Email: denzil@harwinnhouse.co.uk HallJas@aol.com
entrance to brewhouse, at rear
This pin is actually Cask Number One, the very first cask used by Great Heck brewer Jason Hall when he moved from normal hobby brewing to serious cask conditioned ale brewing, albeit for consumption by friends and family only, in 2005
This is the pump clip for Yorkshire Pale Ale. Here's Great Heck's description of what's currently their best-selling beer, 4.5% YPA: very pale with a tight white head, yet packed with malt flavour, making it very distinctive. The hops balance the maltiness up front then it's mellow, leaving a very pleasant finish. YPA has won first prize at the 2008 York Festival of Food’s Yorkshire Taste Awards for a premium pale ale. Brewery owners Jason Hall and Denzil Vallance were presented with the award at a gala dinner in York’s Guildhall on Thursday 25th of September 2008.
A set of samples of DAVE (Dark and Very Enjoyable)
Great Heck's mash tun - picture © Great Heck
brewing vessel at Great Heck First brews were scheduled to be 4.2% YPA, 4.5% Special Bitter and 5.4% Slaughterhouse Porter, using Fawcett's malt. Slaughterhouse Porter actually made its first appearance at the very end of 2008, and where served through a traditional autovac went out as Fanlight Fanny's Stout. The plant is 4 barrel from Porter Brewing. Technically it’s North Yorkshire since it’s part of Selby District, postally near Goole with a DN postcode but the phone number begins 01977. Head brewer is engineer Jason Hall, formerly a serious full mash home brewer, now Brewlab trained, and his business partner is fellow biker Denzil Vallance who lives at the brewery's registered address, Harwinn House, Main St. The first outlet has been the Jemmy Hirst at Rawcliffe. Other outlets have been the George & Dragon Chapel Haddlesey and the Wheatsheaf Burn. Wider distribution will be through Boggart Hole Clough. picture © Great Heck
brewhouse interior at Great Heck mash tun (centre) copper (right) picture © Great Heck Here's a description of what's currently their best-selling beer YPA: very pale with a tight white head, yet packed with malt flavour, making it very distinctive. The hops balance the maltiness up front then it's mellow, leaving a very pleasant finish.
brewhouse interior at Great Heck picture © Great Heck Brewing Co Ltd
technical area of the brewhouse at Great Heck - picture © Great Heck Brewing Company Ltd
paraflo or heat exchanger; the water which cools the wort after the boil is thereby heated ready for the next brew and stored in an insulated vessel (hot liquor tank)
Great Heck's beers only go out to known local outlets at the moment, so they have chosen stainless steel casks. However by August 2008 DAVE found its way to the Star's festival at Lockwood and the Bank Holiday Beer Festival at the Robin Hood, Pontefract, selling out early at both. It had become the brewery's best-selling beer at the time. Golden Fleecedescribed as “an appealing golden session ale with subtle overtones of roasted malt and a satisfying Perle hop character” appeared also in August 2008, to be followed by SBH Celebration Ale to commemorate the arrival of Jason's new daughter Siobhan Beatrice Hall.
Jason Hall the brewer. Visitors to the album are invited to indicate in the comment boxes beneath the many pictures of Jason, which pictures should remain in the album.
I thought Jason would never get round to offering me a sample of DAVE!
Lisa and Denzil Vallance proudly pull one of the first pints of YPA at June 2008's Jemmy Hirst Beer Festival. By late August 2008 Denzil decided to devote himself full-time to the brewery, splitting his responsibilities between Brewery Assistant and Distribution Manager.
alternative photo of Lisa and Denzil at the Jemmy Hirst.
This truly is a simulation of one of the first pints of YPA being pulled at the Jemmy Hirst 2008 Beer Festival, Rawcliffe.
Brewing's in the family. Lisa Vallance's dad, Fred Jordan, was an electrical technician at Joshua Tetley's in Leeds for many years, working alongside Bob Lawson, who went on to co-found Ossett Brewery. In the early days Lisa's dad was on hand with technical advice. Sadly Fred died in early autumn 2008.
Assistant Drayperson Lucy May Blossom Vallance.
Note the hi-tech drainage system of Great Heck's cask washer, which ensures that the brewhouse floor is frequently and thoroughly washed!
A final view of Main Street, Heck. As the Bay Horse is an Old Mill tied house, it naturally offers the beers of that local brewery, and excellent good value food right through the day. In the centre of the photo the white building is Harwinn House with Great Heck's brewhouse attached.
This is the Jemmy Hirst, alongside the river at Rawcliffe. Great Heck Yorkshire Pale Ale made one of its first appearances here at the 2008 Beer Festival in June. It's a favourite pub of the brewing team at Great Heck.
..... and this is Simon Hicks, proprietor of the Jemmy Hirst.
This is your actual Jemmy Hirst, one of Rawcliffe's eccentrics who wore an enormous hat, rode a bull, hunted with pigs for pointer dogs and even tried teaching that pet otter round his neck to fish for him. Not even Jemmy could persuade an otter to give up fish that it had caught!
Denzil has three passions: real ale, motorcycling and George Formby, so it was only a matter of time until he dusted down his ukelele and turned up at the monthly George Formby Society meetings of one of Great Heck's customers, the Shoulder of Mutton at Castleford with landlord Tetley Dave Parker. Out of this, and echoing the 1936 film "No Limit", has come the 4.1% Turned Out Nice Again, fittingly launched at the Shoulder on a George Formby night. If you follow this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X8GvDV6FEE you should be able to watch what went out on local tv. Next in the series should be Auntie Maggie's Remedy (Dave's wife is Margaret) then Bell Bottom Bitter and Trouble Brewing for Christmas. The picture on the pumpclip is George as George Shuttleworth Speed Demon riding the Shuttleworth Snap in the TT Races - notice where he's headed to on this image. A house beer called the Final Judgment is brewed for the Judges Lodgings in York.
Auntie Maggie's Homemade Remedy sold at the Shoulder of Mutton for a bit more than "one and a kick" these days. Taste guide: an old gold coloured bitter beer with a cinder toffee malt tang and lasting bitter finish, not one for lagerboys (joint effort on 14 October 2008 by Bob Wallis, Ian Clayton and John Proctor, requiring at least 3½ pints each).
Auntie Maggie's on the bar of the Shoulder in Cas.
The speech bubble says "I know what you're after" and this is the actual Auntie Maggie.
It's Margaret Parker and she hates having her photo taken.
Denzil and Jason at the October 2008 George Formby Night at the Shouder of Mutton, CastlefordNotice that Jason's designer stubble has been shaped, but why has he got a flat cap on? They are now a fashion item in the South of England, but all is revealed in the next picture.
What the lads are drinking is Auntie Maggie's Home-made Remedy. Sadly for Denzil he was the volunteer driver on this occasion, as they were both savouring the unique smoothness of this beer when dispesed through an autovac. However Lindy the barmaid fixed Denzil up with a nice cup of tea, no sugar and a thimbleful of milk.
This ultra pale 3.8% bitter served through an autovac offers tangy spicy flavours redolent of a Belgian witbier.
Kings and queens get ships named after them. People like Sir Nigel Gresley ave locos bearing their name. There's an Arriva bus running around the Mirfield area with Patrick Stuart's name on it. The editor of Wakefield CAMRA's magazine and website now has a Great Heck cask with his name on it.
Here Bob Wallis is giving the aforementioned cask its first filling with Final Judgment a house beer blound for the Judges Lodgings in York.
Bob's actually in his beekeeping wellies. The figure to the left is Denzil.
This is one of Great Heck's dachshunds - Eric (or Erich - not sure)
affixing sticky labels with the brew name
label stuck on but not yet ready to go
hammering in the shive
the Holy Grail of beers
pale in colour and very hoppy!
Ian Clayton: Eeh I just wonder how this Big 50 is going to pull.
Ian Clayton is really pleased with his 50th birthday special brew "The Big 50".
Ian Clayton carefully pulls some still lively Big 50 at the Shoulder of Mutton.
The Big 50 - a special 5% wheatbeer brewed for Ian Clayton's 50th birthday, September 2009
Great Heck opened their first pub by acquiring O'Donoghues in June 2010. Jeannie Newlove is the landlady. (screengrab from O-to-K, magazine of Wakefield CAMRA.
