The Freeminer brewery was formed in 1992, its first brews were made in Sling, near Coleford, close to the site of the New Dunn Iron Ore mine.
The brewery was built with the simple aim of brewing the best real ales using the best ingredients. This tough but simple strategy has lead to the brewery receiving international recognition for its quality ales, with customers in Canada, The USA, New Zealand, and Europe as well as the British market.
Freeminer has won "Champion Beer of Britain" in two categories for its bottled and speciality beers at the GBBF, and has won several top awards at the annual "Beauty of Hops" awards for its use of new British hop varieties. The beers have consistently scored well in drinker votes at beer festivals around the UK and featured on "Food and Drink" on BBC television, being regularly chosen as a presenters' favourite.
All of the beers produced are given names which reflect the rich mining heritage of the region from which the brewery derives its name.
In December 2000, the brewery moved to its new home in Cinderford, another town with a strong mining and iron producing heritage, and near the site of the last deep shaft mine in the Forest, Northern United, which closed on Christmas Eve 1965.
INGREDIENTS
The beers are brewed using whole hops principally grown in Worcestershire, and traditional malt varieties produced in the oldest floor maltings in the UK which are at Warminster, Wiltshire. Our beers are produced in the traditional way using top fermenting ale yeast in open topped fermenters.
The ancient Freeminers of the Royal Forest of Dean are believed to have held the rights to the coal and minerals under the Royal Forest since before the time of Edward I.
A few of their small private mines still exist with the rights being passed from father to son after an apprenticeship of one year and one day underground. Much of the mining work is still carried out by hand in the traditional manner, as is the brewing of the Freeminer Beer Range.
The Freeminer symbol is taken from an original brass which can be seen in Newland church, the "Cathedral of the Royal Forest".
TODAY the Freeminer Brewery produces beer by traditional methods, reviving the Royal Forest’s brewing tradition for your pleasure.
Freeminer Brewery also produces seasonal beers, and special "one-off" brews. Check with the brewery for details.
Forester's Rights for The Forest of Dean
Forest Freemining
Anyone born in the Forest of Dean within the Hundred of St. Briavels, and who has worked in a mine for a year and a day, may open up his own coal mine. There are very few freeminers at work today, but there are some! These mines are drift mines (a tunnel excavated into a hillside), and the miners sell their coal locally. One such mine, Hopewell Colliery, is now open to the public.
Keeping sheep in the Forest
When you visit the Forest of Dean, you will be sure to see lots of sheep roaming around the forest and the roads. This is due to an ancient right bestowed upon foresters from Norman times. The right applies to people born within the Hundred of St. Briavels (effectively anywhere in the forest). The sheep keepers, known locally as "Sheep Badgers" simply turn their sheep out to graze. They are visited very regularly, and you may be fortunate to see one of the Badgers working with his sheepdogs.
Keeping pigs in the Forest
Another ancient right, which allows the locals to graze their pigs in forest in the autumn months, where they feed on the acorns from the oak trees.