Beer was for many centuries an important drink, being much safer than untreated water. Its importance was reflected that it was often included as part of a servants wages – one such ‘beer list’ exists in Chatsworth for 1898. Given its importance, it is not unusual to find great houses had their own brewing facilities. Chatsworth is no exception, where the brewing of beer is as old as the house itself, going back to the building of the Elizabethan house by Bess and William Cavendish.

By the 19^th century the brewing of beer had been removed from the house and instead took place in the stables (an early 20^th century plan of the stables shows an area now occupied by Flying Childers as being ‘The Old Brewery.’).

Once ready to drink, beer had to be moved to the house to be enjoyed by the Duke and his guests. Rather than carry the heavy barrels to the house, a lead pipe was sunk from the brew house through the garden to the house cellar. This was a contrivance installed by the 6th Duke and was described in his Handbook of Chatsworth and Hardwick (1844) as: '1059 feet long [and] of three inch bore, the idea of which always gives me a longing, on some great occasion, to form a fountain of that liquid'.

In the 1950s, it was decided to uproot the lead pipe for the salvage value. When tracing it through the first Duke’s greenhouse, it was found that the gardeners had tapped into it! When ale was flowing down the pipe, the brewers would tip the wink to the gardeners so they could ‘borrow’ the odd pint or two.

It was this discovery which inspired the name for our Chatsworth beer. ‘Gardener’s Tap’ ale is brewed to the original recipe that the 6^th Duke (and his gardeners!) would have once enjoyed, and is available to try from our shops and at shop.chatsworth.org.