Pioneer of the microbrewery, he successfully challenged the might of the Big Six beer makers
One rainswept day in 1978, I went to Ringwood in Hampshire to meet Peter Austin and encounter a new concept in beer making: a microbrewery. At that time, brewing was dominated by six giant national brewers, which were converting their pubs to keg beers and taking over and closing many of the remaining independent breweries.
It seemed unlikely that Peter Austin's tiny plant in a former bakery would dent the power of the Big Six. But Ringwood Brewery proved to be a catalyst. Camra – the Campaign for Real Ale – had been launched in 1971, its membership had soared and its beer festivals were packed.
Rebellion was in the air and Peter Austin, who has died aged 92, was ready to meet the challenge. When he eventually retired from Ringwood he helped set up some 40 new breweries in Britain over 10 years, a rate of one every three months. He then toured the world, repeating the exercise in countries as diverse as China, France, Nigeria, Russia and the US. In total, he built some 140 breweries in 17 countries.
Peter was born in Edmonton, north London, and educated in Highgate and on the merchant navy training ship HMS Conway. His family was closely involved in the brewing industry. A great-uncle had run a brewery in Christchurch, on the south coast, while his father worked for Pontifex, a major supplier of brewing equipment.
Peter's first love was boats, not beer, and he sailed in Poole harbour during school holidays. He joined P&O from the Conway but contracted TB and had to be invalided home from Australia. He was not fit enough to fight in the second world war, and moved into brewing. He did his pupillage, or apprenticeship, at Friary, Holroyd and Healy in Guildford, worked briefly at Morrells in Oxford and joined the Hull Brewery in 1945, where he became head brewer. He left in 1975 following a takeover by Northern Foods.
He moved to Hampshire, bought a boat and took visitors out on fishing expeditions. But the brewing bug had bitten deep. In 1977, Peter accepted an invitation from Terry Jones of Monty Python and the Guardian writer Richard Boston, both passionate believers in the concept of small is beautiful, to build a tiny brewery in a former cattle byre at Penrhos Court in Herefordshire.
He was back in brewing, and a year later opened Ringwood. With a business partner, David Welsh, he produced Ringwood best bitter, Fortyniner and XXXX porter. The strong ale Old Thumper put Ringwood and microbrewing on the map when it won the Champion Beer of Britain award from Camra in 1988.
Peter was the first chairman of the Small Independent Brewers' Association, now the Society of Independent Brewers, set up in 1980, which became a powerful lobbying voice for the sector.
In 1986, Austin and Welsh moved from the original site in Ringwood into bigger buildings that had once housed Tunks brewery. Ringwood was now a substantial business, producing 80 barrels a week for pubs throughout the south and south-west. Peter sold his share to Welsh and became a consultant, adviser and builder to aspiring brewers in Britain and then worldwide.
His biggest impact was undoubtedly in the US, where 74 breweries were built using his brewing system. Alan Pugsley learnt brewing skills with Peter at Ringwood and emigrated to the US, where he helped set up the DL Geary Brewing Company in Portland, Maine, in 1986, one of the first new-wave American micros. Pugsley opened his own Shipyard brewery in Portland in 1992 and Peter gave him permission to brew Old Thumper under licence; he supplied a sample of the Ringwood yeast culture for authenticity. A new brewery using Peter's system will open this month at the Four Mile pub in Victoria, British Columbia.
Peter's impact on good beer is immeasurable. There are more than 2,000 craft breweries in the US, 1,200 in Britain, 150 in Australia, 70 in New Zealand and a growing number in Italy. Beer drinkers have never had greater choice – and much of that is due to him.
Peter was predeceased by his second wife, Zena, his first wife, Joan, and his son Henry. He is survived by four children, Roland, Jane, Jeremy and Sarah; and two stepchildren, Philip and Leah.
• Peter William Austin, brewer, born 18 July 1921; died 1 January 2014
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