by French & Jupps
Nestled in the heart of Royal Berkshire, Windsor & Eton Brewery stands as a beacon of 'beer led' excellence. With over 100 international, national, and local awards, their commitment to crafting outstanding beers across a spectrum of styles is undeniable. From introducing a novice to the joys of a perfectly brewed pint, to satisfying the discerning palate of a seasoned connoisseur, Windsor & Eton Brewery represents inclusivity and quality. Today, we delve into the heart of their brewing philosophy with Head Brewer, Santi Bello, focusing on the craft of brewing with roasted malts, gaining invaluable brewing insights that shape their award-winning recipes. Discover how Windsor & Eton Brewery, a name synonymous with quality and national recognition, continues to innovate while staying true to its core values.
Brewery Name: Windsor & Eton
Brewer Name: Santi Bello
Job Title: Head Brewer
Spotlight Beer: Republika, Craft Pilsner 4.8% ABV
Website: www.webrew.co.uk
Introduction To Santi Bello
Q1. What inspired you to start brewing?
I have always been passionate about alcoholic drinks in all forms. I used to work in finance, which I found very interesting and rewarding, but I always ended up craving more knowledge about how alcohol is made.
I left finance to work in a pub local to my parents and try to learn more about the industry.
I studied the IBD General Certificate in Brewing over lockdown, and dabbled in some homebrewing, mostly expecting my passion in these drinks to stay as just a hobby.
After lockdown a job opening at one of my favourite breweries whose beers we sold at our pub came up, and I had to go for it. I owe a lot to my former manager James for putting in a strong reference for me.
It has been a very exciting and interesting journey so far!
Q2. How long have you been at Windsor & Eton?
Head Brewer for 3 years.
Q3. How have your beer styles and flavours profiles evolved over the years?
As a brewery, all of our beers tend to be relatively high in bitterness, which has in some ways become our signature.
We have also always been very good at producing bright beer.
The trend towards hazy beer has meant that we have to rethink everything we do. We know how to have “accidental” haze, but producing a beer with consistent haze levels is something we struggled with initially. We are getting better and learning more about it, but we still have a long way to go to be haze specialists!
Q4. What factors have influenced these changes?
Using a hop back instead of a whirlpool means we have to use whole leaf hops for bittering and late hops. We do think this imparts a subtle “noble” flavour slightly more than pellets. We also think we get a higher alpha pickup as a result.
Ingredient availability is helping us push boundaries with flavour and haze stability, whether via Murphy’s Spring Blanche for haze consistency, which we used in our Solero Supernova with great success, or via Hopsteiner’s Salvo, which enabled us to extract only beta acids from Eureka hops.
Q5. What sets your brewery apart from others in the industry?
I think we are developing a reputation for quality, consistency and responsibility. We won 19 major brewing awards in 2024 alone, which I believe is more than any other brewery (although I admit this is hard to assess).
We take tasting our beers very seriously. If all of our own brewers aren’t actively involved in tasting and recipe development, we strongly believe we aren’t doing it right. We are trying to spearhead environmentally conscious ways of doing business, and really focus on localism.
We are based in Windsor, which is an amazing town to visit, and I like to think we are the main reason people visit Windsor!
A Guide to Choosing Brewing Malts: Tips from Santi Bello, Head Brewer, Windsor & Eton – WEBREW.
Choosing Base Malts
Q6. What factors influence your choice of base malts? Is it beer style, colour, extract?
Mostly beer style. We think about mouthfeel, final extract, read retention, and other flavours we want to get. Colour is obviously a massive factor, where we aim to hit a very specific EBC value. Within pale malt, extract is very important, along with the grind achieved, as these directly correlate with yield.
Q7. What are the key characteristics to look for when selecting a great base malt?
We buy our malt crushed so the size distribution is very important to us. If there is not enough husk, our mash gets stuck, but equally if it is too coarsely milled, our extracts are rubbish. Extract is incredibly important.
We rarely struggle with insufficient FAN (although it will be interesting to see what happens this year), so we generally want to keep nitrogen levels lower to reduce haze. Price is also incredibly important.
Q8. Do you have a specific approach to creating a balanced malt bill, ratios, preferences?
We generally avoid having more than 20% of the grist being anything other than pale or lager (although sometimes we do push this limit, especially for darker beers).
When making a complex beer, we find that having various ‘shades’ of roast adds depth of flavour. This means we have to keep a large variety of malt in stock, but we think that does make it worth it.
Choosing Specialty Roasted Malts
Q9. What is your approach to incorporating Roasted Malts into your beer recipes to achieve specific flavour profiles? Are there any dos and don’ts?
If we want the beer to have a “cleaner” flavour we go for a single type of roast malt, depending on the intensity of the roast we want and the colour.
For a more complex flavour we like to use 2, 3 or even 4 types of roasted, or crystal malts. We think this results in a deeper taste.
Q10. Do you have a methodology for using roasted malts effectively? Perhaps any examples of beers you have brewed where roasted malts have played a significant role?
We brewed our usual early-autumnal beer, Canberra, designed for Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee. This is uses two different types of crystal malt, and three different types of kilned malt. We think this provides a tasty base that is deliciously complex.
Q11. How do you balance the bitterness of Roasted Malts with the hop bitterness and aroma in your beers?
I think hop bitterness and malt astringency compliment each other more than people might think. But it is important that none of the flavours become too overwhelming.
When we brew roast malt heavy beer, we tend to use aroma hops with softer fruit characteristics, like stone fruits, berries, and even flavours like pine.
We don’t particularly believe in balancing out astringency with sweetness as it is very easy to go overboard. We might sometimes aim for a higher final gravity for more mouthfeel, but we don’t want a dark roasty beer to be too sickly sweet. When we do aim for a higher FG, we will often accompany this with higher target IBU.
Q12. When using significant amounts of Crystal and/or Patent malts, how does this influence your yeast strain selection to achieve your desired flavour profile or ABV?
We tend to go for neutral flavoured yeasts like Nottingham for a beer with lots of roast malts. Because yeast flavours can often be considered astringent, we feel like this will likely become too overwhelming.
Q13. When using Patent Roasted Malts, for example, what approach should you take when considering balancing these with Crystal Malt varieties to achieve colour, sweetness, and flavour?
I think we are not too worried about the source of colour as long as it fits with the desired flavour palette. Crystal varieties provide a natural sweetness in flavour as well as unfermentable sugars.
Roasted malts add some savouriness and/or astringency. These can be blended in all sorts of different ways to produce nice (or indeed unpleasant) combinations.
The key is about balance.
Q14. Does your water chemistry interact differently with Crystal and Patent Malts to influence beer flavour? Do adjust your water profile?
We tend to have a characteristically dry style of beer. As such, most of our ale recipes use gypsum, which is high in sulphates. We top this up with a very small amount of chloride to provide a slight balance, but even in traditionally chloride-heavy styles, we would often still use gypsum. For very different styles (e.g. our lager or stouts etc) we use salt additions to produce the liquor we need.
Q15. Have you experimented with different types of Roasted Malts or unusual malt varieties, and how have these experiments influenced your brewing process and beer styles?
Over the years (and well before my time at the brewery), we have played with all sorts of varieties from Crystal Rye, Crystal Wheat, Red X. They always provide a fun challenge and help us build experience in adapting and understanding our processes.
The Future of Brewing
Q16. In 2025, what trends do you see shaping the next year in the beer industry?
I think a lot of hospitality venues are still hurting. I also believe that as beer is getting more expensive, the relative difference in cost between a premium beer and a budget beer will become smaller. This means that people who want to go out will prefer to spend a little bit more for a beer that tastes a lot nicer.
I also think consumers are increasingly wanting to spend money in local businesses, especially as the relative premium for doing so is shrinking.
Pubs are closing down, and I think that trend will continue, but I am hopeful that those that are able to build a reputation for quality, locality and genuine variety will better weather the storm.
Q17. How is your brewery adapting to these trends?
We are looking to expand our list of sites, and at each one provide a diverse range of offerings, from different alcohol types, to other local breweries’ beers.
We are looking to expand the variety of lines that we have available at any time so that our pub customers have plenty of choice in what to sell.
In all of this, confidence in small breweries beer becomes more fragile. We have to keep a razor sharp eye on quality and consistency, because we understand that in tough times, one bad experience is enough to lose a valuable customer for ever.
Q18. Are there any specific (industry wide) innovations on the horizon that you are most eager to see, or be developed?
I would like to see our industry develop the framework and processes to enable us to better understand our environmental footprint and learn how to reduce the impact we have on the planet.
I would love to be in a situation where brewers are positively supporting raw materials providers in developing technologies that help us grow the materials with less damage to the planet.
Pro Tips for Homebrewing
Q19. What advice would you give to homebrewers who are looking to improve their skills and create more complex or consistently brewed beers?
Practice and experiment. Always push the boundaries of what you know. Every time you push a boundary you learn and understand a little bit more about the whole process.
I think allowing yourself to be ‘inconsistent’ in a controlled manner greatly helps to improve your understanding, and hence consistency when you want it.
Q20. Do you have a ‘go-to’ golden ratio, or malt bill, for making a particular beer style that you would encourage homebrewers to try?
I would encourage an experiment with 80% pale malt, with the other 20% split between every time of coloured malt you can get your hands on. Use proportionally more of the lighter colours. See how it affects the flavour.
Q21. If you could advise, what are some common mistakes that homebrewers should avoid?
Don’t get too bogged down in trying to control every aspect of a brew. This is impossible, arguable even with the most sophisticated equipment. Try to spend your time understanding what factors you can control, and how these factors affect your beer.
Final Thoughts…
Q22. If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one beer, or beer style, for the rest of your life, which would you choose and why?
Rauchbier – I love smoky flavours, and I believe that for 99% of the history of beer, nearly all beer had smoky notes due to how it was kilned. If its good enough for most of human history, its good enough for me on a desert island!
Q23. Where can readers find your beers, learn more about your brewery and connect with you?
I would strongly recommend a visit to Windsor to come and see our taproom. We have in depth tours on Saturdays, but our bar staff are happy to quickly show you around the brewery any time if it isn’t too busy!
You can order most of our canned beers online for delivery, and we supply a variety of pubs in London. If you go on a pub crawl I’m sure you’ll come across one of our beers.
We are proud to announce that “Yippee Pie-Yay,” our collaboration ‘Pecan Pie’ pastry stout with Hackney Church Brew Co., has been awarded the Silver medal in the “Stout – Other” category at the 2024 Untappd Community Awards.
At this year’s SIBA BeerX, 19-20 March 2025, French & Jupps are proud to share with brewers our brand new roasted malt sample station on stand 79.
Discover how East London Brewing Co. uses base malt and roasted malts to craft their award-winning beers with Head Brewer George Boustred revealing the secrets behind both flavour and innovation.
We’d love to become part of your journey and for you to become part of our story.
If you are looking to create your project using the finest malt with beautiful flavours and aromas, please get in touch,
French & Jupps Ltd, Roydon Road, Stanstead Abbotts, Herts, SG12 8HG
Registered Company No. 00165116
To learn about the journey from field to glass and more detailed explanation of the malting process click below.
Proudly delivering outstanding quality and services for centuries to come.
We pride ourselves in:
Producing the finest quality speciality malts
Providing an inspiring environment for businesses to develop and grow
Supporting the community and local youth programmes
Family owned and driven by core family values.
We are: One team, supportive, honest, respectful and care greatly about our community, local talented youth and the environment.
French & Jupps Ltd, Roydon Road, Stanstead Abbotts, Herts, SG12 8HG
