As is now tradition, our homebrew group (ACB) gathered for our annual brewery tour. What started years ago as simple day trips to local breweries has expanded into brilliant long weekends away. It is the perfect excuse for enjoying good beer, great company, and fitting a brewery tour in there somewhere.

This year, we travelled to Batemans Brewery in Wainfleet, just outside Skegness. They have been brewing fine ales for the surrounding area since 1874 (and no, I don’t work in their marketing department!).

Setting up camp

We booked our rooms at The Woolpack pub, located a convenient 10-minute walk from the brewery. One of our members made full use of Batemans’ on-site camping facilities, setting up in his very comfortable caravan.

A few early birds arrived on Thursday for a gentle evening in the pub. Friday afternoon was spent exploring Skegness—enjoying the lively train ride alongside folks heading to the Butlin’s “Big Weekend,” followed by beers and fish and chips by the sea.

By Friday evening, the whole group had united at The Woolpack for dinner and a few excellent pints of XXXB, XB, 5G, and Combine Harvester. We also poked our heads into the fantastic Social Club across the road. They only had one cask beer on, but it was a pristine pint of Black Sheep.

Tour Day: Breakfast, Beer and Bunting

Saturday morning kicked off with breakfast at the café next to The Woolpack. There, we enjoyed the unique kind of entertainment only a quiet village can offer: guessing what happened to Justin’s 20p, and watching a man with a ladder take down some bunting. Riveting stuff, but a truly great breakfast.

After a quick trip to the brewery campsite to inspect the facilities (and Tim’s caravan), we made our way slowly to the tour meeting point.

We met our guide, Trevor, who took us straight to the Historic Round Windmill. This striking building doubles as the tour starting point and the on-site taproom. They had five traditional beers on cask:

• XXB
• XB
• 5G
• Gold Yella Belly
• DM (Mild)

(We collectively chose to gloss over the kegged options). True to fine brewery hospitality, we were kindly offered a sample (or three) before the tour even officially began.

Stepping into History

The tour started in the upper room of the windmill, surrounded by old bottles and historical ledgers. Trevor gave us an excellent rundown of the brewery’s past. I won’t spoil it all here—you’ll have to book a tour yourself—but it has all the drama of a Sunday night TV series. It features Victorian entrepreneurship, wartime secrets involving hidden radios and weapon stores, family infighting, and the ultimate fight to stay independent in an ever-changing industry.

Moving into the brewhouse, you can see how it has been modernised over the years. The building is tight, compact, and full of the narrow walkways and small rooms you would expect from a Victorian site. Yet, they have integrated modern brewing equipment without losing a bit of its historic charm.

The fermentation room was a particular highlight. It features large, open, square fermenters, dripping taps, walkways held up by supports, and beer in various stages of fermentation. That smell will never get old.

Our guide Trevor wasn’t a commercial brewer himself, but he did a fantastic job handling a group of homebrewers who actually knew the science. If we threw a technical question his way that he couldn’t answer, he noted it down to use for future tours.

The Ultimate Tasting

We concluded the walkthrough in the conditioning room with a sneak peek sample of a West Coast Pilsner, before heading back to the windmill taproom.

This is where the afternoon truly shined. We were told to help ourselves to the taps, and we sat down to sample a few homebrewed clones of Batemans 5G that our members had made. Admittedly, my tasting notes got a bit messy at this point.

We ran a blind tasting to compare the homebrewed examples against both the official bottled and cask versions from the brewery. It was a close call, but the group successfully spotted the commercial version (mostly because the commercial colour was much lighter than expected!). All the homebrews held their own, but Tim’s version was voted the overall winner. Well done, Tim!

After a couple of hours of unrestricted access to the five taps, we wandered back to The Woolpack for a hearty dinner of pie and mash (or sausages) and a few final beers.

The Journey Home

It is safe to say that an early start to drinking makes for a very quiet evening. Most of us retired early or nursed a final pint or two.

Because the village café was closed on Sunday morning, the group skipped breakfast and made their way home—except for Tim, who was still living comfortably in his caravan with other plans for the day.

In summary, it was another brilliant ACB tour. A massive thank you to Batemans for their wonderful hospitality and generosity, to Nigel for putting in a good word with the brewery owner, and to Colin M for organizing a flawless weekend.

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