West Dorset · brewing our own since 2014
Straight from the forge into the glass
A brewery and taproom in Bridport. Seven beers on all year and seasonals besides, poured twenty metres from the mash tun, and nothing fined or filtered that does not have to be. Come and see it being made — then sit down.
Unfined, unfiltered, unpasteurised
It goes from the conditioning tank straight to the bar one floor below. Nothing is taken out of it on the way.
Our own borehole
A borehole 42 m under the yard, malt from Warminster and hops from Herefordshire. There is nothing else in it.
A bar for your do
We bring the casks, the cooling and the taps. You pay for what actually gets poured.
Tours Thu–Sat
Brewhouse, fermenting room and cellar with the brewer. Tasting straight from the tank.
On tap now
What is pouring right now
The ten beers we have in at the moment. Switch the style, pull the bitterness down to suit you and the list reorders itself — prices and figures included. It is the same list the bar staff are looking at.
Loading the bar…
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Forge Bitter
session bitter on tap- Original gravity
- 1.040 OG
- ABV
- 3.8 %
- Bitterness
- 22 IBU
- Fermented
- 25 days
The one you can have three of. Warminster malt, twenty-five days in the cellar, and nothing else in it. We sell more of this than anything, and it is what goes out to village halls.
pint£4.20
half£2.40
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Anvil Pale
pale ale, unfined on tap- Original gravity
- 1.044 OG
- ABV
- 4.2 %
- Bitterness
- 30 IBU
- Conditioned
- 35 days
Same method as the bitter, bigger grist and nothing taken out. Hazy, bready, and the head stays to the bottom of the glass. A cask lasts about two days on the bar, which is why it never leaves the building.
pint£4.60
half£2.60
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Bellows Lager
unfiltered lager on tap- Original gravity
- 1.048 OG
- ABV
- 4.6 %
- Bitterness
- 36 IBU
- Conditioned
- 45 days
What the cellar is really for. Decoction mash, Saaz in three additions and forty-five days lagering. When it runs out we take it off rather than rush the next one.
pint£5.00
half£2.80
-
Collier Amber
amber ale on tap- Original gravity
- 1.052 OG
- ABV
- 5.0 %
- Bitterness
- 28 IBU
- Conditioned
- 50 days
A quarter Munich and crystal malt, the rest pale. Toast and milk chocolate, with just enough bitterness to stop it going sweet. People who say they do not drink dark beer drink this.
pint£5.20
half£2.90
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Hearth Stout
stout on tap- Original gravity
- 1.056 OG
- ABV
- 5.4 %
- Bitterness
- 34 IBU
- Conditioned
- 70 days
Six malts including roast barley. Coffee and dark fruit on the nose, bitter chocolate to taste. We pour it three degrees warmer than the lager — at cellar-cold you would taste none of it.
pint£5.40
half£3.00
-
Farrier Wheat
wheat beer, top fermented on tap- Original gravity
- 1.048 OG
- ABV
- 4.8 %
- Bitterness
- 14 IBU
- Fermented
- 20 °C
Half wheat, half pale malt, Bavarian yeast and fermented at twenty degrees. The banana and clove come from the yeast, not a bottle. In the garden in July it outsells everything.
pint£5.10
half£2.85
-
Ember Free
alcohol free on tap- Original gravity
- 1.028 OG
- ABV
- 0.5 %
- Bitterness
- 18 IBU
- Fermented
- 3 days
An alcohol-free that nobody pulls a face at. Short, cool fermentation, so it tastes of malt rather than wort. For whoever drove everybody else here.
pint£3.80
half£2.20
-
Hop Sack
American pale ale seasonal · April–September- Original gravity
- 1.052 OG
- ABV
- 5.2 %
- Bitterness
- 45 IBU
- Dry hopped
- 4 kg per brew
Dry hopped twice with Cascade and Citra, four kilos a brew. Grapefruit and pine. On from April to the end of September — in November it is the wrong beer for the weather.
pint£5.60
half£3.10
-
Anvil Ring
india pale ale bottles only- Original gravity
- 1.061 OG
- ABV
- 6.2 %
- Bitterness
- 55 IBU
- Hops
- 7 kg per brew
The bitterest thing we make. Seven kilos of hops to ten hectolitres, most of it after fermentation. It never reaches the bar — the whole brew goes into bottles, because that is how it gets round the county.
bottle, 500 ml£4.20
case of 20 bottles£78
-
Yule Forge
dark seasonal seasonal · November–January- Original gravity
- 1.065 OG
- ABV
- 6.8 %
- Bitterness
- 42 IBU
- Conditioned
- 90 days
Once a year, twenty hectolitres and no more. It has been conditioning since September with dried orange peel and a little star anise. Tapped on the first Friday of December and usually gone by the end of January.
pint£5.80
half£3.20
We have not got anything like that in today. Try allowing more bitterness, or turn off “only what is on tap”.
What the numbers actually mean
- Original gravity
- Alcohol by volume — how much of what is in the glass is alcohol. A session bitter sits under 4 %, an ordinary pint around 4.5, and anything over 6 is a beer to have one of and then go home.
- Bitterness (IBU)
- International Bitterness Units. A session bitter is around 20, a lager 30–40, an American pale ale 55 and up. Above 45 most people notice it on the first mouthful.
- Unfined
- Beer we have not dropped the yeast out of. Hazy, fuller tasting, and it goes off faster — a cask lasts a few days. Which is why it only gets poured here. It also means it is vegan, since no finings go anywhere near it.
What is on
Coming up in the yard
Six things we do every year in the brewery yard. The dates hold; the weather does not always.
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21.Mar
First unfined pale of the year
We tap a cask in the brewhouse itself, and the brewer talks through what went right over the winter and what had to be poured away. First pint is £2.50 if you are in before six.
-
30.Apr
May bank holiday hog roast
A hog from the butcher on Barrack Street, a fire in the yard and four beers straight from the tank. Sausages, our own lemonade and a treasure hunt round the old forge for the children.
-
21.Jun
Beer garden opening, with a band
The garden under the limes opens for the summer. A local band play blues and old rock, the bar runs to midnight and the kitchen to ten.
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13.Sep
Green hop day — brewing in front of you
We brew a pale ale in the yard and anybody who wants to can throw a handful of hops into the copper. Everybody who comes gets a bottle of it — in six weeks, when it is ready.
-
15.Nov
Autumn hog roast and cask day
Work starts at six, selling starts at ten: hog roast, faggots, black pudding and broth on the spot. Collier Amber straight from a wooden cask while it lasts.
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6.pro
Tapping the Yule Forge
The cask goes on at six and nobody tastes it before then, us included. Carols from the primary school choir, then somebody with an accordion.
Who brews it
Ten years in an old forge
We bought the old forge on the edge of Bridport in 2011. There was mud to the knee inside and the roof was held up by one beam. Three years of evenings later, in October 2014, we brewed the first batch and gave it away to friends. It was terrible — no bitterness and it smelled of butter. The second one was fine.
There is a ten hectolitre two-vessel copper kit in the brewhouse now, six open squares in the fermenting room and twelve conditioning tanks in the cellar. We brew three times a week, and nine casks in ten get drunk in the taproom one floor below.
We do not want to get so big that somebody else has to watch it for us. Ask who pulled your pint and it is one of us, or somebody we taught.
10 hlbrew length
12conditioning tanks
3×brews a week
The brewerbrewer and owner, brewing since 2014
How it works
Beer for your wedding, party or company day
We take the bar out across west Dorset and into south Somerset. Mostly weddings, village dos and company afternoons. This is how it goes from the first email to collecting the empties.
-
You write
A date, a place and roughly how many people. We answer by the next day, or Monday morning at a weekend — on Saturday we are in the yard, not at a computer.
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We suggest what and how much
We allow three pints a head. For a wedding, usually the pale with one cask of bitter for anybody wanting something lighter. You get a price per cask and for delivery.
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We deliver and set it up
Free within 25 miles of Bridport. We lend the cooler, the taps and a stillage, and show somebody how to pour it so the head is not all soap.
-
We collect the empties afterwards
You pay for what was poured. Unbroached casks come back and are not charged for. The deposit on the cooling comes back in full if it does.
Have a look round
Brewery, taproom and yard
What to expect
Three things worth knowing before you come
Unfined beer is cloudy on purpose. We do not drop the yeast out, so it looks hazy and tastes fuller — and it means the beer is vegan. If you want it bright, the lager is the one to ask for.
A cask lasts about two days once it is on. That is why the list on this page changes, and why we will not promise a particular beer for a particular Saturday until the week itself.
The bar we bring you is charged on what gets poured. Unbroached casks come back and cost you nothing. Anybody quoting a flat price for the beer is guessing, and the guess will not be in your favour.
Get in touch
Come over, or write
The taproom is on the ground floor of the brewery; the entrance is off Forge Lane past the bridge. Tables are booked by phone; tours and the mobile bar go through the form.
- The Forge BreweryForge Lane, Bridport DT6 3QT
- Taproom phone01632 960418
- Emailhello@forgebrewery.co.uk
- Getting hereNine miles from Dorchester on the A35, six from West Bay. Parking in the yard, and the X51 stops on South Street, seven minutes’ walk.
- Company detailsThe Forge Brewery Ltd, company number 00000000, VAT registered
Taproom hours
- Mondayclosed
- Tuesday – Thursday15:00 – 23:00
- Friday15:00 – 24:00
- Saturday12:00 – 24:00
- Sunday12:00 – 21:00
The kitchen runs to 9pm, and to 10pm on Friday and Saturday. Beer to take away in containers and mini-casks throughout opening hours.