Tributes have poured in for a brewing legend, who passed away on Tuesday.
Lauded in the craft of brewing beer, popular Chas Wright founded Uley Brewery in 1985 having spent the previous year fabricating and fitting out the disused premises on the original site of Uley Brewery. The first beer was brewed on March 1, 1985 and since then the Brewery’s reputation has grown from strength-to-strength.
News broke of Chas’s passing on the Uley Brewery Facebook page this morning: “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Chas Wright who passed away peacefully in the early hours of Tuesday, January 31st.
“Chas founded Uley Brewery in 1985 to brew genuine Cotswold beer. Chas was a larger than life character and we will miss him dearly. But as he would say, “Keep taking the medicine!”
Greg Pilley, founder of Stroud Brewery heaped praise on the brewing icon: “Chaz was a brewing pioneer, re-establishing Uley brewery 17 years before the duty break that allowed the proliferation of microbreweries across the UK.
“He was a champion for pubs, and held true to these values, never selling beer in bottles whilst he was running the brewery as he felt packaged beers would undermine his core market and indeed the best and most sustainable way to drink beer, within a social setting in your community.”
Chas is regarded as a legend in many pubs throughout Gloucestershire and beyond, regaling folk with his stories and songs, often accompanying himself on concertina and melodeon.
