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12:50 - 14 December 2006 Brewers at Hardys and Hansons in Kimberley produced their final beer this week. Now colleagues at Castle Rock Brewery, which has inherited the mantle as Notts' largest brewer, are toasting their colleagues with a party tomorrow at Castle Rock.For Hardys and Hansons' remaining workers, it's now time for a pint. And the folk at Nottingham's Castle Rock Brewery are buying.
This was a short week for the Hardys and Hansons' crew. On Monday, the
175-year-old Kimberley brewery produced its last shipment of brews.The next time an ale bearing the name "Hardys and Hansons" leaves a brewery, it will be in Bury St Edmunds, home of Greene King, which bought them out earlier this year.
Castle Rock is not huge - by industry standards, it's still classed as a micro-brewery - but with Hardys and Hansons' closure it inherits the title of Notts' largest brewer.
At the brewery just down from Nottingham Station, in Queens Bridge Road, it is seen as a bitter-sweet honour dulled by the loss of a historic brewery.
Over the years. Hardys and Hansons helped the smaller brewery and earned the respect of staff at Castle Rock.
So tomorrow afternoon, Castle Rock workers will open the doors to their brewery and adjacent Vat and Fiddle pub for a party with Hardys and Hansons staff.
Castle Rock head brewer Adrian Redgrove, who has organised the event, said: "This party is our way of thanking the lads and lasses for what they've done for Notts, to wish them well for the future and to acknowledge the assistance we've had from them.
"If anyone had suggested 20 years ago that a micro brewery like Castle Rock would one day inherit the crown 'biggest brewer in Nottingham', we would have laughed in their face.
"And yet, this seems to have come about. It's not something we expected nor, under the circumstances, enjoy - but it's happened."
Brewers are a tight-knit bunch and often seek out each other for help on technical matters or other advice.
Hardys and Hansons' head brewer Martin Armstrong said: "We've had a longstanding relationship with them over the years. That's the way it works in the industry."
Over the years, Castle Rock has often looked to the larger brewery for advice on everything from equipment to yeast.
Castle Rock commercial director Colin Wilde said: "We've no longer got a big brother.
"It's sad to see the closure, the redundancies and the end of 175 years of brewing history in Kimberley.
"It's a poor state of affairs when bigger businesses from outside Notts can make decisions to the detriment of local families and the local economy."
Mr Armstrong said that several others in the Hardys and Hansons brewery were looking to start up their own microbrewery and others - himself included - were looking for other work in brewing.
But it's not easy.
"There's very little opportunity for work in the industry in the area," he said.
Meanwhile, punters looking for a pint of proper Notts-brewed Hardys and Hansons ale had better get their orders in quickly.
Richard Studeny, chairman for the Nottingham branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, reckons this week's final batch of Kimberley-brewed ale will probably run out around the new year.