Coming to work each day has its commitments, its responsibilities. But what’s it like being the guardian of a brewing institution nearly 250 years old? Toby Heasman, head brewer at Hall & Woodhouse, knows that pressure but it’s also something he and his team take in their stride.
“When you start out working as a brewer, nobody really tells you that your beers and your brewery will only be as good as the team you have around you. There’s only so much you can do on your own.”
If you’ve not had a beer from Hall and Woodhouse, you’re sure to know someone that has.
Blandford Fly Golden Ale, Fursty Ferret Amber Ale and Tangle Foot are long-established household names while the newer Outland brand that launched in 2023, with beers such as its Tropical Pale Ale, West Coast IPA and Helles, are making a mark on their own terms. And heading up the production of these celebrated beers is Toby Heasman. Heasman is an award-winning, revered, brewer that joined the Dorset-based business back in 2006.
Approaching his 20th anniversary at the company, much has changed in the time Heasman has been part of the brewery. And much has also changed in the industry, and across the globe, since Hall and Woodhouse started out.
Because Hall and Woodhouse, the British regional brewery, was founded by Charles Hall in Blandford Forum in Dorset nearly 250 years ago and the story goes something like this…
In 1777 Charles Hall, an entrepreneurial gentleman farmer, built his Brewery in the Dorset village of Ansty. Fortunately for him, Dorset farmers are hard-working — and thirsty — and business was good.
By 1793 the Napoleonic wars had begun and the British government gave their troops a daily allowance of five pints of beer. Charles saw an opportunity and won the license to supply Wellington’s troops quartered in Weymouth. 60 years later, his son Robert (who inherited the brewery) brought Edward Woodhouse into the business as his commercial partner, a move he knew would propel the business forward.
What he did not foresee was Edward falling in love with Charles Hall’s grand-daughter, Hannah Dodge. Thus, when Edward and Hannah married Hall & Woodhouse was born. Over time, rather than spend on fine living, the entrepreneurial Robert and Edward drove the family business forward by investing the majority of profits back into the company — buying pubs in which to sell their ‘Badger beers’.
Today, their family of pubs are considered one of the finest in the country, with more than 150 public houses and inns, both traditional and contemporary, at the heart of their communities based across the South of England.
“I wanted our branding to be vibrant but also really, really clear. Because that works for the shopper and also for the consumer.”
Giles Mountford.
And ensuring those pubs, as well as countless other customers, have access to great beer is Toby Heasman. Working with a team across Hall & Woodhouse that includes Giles Mountford, head of beer brands, Heasman has helped the brewery thrive and flourish by producing a wealth of beers that span the style gamut and method of dispense.
“I was probably about 15 when I started making cider. We had an orchard at home and I was drawn to it,” recalls Heasman. “My attention soon moved on to beer and the beers I made were generally well received. It came to the point where I was taking my A-Levels and the choice was between Arts and Sciences. With my interest in brewing, the latter was the logical decision.”
Now 16, this journey in drinks production would lead Heasman to Ridlington Village Cricket field. The opening bowler at the time was David Batten, a former employee of Ruddles. He recommended the aspiring brewer met another former member of the Ruddles team Jim Prior as well as its then head brewer Tony Davis.
They met, chatted about the world of beer and he left Heasman with the closing comment that if ever needed work experience, he should let him know. As his stint at school drew to a close, it was time to discuss possible careers. Heasman knew what he wanted but, at least initially, it would be a case of “computer says no”.
“I got thrown out of the careers office at school for saying I wanted to go and do a Brewing and Distilling degree at Heriot-Watt,” he smiles. “This was at the time where they were computerizing the UCAS (undergraduate application service) system and the school computer system didn’t pick up the degree I wanted. Our careers master thought that I was taking the ‘Mickey’ making it up.”
Technical gremlins would soon be banished and Heasman would make it to Scotland and the university of his dreams. Like his peers he was required to find a placement as part of the course and his Ruddles connections would take him to North America.
“They put me in touch with Brian Webster, who had been a brewer at Ruddles. He had just setup some microbreweries for an American family. The Williamsville Brewing Company had sites in Richmond, Virginia, Fernandina Beach in Florida and Saint Martin. They had a place available in Florida so off I would go.”
He would finish top of the class, be recognised as student of the year and before long recruited by Bass in the milkround interviews. Joining the graduate scheme he would initially start in their maltings before working at their breweries in Alton, Birmingham and Burton-upon-Trent.
“They put me through my Master Brewer exams and also through Nottingham Business School. It was rewarding to work in a number of different roles at a number of different sites,” Heasman recalls.
But it would soon be time where Dorset came calling. Hall & Woodhouse needed a second brewer and upon interviewing, it became evident that if Heasman was to join the brewery he would have the chance to climb the ranks sooner rather than later. He went on to get the job and joined the business in 2006, getting married that same summer.
Three years after joining the business Heasman’s predecessor Tim Morris would retire, opening the door for him to become head brewer. “They asked me if I’d like to design and project manage building a new brewery, which we did. It was a four-year project and one I was glad to have been involved in.”
A decade on Hall & Woodhouse produce their beers on a brewhouse made in the UK by Musk Engineering and uses the Siemens Braumat control system. It is a nominal 100 UK Barrel brewlength with a turndown ration to 50 barrels and they mash in every three hours.
Heasman explains: “The brewery volume doesn’t fill a 24/5 pattern but we brew 24/3 which then gives us the energy benefit of minimising hot water being put to drain and we have a vapour heat recovery system of the copper stack which pre heats the lauter tun run off into copper on subsequent brews.
“40% of the total packaged volume we put through the brewery is contract work undertaken on behalf of other breweries, we have a small selective group of contract clients where we give their beers the same care and attention we would give our own beers. We pitch our yeast directly in line and have an Aber Instruments auto pitch machine which helps ensure continuity of yeast pitching.
“Wanting to better yourself is probably easier when you’ve got something that you enjoy and feel you can relate to.”
Toby Heasman.
“The brewery is setup to ferment and mature in the same vessels, we have a tank farm of 25 unitanks/DPVs for this purpose. All of which are fitted with full cooling down to -1 deg C and rousers which helps twofold, when cooling through the inversion temperature it enables the beers to be turned over and on the smaller FVs it enables us rack directly from FV.
“All in we have over 30 different mother brew streams so flexibility is key to our operation. The bottling line is a Krones line and runs at 24,000 bottles per hour and year to date is achieving an efficiency of 83%. The cask line is an old Gimson line which we relocated ourselves from the old brewery and nominally runs at 120 x 9 gallon firkins per hour.
“We still fill a few 18 gallon kilderkilns for our more liquid led houses, conversely we have also started to fill 4.5 gallon pins for our smaller volume public houses.
“The Lambrechts kegline runs at 80 x 50L kegs per hour. In addition to standard CO2 counter pressure it is also setup with an inline nitrogen dosing system which has enabled us to brew and fill our Outland Stout which is a nitro stout that has taken over 60% of the stout volume in our houses.
“The 2025 project on the go in the brewery is to install a CIMEC 3000 can per hour rotary can line and we look forward to having that on line by the start of 2026.
“The brewery has a takehome and pub warehouse on site, where the pub warehouse includes the distribution of factored wines, spirits and minerals to the H&W estate, where we have 6 full drays on the road plus 2 vans and a smaller 7.5T lorry.”
Since embarking on the brewery build project, Hall & Woodhouse has gone on to win more than 30 medals at awards across the globe while Heasman himself was named ‘Brewer of the Year’ by the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group. But for the head brewer, continuous improvement is just that and something he strives for each and every day.
“Wanting to better yourself is probably easier when you’ve got something that you enjoy and feel you can relate to. And the common thread throughout all of that is the beer,” he explains.
“The joy of coming here to help build a new brewery, work with your team, work with suppliers and create new beers. What’s not to like? The beers are what tie this together. And while I have commercial elements to my role, linking with the sales and marketing teams, that never takes me too far away from the brewing because that is ultimately what drives me.”
That drive in 2025 is fuelled by Heasman’s ability and capacity to produce beers that fall into the brewery’s traditional Badger Ales range as well as the newer Outland brand.
Beers in the Badger Ales range include Fursty Ferret, an Amber Ale that is 3.4% on cask and 4.4% in small pack, Tangle Foot Golden Ale, which ranges from 4.7% to 5%, the 5.7% Cranborne Poacher Ruby Ale and the 5.2% Golden Ale Blandford Fly. These beers on cask are served solely in the Hall & Woodhouse pub estate.
The newer Outland range was launched in 2023. Available in keg and can, this series encompasses beers such as the 5.0% West Coast IPA, 5.0% Black IPA, 4.3% Tropical Pale Ale, 4.2% Helles Lager and 6.0% NEIPA.
“If you’d asked me in 1997 when I left university, and I was just starting my career, that in the future I’d be brewing a range of cask ales, as well as a Helles Lager, NEIPA, West Coast IPA and Irish-style stout for keg then I don’t think I would have been able to visualise that,” Heasman muses. “It helps keep things fresh. I keeps me fresh.”
The launch of the Outland range was helped driven by Giles Mountford, the head of beer brands at Hall & Woodhouse. For Mountford, Outland was a way to “democratise craft beer and ultimately bring more drinkers, both from premium bottled ales (PBA) and lager, into the craft sector”.
Mountford joined Hall & Woodhouse in 2021 armed with a wealth of experience working for companies such as Jägermeister UK and also customer data firm dunnhumby.
He relished the opportunity to launch the Outland range as well as refresh the Badger range of premium bottled ales and cask branding in late 2023. A core focus on both of these projects were increasing the accessibility and visibility of the beers on offer.
“I always think back to the wine revolution that the new world drove some 30 years ago. Prior to this the bottles might mention a little about the terroir or the grape. Often this really didn’t mean anything to most people,” he explains. “But new world producers came along and featured ‘sliders’ on their labels that showed flavour profiles that went from sweet to dry, or they included suggested food pairings. These descriptors meant consumers thought ‘oh wow, I can see myself with this wine’ and that’s the approach we adopted to our work on the Badger and Outland branding.”
Mountford adds: “We’ve got the ABV, style and tasting notes, with three or four words, on the front. So when you’re in the white hot crucible of a supermarket beer aisle with a toddler hanging off your legs, and parking running out, you know which beer is for you.
“And if the shopper who’s not the beer drinker goes into a store to buy a box of something like Peroni and that beer is out of stock then as a general rule, they feel comfortable substituting that for another premium European Lager.
“There’s clear category cues, the brands are big enough and it’s all fairly understandable. Within craft and within bottled ales, if there’s no St Austell Tribute left, or there’s no Fursty Ferret left, the consumer is often not as reassured in choosing a substitute. So that’s why I wanted our branding to be vibrant but also really, really clear. Because that works for the shopper and also for the consumer.”
And reports published earlier this year showed that the company’s rebrand of its premium bottled ales had paid dividends. In the 12 weeks to 29 September 2024, volume sales of Badger PBAs grew by 51.6% compared to the same period in 2023 (Kantar), and against a 10% decline for the overall PBA category.
Over the 12-week period the number of shopping trips where Badger ales were purchased increased by 12%, and consumers bought on average 37% more beer on those trips. The brand also expanded its reach, with 231,000 consumers buying Badger ales – an increase of 10%.
Speaking at the time Mountford said: “Making root and branch changes to a much-loved brand like Badger wasn’t done lightly, but with the PBA category in long-term decline, we felt bold action was needed. The relaunch was anchored in consumer research.
“They told us the PBA sector was a ‘sea’ of similar-looking, old-fashioned labels without clear taste guidance, so we tackled that head on in the redesign. They also told us authenticity was important, so the characters on the bottles weren’t fabricated for the relaunch, they’ve always been part of the Badger story.
“By giving the beers we make a more contemporary feel, we’ve been able to capture some of the many consumers who drink across both the craft and PBA categories, but we’ve also retained our loyal Badger drinkers, many of whom are now purchasing more of their favourites.
“Although the PBA category overall is still in decline, the growth of Badger within it shows that a new approach can buck the trend. While we’ve seen some commoditisation with the category, we believe there is still value in it, hence our significant investment. If other brewers now start to evolve their own brands, we could see a renewal of the PBA category.”
Regardless of the beers being marketed, for head brewer Toby Heasman and his team, there are a number of non-negotiable factors that come into play.
He says: “When you design a new beer it’s got to have enough character to bring somebody in and that character can come through in different ways. It could be a stout that has amazing complexity and balance between the roasted malts. Or it could be a West Coast IPA with a vibrant hop profile. Either way there’s no point in creating a beer that nobody wants to drink.
“And then I think the next part is ensuring that you can reproduce that beer to the highest quality all of the time. People only remember the last beer that they had. So if the quality is not there, then eventually that consistency is not there and as a result you will soon get found out. The best breweries produce quality beers on a consistent basis.
“Finally, when it comes to developing new beers you need to have fun as well. When you’re having fun you often create the best beers. If new beers aren’t achieving anything then I think you’ll find that the consumer will let you know, and that’ll happen sooner rather than later.”
And as Hall & Woodhouse approaches its 250th anniversary, taking place in 2027, Heasman will soon celebrate his own landmark with 20 years at the business. But as the brewing guardian of such a well-known institution, it’s something he continues to take in his stride.
“You always try and put it to the back of your mind. But at the same time it is hard really, isn’t it? Because sometimes you feel that pressure but equally, that’s also when you can produce great beers. You’ve just got to try and be the best that you can be,” he explains.
“Being part of Hall & Woohdhouse brings with it some expectation. Building the new brewery bought with it some expectation. And then as the markets change, you have to adapt and make decisions to ensure you get things right. Thankfully I think we do that well here.”
Heasman adds: “I still get a buzz when I walk into to one of our public houses and the beers are on. And I still get that buzz if someone working at one of the public houses wants to talk to me about one of the beers or perhaps they want to discuss something related to training.
“And only recently we have just developed a new Session IPA for our Outland range. I still got that buzz after working with the team throughout the process and you get to that point where there’s a consensus and you all know that you’re nearly there in creating the beer that you all have in mind.
“So yes, I still have that passion for being a brewer and the enthusiasm that comes when helping produce beers that people thankfully enjoy. That desire hasn’t gone anywhere and it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, either”
