Rutland brewery Bakers Dozen, in Ketton, marks its 10th anniversary
An award-winning village brewery is marking a landmark anniversary with a celebratory birthday tipple.
Baker’s Dozen Brewing, in Ketton, celebrates its 10th year on Friday (June 13).
Since its launch in 2015, by husband and wife team Dean and Jill Baker, the Rutland brewery has gained an enviable reputation as of one of the country’s best independent breweries.
National awards include a Champion Beer of Britain title in 2023 for their flagship Electric Landlady beer, while Undertow earned back-to-back National Gold awards at the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers and Associates) Indie Beer Awards.
“There have been more than a few rocky moments over the years, especially post-Covid lockdowns with the energy prices shooting up,” said Dean.
“These are tricky times for the licensed trade, which of course has an immediate knock-on to its supply chain, but we’ve stuck in there and knuckled down.”
The couple were licensees of Stamford’s Jolly Brewer pub before taking the plunge and working full-time on Baker’s Dozen.
“It feels like a tale of two halves,” said Jill.
“We spent the first five years running the brewery alongside the pub as more a part-time venture, working on recipes and building the custom base, and then the last five years post-Covid where we both work full-time at the brewery.”
Celebrations started in March with the first of several collaboration and special brews with Empingham Cricket Club.
Club steward Russ Hibbit and members of the club helped to brew ‘Eclectic Landlady’ - a play on the brewery’s award-winning tipple.
This was followed by ‘Landlady X’, a double IPA, and later in the the year they plan to transform Undertow into a double IPA, called Overtow.
A celebratory new chocolate and vanilla stout brew, Birthday Stout, is also now available.
Jill and Dean celebrated with a pop-up tap room event last weekend and will run a pop-up bar at this weekend’s Lazy Crow festival at Stamford AFC.
They will then round off the month by organising the keg bar at Rutland CAMRA’s annual beer festival at Oakham Museum from Thursday to Sunday, June 27 to 29.
