The Townshend Brewery is proud to be one of the few genuine Real Ale breweries operating in New Zealand.

The Townshend Brewery produces a range of Real Ales served from the cask or bottle.

Real ale is defined as : "Beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide".
Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)

The brewing process of Real Ale is comparable to the creation of wine or whiskey. After fermentation wines and whiskies are left to age in casks – a process that adds immeasurably to the quality and taste of the final drink.

The creation of Real Ale also involves a similar secondary process.

To appreciate the creation of a Real Ale it is necessary to understand the production process of a typical modern beer.

For several millennia all beer was Real Ale – however, recent developments in microbiology have changed brewing dramatically in recent generations.

Modern technology allows brewers to completely remove all yeast from a beer before storing it in a keg or bottle.

The benefit for the brewer and retailer is that the storage, transportation, cellaring and serving of the beer is cheaper and easier.

The downside to removing all yeast from beer is that the beer is totally flat – it is quite literally “lifeless”!

To counteract this modern brewers are forced to artificially add carbon dioxide to their beers. They have to add the bubbles that all beer drinkers expect to find in their favourite brews!

With a Real Ale a small amount of yeast always remains in the bottle or cask that the beer is stored in. The beer continues to ferment – adding complexity and depth to the taste of the beer.

This secondary fermentation also naturally creates carbon dioxide. There is no need to add bubbles in the manner of a modern brewer.