Taste of Taylor’s
Timothy Taylor’s only use the very finest ingredients in our beer.
These combined with our uncompromising brewing process ensure we deliver that taste of Taylor’s every time.
Why do Taylor’s beers consistently taste so good?
We’ve been brewing beer for over 160 years, along the way we’ve learned a thing or two about what makes for that rewarding and consistent ‘Taylor’s Taste’. We can’t put it down to one thing, or even a couple of things. It’s the result of many things that we do our own way, still the traditional way, and our refusal to compromise on quality of ingredients or brewing.
‘Taylor’s Taste’ is achieved by using only the finest natural ingredients, taking pride in the brewing process and allowing full time for the ales to ferment and mature, thereby creating a unique family of beers.
Our Brewers
At Timothy Taylor’s all our brewers qualified from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Our current Head Brewer is Andrew Leman, who follows in the footsteps of Peter Eells, Allan Hey, Sydney Fairclough and Philip Taylor.
Tap on the pictures to read more about our brewing team.
One of the most important ingredients that makes Taylor’s beers is our people. Central to this are our highly-trained brewers - Andrew, Nick, Tom and Ewan.
They look after the brewing of each individual cask and keg. Every stage is still closely overseen in person by them, rather than being controlled by computers, and all of our brews start with one of them mashing in every day.
We think the human senses of taste and smell are still the best measure of beer, so our expert brewers test all ingredients, and every single brew is tasted at least three times for quality and consistency. Our traditional brewing process needs constant managing by the brewers, making fine adjustments to make sure that every pint of Timothy Taylor’s lives up to the reputation we have earned over the years.
A.I. is too important to be left in the hands of machines.
The A.I. we’re referring to isn’t Artificial Intelligence, it’s Ale Intelligence, of course. We’re not technophobes, we just don’t trust anything incapable of smelling, feeling or tasting to create something as delicately balanced as Landlord. That’s why we have four hands-on, Heriot-Watt trained brewers involved in every step of the process, from barley delivery to filling the cask. This way, we can make sure that every sip of Taylor’s is as delicious as humanly possible. Machines may one day take over the world, just be thankful you won’t be around to drink their terrible beer.
Golden Promise Barley
We predominantly use Golden Promise in our beers, a barley normally reserved for the production of malt whiskies. In combination with our Knowle Spring water, Golden Promise makes our beers clean and crisp and gives them a fullness and roundness of flavour. It has to be grown to our own exacting specification, it is a difficult, low-yield crop, which takes a skilled farmer and expert maltster, making it the most expensive barley you can use for brewing beer.
As our farmers know all too well: no pain, no grain.
They say nothing worth having comes easy. Unfortunately for our farmers that’s true of the barley we use to brew our beers. We use a classic variety called Golden Promise, grown to our own unique specification. The biscuity, golden malt it produces is the perfect partner to our natural spring water, and is vital to Landlord’s depth and delicate balance of flavour. It’s also a type of barley that’s notoriously hard to grow, and our exacting specification makes it even more difficult. Which makes it a costly ingredient and a real challenge even for experienced farmers. Luckily we can offer some liquid therapy.
Whole Leaf Hops
We’re one of the last brewers in Britain to still exclusively use whole leaf hops in all our cask products. They are an expensive ingredient, but we think they’re vital to the flavour of our beer – just like using real fresh herbs is in cooking. Our expert brewers use a unique blend of hop varieties that has been perfected over the last hundred and sixty years. This careful balance of spicy aromas, floral and slightly fruity notes with a subtle citrus is at the heart of the Taylor’s taste.
Fuggles farmer foils attack of the killer wilt.
In our eyes, farmer Tom Spilsbury is a hero worthy of immortalising as a statue. Over the past few decades, the killer wilt fungus has decimated acres of English Fuggles hops – an ingredient crucial to the Taylor’s taste. Thankfully, Tom agreed to plant two new yards of Fuggles, specifically for us, in soil elevated above local rivers. This protects our hops from any wilt attacks spreading from land upstream. So we can keep brewing with the Fuggles that give Landlord its inimitable flavour. Here’s to Tom Spilsbury, hops hero, beer legend.
2000th Generation Yeast
At the heart of Timothy Taylor’s beer is our own unique strain of yeast called, appropriately, Taylor’s Taste. Over 2,000 generations old and has particular qualities that allow the flavours and aromas of our hops to come through, and results in a well-balanced beer with a ‘polished clarity’ that is clean and crisp with a quenching finish.
Is this the most cultured yeast in Yorkshire?
Taylor’s yeast is a unique strain that we began using over 40 years ago and has regenerated over 2,000 times. It has adapted to the specific conditions of our brewery and we look after it carefully to maintain its consistency. When we fill our casks we don’t extract the yeast, which allows it to undergo a secondary fermentation in the cask. This gives Taylor’s beer extra conditioning, flavour and life. So when you sup a pint of Landlord you can thank our cultured yeast for that clean, crisp flavour and attractive, moreish taste.
Pure Knowle Spring Water
Our Knowle Spring brewery is named after the Knowle Spring upon which it sits. A natural artesian well, it provides a constant supply of pure Pennine spring water, unique to Taylor’s, that has been filtered through layers of limestone and black rock. Knowle Spring water is naturally soft and very pure, in its pure form it is said to taste like melted snow. Its consistency is one of the reasons we are able to produce beers of such reliable quality and flavour.
When a Yorkshireman finds a source of pure spring water, he doesn’t bottle it. He builds a brewery on it.
In 1863 Timothy Taylor was given the opportunity to buy land over a natural aquifer spring. He did what any good Yorkshireman would, and immediately started work building a brewery. Ever since, The Knowle Spring has been the source of the unique spring water we use to brew our beers. Filtered through layers of black rock and limestone, it is said to taste like melted snow. It’s a very pure and consistent water, one of the reasons we are able to brew beer of such reliable quality and taste.
After that first sip you might agree.
