A BREWERY owner forced to give up his dream job due to a devastating brain illness which saw huge chunks of his memory all-but wiped is back in business.
James Taylor founded the Two Roses brewery at Darton but was forced to stop brewing and ultimately sell the business after suffering limbic encephalitis - a condition where the body’s own antibodies attack part of the brain.
It left James unable to think clearly, and he suffers chaotic and unpredictable memory loss to the extent he even believed his father was still alive years after his death.
The illness struck him just weeks before he was due to open Arcade Ale House in the town centre which was intended as a micro pub to sell beer from his brewery. He was forced to give up brewing and sold the business, but now he is managing it better he has returned to it as a 50 per cent shareholder.
And now he is preparing to work with the brewers of the former Wentworth Brewery to recreate the popular Full Malty beer in time for the Rotherham Beer Festival in March.
“It was first brewed in tribute to the film The Full Monty,” said James, 61, of Staincross Common.
“We’re going to do a limited run of five barrels - 1,440 pints.
“It’s great to be brewing again. It’s like my baby and thankfully the chap I sold Two Roses to could clearly see I didn’t want to let go of it altogether.
“At the time I was in a very bad place mentally and physically, so I just couldn’t go on.
“It can be pretty bad, and pretty distressing at times.”
James is learning to live with the effects of the condition and the tricks his memory plays on him. He often gets very tired, but he decided the best thing to do was get back to what he enjoys.
“That means brewing beer,” he said. “I just want to get on with the things I enjoy doing as much as I can.”
