After some delay the Great Gable Brewing Co sprang forth earlier this year. Giles Holiday, erstwhile bar manager of the Wasdale Head Inn produced the first experimental brew at the end of February in the brewery situated alongside the pub. The beer was put on the bar for customers to try and comment on. Giles has now completed his eighth brew and explains his approach with the confidence of an old hand. The first beer to be produced was Great Gable, at 3.7% designed to be a 'rehydration ale', a well balanced session beer to appeal to drinkers who have been working up a thirst on the fells. Over Easter 500 pints sold in a night.

A stronger best bitter, Wasd'Ale (ABV 4.4%) was launched at the end of May and the brewery has been in full production since the end of June, now producing one to two brews a week. Giles is now full time brewer, with Mike Naylor taking over as the bar manager. The latest beer, brewed for the first time at the beginning of August, is WryNose. At 4.0% a refreshing hoppy summer beer, made with one third rye, to my taste it's the best yet.

Water for beer production, like all the hotel's water, comes from a spring up on the side of Yewbarrow. Proprietor Howard Christie says that so far the spring has never dried up! Malt comes from Fawcett's of Castleford and Giles uses Northdown hops for Wasd'Ale, Challenger for Great Gable and Pioneer for WryNose. The brewery has a full capacity of 10 barrels, and Giles brews either 4 or 4 1/2 barrels at a time. Most of the beer is consumed in the Wasdale Head, and Great Gable beers now account for over half the consumption, but a few neighbouring pubs (Screes in Nether Wasdale, Globe in Gosforth, Brook House Inn and Burnmoor Inn in Boot, Prince of Wales in Foxfield) are supplied on an occasional basis. Meanwhile the Wasdale Head Inn continues to sell beers from other Cumbrian breweries including Derwent, Yates, Jennings, Hesket Newmarket.

The new brewery is adjacent to the pub kitchen and a covered outdoor drinking area named the 'brewery café'. Hops grow in tubs and you can see what's going on in the brewery through a porthole window. From the side of the brewery it is planned to open up the beer garden to give access to the bank of the beck, an idyllic setting to enjoy a Great Gable beer on a warm afternoon.