The MAG Story Few people know that the famous brew known fondly to the locals as 'Mountain Wine' was in fact from a brewery which has for centuries been hidden underground in one of the secret tunnel locations underneath Reading. The building you are currently in, started out as the Butler & Sons brewery in 1830 and the pub was originally called the 'Bakers Arms' which later became 'The Butler' in 1978 when Fullers took over the pub. The buildings of the pub have changed use many times over the years but it was in the 1970's, when the annex you are currently standing in was an off-license, that a very interesting and well covered up discovery was made. While being refurbished, a hidden trapdoor was discovered which lead down dark passageways under Reading that had not been used for centuries. Barrels and barrels of hundreds of year old brew was found, bottled, and then sold under the name of 'British Rich White Wine' under the branding of 'Old Reading Abbey'. The drink was presumed to have been left there by monks after Reading Abbey was torn down. The pub did not advertise where the drink actually came from for fear of a backlash from health officials but they had tested the brew thoroughly before selling it to the public and knew the drink was far too good to be thrown away or kept in a backroom. The drink has always been renowned for its highly intoxicating effects. It was not long before it was noticed that this incredibly old aged wine seemed to affect certain people in strange but hugely positive ways. In addition to its famously strong inebriating properties, the drink also had extraordinary revitalizing effects which aided concentration and helped against fatigue for up to a week after the substance was consumed. In addition to these factors the drink also appeared to have incredible age-reducing properties. Soon enough it was discovered that bizarrely, the only people who appeared to be affected by these extra 'magical' properties were or had all been motorcyclists. It was not long after this discovery was made that the off-license abruptly closed down and all staff at the pub refused to admit any knowledge of these extra properties that this drink, fondly referred to as 'Mountain Wine', supposedly had. Needless to say the wine also stopped being served at the bar. News and rumors of the bizarre effects were suppressed successfully and no-one has heard anything more of this until now. It can now be revealed that a group of bikers approached the Butler Pub not long after the link with motorcyclists was discovered in the 70’s and they made a deal with the Butler pub before it closed down the off-license. The bikers bought out the remaining stock of the magic brew before it ran out and paid the bar staff and owners to keep the whole episode a secret. After the off-license closed down the building was not used for many years until 2007 when a motorcycle group known as MAG (the Motorcycle Action Group) came and revitalized the building to use as a meeting place. No-one, including the new owners of the pub, made any connection between the building and the MAG group as the whole bizarre episode had blown over decades ago and no-one had spoken of it since. We now know that the success of the MAG group in their political actions owes largely to the secret store of wine that they have been consuming regularly since meetings began in this very building. Most of the member’s, who by now have been using the substance for a few years, are in fact 20-30 years older than they appear. After 2 years of heavy use by the ever expanding society, the supply of magical wine has finally run dry. The concerned bikers, anxious not to lose their precious and delicious nectar are in the process of experimenting with distilling processors in an attempt to recreate the magical properties of their 'Mountain Wine'. The creation you see before you is a system which can be likened to the Moonshining process with a secret combination of chemicals, herbs being added to the usual ‘mash’. This is then heated in the metal gas chamber in the middle of the construction, fed through pipes down into a cooling chamber at the back and then pumped up through various filters, radiated with microwaves and UV to finally produce the substance you can find coming from the tube wrapped round the UV light. Thus far the bikers have been unable to fully recreate their much desired brew but experiments continue... Mountain Wine One of the original bottles, with label, of ‘British Rich White Wine’ which was more commonly known as ‘Mountain Wine’.