104-106 Carolgate, Retford, Nottinghamshire
Website: Harrison’s
About the brewery
Harrison’s Brewery was established in August 2018 by head brewer Chris (Harry) Harrison-Hawkes, who began his brewing career at the Idle Valley Brewery. Harrison-Hawkes had originally set up the Idle Valley Brewery with business partners in 2015. While the brewery produced award-winning beers, including a National Gold SIBA Award for Vacant Gesture (bottle), the venture didn’t work out. Harrison-Hawkes subsequently opened the Brew Shed pub at 108 Carolgate to raise funds. He had so little money he welded his own tanks while renovating what was a wood furniture manufacturers to turn it into what is now Harrison’s Brewery.
Harrison-Hawkes states that his first brew run at the newly established Harrison’s Brewery wasn’t a success despite his previous award-winning brewing experience. He put this down to being “rusty” as well as teething troubles in getting used to his new kit and having to scale down recipes developed for 10 Brewer’s Barrel production at the Idle Valley Brewery to the 2 Brewer’s Barrel kit at Harrison’s. After tipping away the first brew run as “not good enough” he was soon brewing his old recipes once again, including Vacant Gesture, Coconut Shy and Best Bitter, as well as developing new ones. Many of the beers Harrison’s produces are based on the recipes developed at Idle Valley but rebranded (Vacant Gesture retained its name because of its popularity).
Harrisons Brewery is situated at the rear of the Brew Shed on Carolgate. It now has four regular ales and rotates between 400 recipes on its final barrel.
Interesting Fact: Many of the principal roads in Retford have the Old Norse ‘gate’ ending including Bridgegate, Chapelgate, Moorgate, Churchgate and Carolgate. Grove Street used to be called Newgate. Carolgate is derived from the Old Norse ‘karla’ ( a karl) plus the Old Norse ‘gata’ (gate). A karl was a freeman.
Regular beers
Best Bitter (ABV 4.0%) traditional English bitter.
Coconut Shy (ABV 4.3%) an APA that uses Mosaic and Columbus hops.
Proof of Concept (ABV 4.3%) IPA.
Stout (ABV 5.6%) a classic dry Irish style stout with chocolate notes and a sweet malty finish.
Vacant Gesture (ABV 3.8%) a blonde ale brewed with mosaic hops. Brewed in regular rotation.
Regular seasonal beers and specials
The brewery has a wide range of seasonal beers and specials available from the Brew Shed.
Fancy a pint?
The Brew Shed is the tap for Harrison’s Brewery. It usually has five Harrison’s beers on sale plus up to three guest ales (cask) and a variety of kegs. Real cider is also available.
Tours and Takeaways
Harrison’s sell cans of Vacant Gesture, Proof of Concept and Coconut Shy, as well as limited edition specials from their website. The brewery also sells merchandise and beer recipes – including recipes for some of their most popular beers.
The Brew Shed is an ideal place to end a day out in Retford or for those on a beer tour. A visit to Retford Market, the Bassetlaw Museum (free entry), a little sight seeing, plus dinner out can be followed by an evening spent in the beer garden at the Brew Shed watching the barges moor at Retford marina. There is usually such a good selection of beers available at the Beer Shed you might end up spending the whole evening there, but there are several good pubs nearby such as The Ship (less than 5 minutes walk and a Bateman’s pub), The Galway (10 minutes walk) or The Turk’s Head (less than 10 minutes walk). If you want to make a weekend of your trip, Retford has a number of inexpensive hotels, including King’s Park Hotel (which has an annex that is visible from the pub and about 3 minutes walk away), and plenty of restaurants. The Brew Shed also has a restaurant.