Trussing in

At the end of Jonathan’s four-year apprenticeship in 1999, a ceremony called Trussing In took place. This is a traditional ceremony, attended by four other coopers. It starts with the apprentice making a 54-gallon cask called a Hogshead. The apprentice is then put inside the cask while the other coopers close it up around him. “It felt a bit warm,” says Jonathan. Once this is done, all the debris from the brewery is tipped on top of the apprentice – shavings, beer slops, bits of metal. “Thankfully they no longer use horses or the manure would have gone in with me too,” he says. The head, or lid, is then put on, the cask tipped on its side and rolled around the yard a few times with the apprentice inside it. The cask is then righted. The apprentice gets out and is promptly sacked. He has to ask for his job back, but there are no guarantees he will get it. Jonathan did and was given a pint of beer to celebrate. Jonathan now has a new apprentice, so hopefully in four years’ time he will be on the other side of the barrel for the next Trussing In ceremony.