Former Head Brewer Reg Drury Dies

Former head brewer Reg Drury has passed away peacefully. Under his leadership, Fuller's was awarded the Champion Beer of Britain prize five times with three different beers.

Current head brewer John Keeling tells us more about a man who played a key role in Fuller's history.

Reg had been at Fuller’s since 1959, and had studied at Heriot Watt University, the same as me and our Brewing Manager Georgina Young (we have a long standing tradition of employing Heriot Watt brewers).

I first met Reg when he interviewed me in December 1980 for the Junior Brewer’s job here at Fuller’s. Just that month, he’d been made the Brewing Director and his first decision was to give me the job at the bottom of the ladder. Then, when he came to retire in 1999, his last ever decision was to recommend me to the Board to be Brewing Director. In between those two dodgy decisions, he made a lot of great ones, otherwise Fuller’s wouldn’t be the brewery it is today.

When I was told I was going to be the next Brewing Director, he needed to get the approval of the Board. That particular meeting overran by three hours, after which I was called into the Chairman’s office and told the news. Reg and I then came back to this very office I’m writing from for a drink and that was the first time he told me he’d earmarked me for the job.  He never told me he was going to make me the next Head Brewer and I didn’t know he was going to retire two years early. We’d worked together for 18 years, and I reckon he made the decision four or five years earlier.

I joined Reg’s team in the middle of the brewing development that he was leading. In 1976, he headed up the project team to install the new conical fermenters. Up until that point, these types of fermenters had been used for either lagers or keg ales. Fuller’s was in the process of deciding how to grow and stay relevant. The belief was its future lied in keg beer and these were initially brought into the Brewery for that purpose. But at that time, CAMRA formed and this had a big impact in the future of brewing at Fuller’s. Reg was one of the first brewers to brew cask beer in a conical fermenter, making Fuller’s refocus its efforts into cask ale.

Reg was like your Latin school master, much more serious and studious and technical than other brewers. All the brewhouse developments we did are so technically well done because he was a very good technical brewer. He was a very friendly man and his nickname was Roadrunner - everywhere he went he went at a gallop.

I owe Reg so much. He taught how to be a Fuller's brewer and that Fuller’s had to make great beer. I still think when we have problems: what would Reg do?