Home Brewed Beers & Stouts

Cyril John James Berry was one of Britain’s leading amateur winemakers, co-founder of the first Winemaker’s Circle, founder Chairman of the National Association of Winemakers and Brewers and Editor-Publisher of the monthly magazine The Amateur Winemaker which he ran for 27 years.

After World War II, when sugar came off rationing, Cyril co-founded the first Winemaker’s Circle in Andover, which still flourishes today. Then Cheltenham, Bournemouth, Harrow and Hertford Circles sprang to life and gradually the bubbles of wine spread all over the UK. Clubs learnt about each others’ events through a little magazine The Amateur Winemaker which Cyril and his wife Peggy produced in the upstairs bedroom of their house in Andover. This was for sale to Clubs at 6 pence a copy.

Cyril had an ebullient personality and energy which not only embraced his family and social life but also gave him the courage at a mature age to give up his safe, professional life as Editor of a local Andover paper in order to concentrate on producing The Amateur Winemaker magazine on a national scale. He wrote several best-selling books on winemaking and home brewing, upon which he was an acknowledged expert for forty years, appearing frequently on television and always in demand as a lecturer and wine judge.

He lived in Andover, Hampshire, England and in Malaga, Spain where he died in 2002.