Beartown Brewery

Found in Cheshire in the free trade and at their own outlets: the Beartown Tap in Congleton, the AP Club in Holmes Chapel and also at the Navigation in Stockport.
Brewery visits can be booked by contacting Steve King at the Beartown Tap in Congleton as per the details in the Good Beer Guide or by sending an e-mail to steve@beartown42.freeserve.co.uk The brewery are once again looking to expand their tied estate. Further pubs are being looked at but as yet no firm news is available as to where these pubs will be.
The first of beartown's own outlets are;
The Junction - Hebdon Vale, Colyhurst. The pub is meeting all its sales targets with Blackbear and Bearskinful being the best sellers along with a choice of three other Beartown beers that are all on handpump.
Bruins - Wilmslow Road, Fallow Field, Manchester. The trade here is described as improving and much of this is due to the student population now being back at university. The pub still boasts 16 hand pumps dispensing 6 to 8 beers from the Beartown range.
The Navigation - Stockport. This pub won the CAMRA Regional Pub of The Year award for Greater Manchester and is a reflection of the hard work that licensee and staff have put into getting this pub to the standard it is today. Needless to say, sales of all the Beartown beers are doing very well.
The Beartown Tap - Congleton. This pub won the CAMRA Regional Pub of The Year Award for Merseyside, Cheshire & North Wales and again is a reflection of the effort the licensee and staff have put into making the brewery tap the place it is today. TThe pub regularly has one real cider plus one or two guest beers on along side a selection of beers from the Beartown range. Sales at the Tap still continue to grow and meet expectations.
The AP Club - Holmes Chapel. The fourth handpump that was installed to dispense a guest beer has been a success, sales of the guest have gone well. Sales of the three Beartown beers are also selling very well. Trade is still on the increase especially Friday nights and weekends.
Cheshire Ring - Hyde

Beartown have been looking at bottling some of their beers and this will happen within the next month. Sales of the bottle conditioned beer will initially be limited to within it's tied estate with a view to it being sold in supermarkets. Sales of the full range of beers from the brewery are growing very well both in the tied estate and the open market.

The brewery are looking to introduce more guest ales into their pubs on a regular basis and are currently looking for breweries to do swaps with. Any brewery that is interested should contact the head brewer, Ian Burns, on Phone 01477 537274 or Fax 01477 535439. Further information on Beartown can always be found on the brewery web site www.beartownbrewery.co.uk

Borough Arms

The first brewery in Crewe since the demise of Woolf's brewery in 1923.
All those rumours surrounding a brewery have now actually come true. Brewing commenced on the 17th March last. The first brew was appropriately named Genesis. This first brew of 72 gallons sold out in less than a week. The two barrel brewplant, ex Townhouse, has been modified to suit the premises. Brewing now takes place twice a week to keep up with the demand for these pale and well-hopped brews. Since then the most notable beers have been: Cascade 3.9%; Crewe's Inn 3.9%; Golden Hinde 4.1%; Enigma 5.9%; and also Angelina, named after a local working traction engine. Grim Reaper, a superb dark beer at 8%, was dangerously drinkable-no hint of sweetness and with a wonderful hoppy aftertaste. The Grim Reaper from the second firkin tastes even better, having had time to mature. A honey beer using genuine local honey is in the pipeline, so to speak. There is also the possibility of a fruit beer, to be served á la mode Belgique. [Via the cobra]
Alan Hinde, brewer, owner and licensee has been using a variety of Old and New World hops. Goldings, Challenger and First Gold from England. Green Bullet and Pacific Gem from New Zealand; Cascade, Chinook, Mount Hood and Simcoe from Washington State, USA. Maris Otter pale malt is the primary ingredient in all of the brews. The live yeast used in all the brews comes from a well established family brewer.
For those of you who would like to try some of the brewery's beers, check your Good Beer Guide before you travel to visit the pub and note the opening times.
Unlike some breweries, there is no theme to the 'naming of the brews'.
Of course there are always 4 or 5 guest beers from other brewers available at the bar.

Coach House

A new series of single varietal hop beers began in July with Cascade Blonde. Incredibly, the hops are used in the brewing kettle, late hops are also added, the beer is then dry hopped and yet more hops are added in the fermenting vessel!
New beers are anticipated at 6 to 8 week intervals, with Bramling Cross appearing in September.

Coach House hold the 2001 award for Champion Beer of Cheshire, with Postlethwaite. This coveted prize was won at the Macclesfield Beer Festival.

Former head brewer at Greenall Whitley, Neil Chantrell was responsible for creating such delights as Greenalls Original. When Greenalls ceased brewing in 1991 he and three other ex employees purchased some of the brewing plant that they were scrapping, and Coach House rose like a phoenix from the ashes of Greenalls Brewery.

Khean Brewing, Congleton

The Khean Brewing Co was set up by Ken Newsome, local CAMRA member and beer enthusiast using a five-barrel plant in an industrial unit off Royle Street in the centre of Congleton. The name was a combination of "Ken" and his wife's initials. Some of the beers were reviewed by our enthusiastic memebrs as follows;

Premium Bitter was a 4.4% golden beer using Maris Otter malt and a little pale crystal malt, with the distinctive bitterness from Challenger hops, that reminded one of a wheat beer.

All Rounder, a 3.9% standard bitter. Hoppier than the bitter, very clear, pale gold and good.

Leg Spinner a 4.4% ABV with quite a bitter taste to it, again, it's a light straw coloured beer, reminiscent of a few Cotleigh beers.

Seamer was a 4.5% chestnut malty bitter.

Jingle Bails, a winter ale.

Khean Brewing began to bottle its beers, starting with the 4.2% Caught Behind stout. It was bottle conditioned, too. I was able to try some at a Holly Tree Farm tasting event where it was very well received. Beartown Off Licence on the Bromley Farm estate in Congleton were selling Jingle Bails and Caught Behind.

Khean Brewing ceased operating in September 2004, with the plant, the recipes, the established outlets and Ken himself (as consultant) all passing to the newly-formed Woodlands Brewing Company of Wrenbury. As you can see, the beer names were all charmingly connected with our national summer game. Given our boys' triumph over the Aussies this year, it is a pity Ken was never able to produce a smoked beer and call it The Ashes.

Northern puts the Soul back into Halton's Brewing Heritage
Halton is believed to have lost its last "proper" brewery way back in 1906 when Thomas Jones's Navigation Brewery ceased brewing. This was located at the Navigation pub - now owned by Wolverhampton and Dudley following their takeover of Marstons.
It wasn't until 1973 that Bass built a "mega-keggery" at Preston Brook following their decision to concentrate their brewing operations on a few massive keg breweries. This managed to survive 18 years before rationalisation caught up with it. Since then, Halton has managed to miss out on the microbrewery revolution … until now.

Northern Brewing Ltd has been set up in the Runcorn Old Town close to the station. Run by Colin Stubbs, the brewery produced its first beer in December. The plant has a capacity of 5 barrels and was formerly used by the now defunct Orchard Brewery of Barnsley.
There will be two ranges - a "Northern Soul" (one of Colin's interests) themed range for the guest beer market and a more traditional range (mild, bitter, best bitter etc) aimed at regular accounts and sold under the Stubbs banner. Colin's preference is for light, hoppy and bitter beers so expect these characteristics to be a trademark of his beers. He also has access to Orchard recipes and expects to revive at least one of these.
Colin was keen to ensure the product is right before selling it into trade so we can't provide a list of outlets yet - however, you can expect to see the beers in the usual free trade outlets. We would be happy to hear of sightings of the beers from this exciting new venture.

We hear that the two latest beers are Soul Rider (4%) and Twist & Stout. This latter was brewed as a special but is expected to become a regular. The operation was expected to move to Blakemere Craft Centre in October 2005.

Paradise Brewery

Now in the sole ownership of John Wood, brewing has mover, we believe, to the Three Rivers site in Stockport. We understand much of the production is in bottled format, being sold at farmers' markets under the Old Creamery label. Beers are Old Creamery Mild (3.6%), Farmer's Favourite (4%), Dabbers (5%) and Nantwich Ale (5.6%).

Sarah's Hop House, Warrington
Sarah's Hophouse Brewery, 131 High Street, Golborne, Warrington WA3 3TG 01942 728202

Sarah's Hophouse has apparently closed. The premises were up for sale, but apparently, not the brewery plant. We understood that production was planned to continue elsewhere, and we await further news.

Spitting Feathers
This operation began in June 2005, with the beers appearing in pubs in Chester, comprising Thirst Quencher (3.9%), Special Ale (4.2%), Old Wavertonian (4.4%) a stout and Basket Case, a winter ale at 4.8%. Sightings have included Old Harker's Arms, Telford's Warehouse, the Plough at Christleton, and the Nag's Head at Lavister. Contact details are Telephone 01244 332052, website www.spittingfeathers.org or E-mail info@spittingfeathers.org

Station House

A new operation in Ellesmere Port.

0151-373-5422, website www.stationhousebrewery.co.uk or Email zemroch@clara.co.uk

Storm Brewing
Owners and brewers Hugh Thompson and Dave Stebbings, are busy in their new premises in Macclesfield. Their original site was always cramped. However the success they had with their brews- first Ale Force, still a local favourite, then Windgather and Storm Damage- meant a move became necessary. The chosen building, nestling below the Silk Road flyover, was once the Mechanic’s Arms pub. It had been empty for some time and needs quite a bit of work to bring it up to where they would like it- work that they are largely doing themselves. They are continuing to brew while work goes on and are already appreciating the increased space- particularly having ample room for storage and a separate fermenting room. Of the beers, Silk of Amnesia, Windgather and Bitter Experience all doing well. The long term future is that the malt room is to be developed as a hospitality room.

Macclesfield and East Cheshire CAMRA paid a visit to the brewery. Housed in a former pub, the Mechanics Arms, which closed in 1937, the building has lots of potential for expansion. Hugh & Dave produce an impressive portfolio of traditional beers with Ale Force (1040) being the biggest seller. The range also extends to Beth's Bitter (1035), Best Bollington (1036), Desert Storm (1038), Bitter Experience (1038), Windgather (1042) Storm Damage (1045) and Silk of Amnesia (1045).
Brewery Cat, Dexter was afforded much attention, as was the Windgather we were able to sample, and some bottle conditioned Storm Damage. Dave reports that the Chancellor's cut in beer duty for small brewers proved highly beneficial, saving £10 a cask and releasing funds for both brewery development and more aggressive pricing.

Two new fermenting vessels are now on stream and have increased brewing capacity to 15 barrels a week. A new beer, 'Hurricane Hubert' commemorates the full time start of Hugh Thompson. At 4.5% it is darker in colour and uses only Golding hops. This is the first time that Storm have used Goldings. A new summer beer will be lighter, and is likely to be called "Summer Daze".
Bottling of Storm's real ale has begun, by Leek Brewery, with the first batch being Silk of Amnesia. Dave and Hugh would be happy to hear of outlets for their bottled range.

The AB150 brew has proved very successful as did the Xmas special, "Looks like rain, Dear". The range of bottle-conditioned beers are all accredited by CAMRA as real ale in a bottle and Storm has joined the labelling scheme.

Hot news;

Storm Brewing, beat off 85 contenders to secure a gold award at this year's Accrington Beer Festival.

Says owner Hugh Thompson, 'I was quite taken by surprise as I was not aware that we had entered any beer for the festival. We do however deal with a number of distributors and our beers can end up anywhere in the country. When I found out that it was 'Bosley Cloud' that had won I was particularly pleased as this has proved to be one of our most popular beers out of the dozen that we now have on offer.'

With four awards now under their belt, Storm Brewing brewed a special ale for The Bollington Festival that was available in both draught and bottle conditioned versions at festival events and in local pubs and off-licences.

Woodlands Brewing Company

Woodlands Brewing Company was set up in Wrenbury (close to the former Paradise Brewery) by John Skeaping.
Using the brewing plant acquired from Congleton's Khean Brewing, John originally kept the range of Khean beers, before developing a new beer range, beginning with Woodlands Bitter. When this was first test-brewed it proved so popular that one pub sold a nine gallon cask in two hours!

John bought Woodlands Farm near Wrenbury a year and a half ago and discovered a spring in a peat field. Tests revealed that the water was rich in minerals and once John had been put in touch with Ken, trial brews were made. Woodlands Bitter is said to have some of the qualities of Bass, a beer that John used to take great care of in the cellar when he ran a free house.

Khean's founder, Ken Newsome has been acting as a consultant to the new operation. Ken decided to close down his one-man operation in Congleton. Although it had been profitable and had produced some delightful beers, the workload was very high for one person.

Woodlands Brewing take great care to look after all the old Khean Brewing outlets but plans to expand the operation. Output is likely to double.

More information on the beer range and a history of the operation can be found on their website. Cases of their real ales in bottle can be ordered on-line. Woodlands Brewery Company can also be reached by E-mail woodlandsbrewery@aol.com or by telephoning 01270-780730.

Woodlands Brewing are expanding their range of Cheshire-brewed real ales. It now includes the following;

The beers may be found at various times at some of the following pubs;

Woodlands have had enormous success with Midnight Stout and so far there are three pubs who have taken this in place of Guinness. It was tasted at the Congleton Leisure Centre Beer Festival and was superb

Champion Beer of Cheshire

The competition was held on Friday 23rd Sept 2005 at Nantwich Beer Festival

Gold : Weetwood Oasthouse Gold
Silver : Borough Arms Angelina
Bronze : Woodlands Midnight Stout

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No mention of micro-brewers could be made without reference to the last two Budgets, and the introduction of a new sliding scale of beer duty. The Chancellor originally imparted more spin than Muttiah Muralitharan in suggesting that we would all be paying 14p a pint less in our village pubs in time for the World Cup. The reality is very different. Little or none of this duty savinghas been passed on to the drinker. All it has done is level up the playing field a little. Bigger brewers have economies of scale, and can undercut the little man. So now our microbrewers and family-owned regional brewers are now able to sell a bit more competitively, invest in new equipment, maybe acquire the odd pub or two as regular outlets and perhaps employ more staff. Good luck to them.
If only Gordon would consider an across-the-board reduction in duty, to put a stop to cross-Channel smuggling!

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What goes around comes around ….
10 years ago life was simple. We had Greenalls and Allied (Tetleys) with a smattering of other nationals,
regionals and free trade outlets. This is how it had been for many a long year, bar some improved choice due to the odd pub being sold off.
However, the infamous "Beer Orders" put paid to this stability. While, initially, some relief was provided by guest beers, it soon became apparent that the pressure was on for brewers to divest themselves of their tied estate or give up brewing altogether.
Greenalls were the first to make a move, getting out of brewing in 1991 to concentrate on their pub estate. As traditional tenancies moved over to long-term leases, they developed the pub franchise concept. Eventually, in 1998, this business was floated off as a separate company, Inn Partnership financed by Japanese bank Nomura.
In 1999, Allied decided to concentrate on its brewing operation Carlsberg-Tetley and sell its pubs to Punch. Punch had been formed some years earlier to purchase the Bass tenancies and was also financed by Nomura.
By 2001, Greenalls lost the plot altogether and sold the managed pubs to the last national brewery and pub owner, Scottish and Newcastle.
These ownership changes did have some advantage as the new owners "churned" their estates occasionally
disposing of pubs to independent brewers rather than other PubCos.
In 2002, Inn Partnership sold out to Pubmaster - a group formed out of the Brent Walker empire which then owned Camerons and Tolly Cobbold. They subsequently gained a presence in our area through their takeover of the Vaux estate.
The final chapter of this saga was played out at the end of 2003. Scottish and Newcastle finally sold its pubs and concentrate on what it does best; brewing(!) The pubs were sold to Spirit - a group which just happened to be formed by the disposal of Punch's managed estate ! Shortly after Punch agreed terms to takeover Pubmaster.
So Punch now hold the bulk of Greenalls and Allied's tenanted pubs and Spirit have the managed ones !
Confused? You will be!
So where do we stand now ? From an area dominated by Allied and Greenalls, we now have one dominated by Punch and its sibling Spirit.
Are we better off ? I suppose that depends as ever as to what has happed to your local. There are fewer Regional brewers around. The PubCos continue to peddle the inferior wares of the international brewers - primarily
ScottishCourage, Carlsberg-Tetley, Coors and Interbrew. Regional brewery beers from across the country tend to be widely available on the PubCo's guest lists and micro-brewers continue to struggle in a restricted market.
Despite the rationalisation of pub ownership, the situation is far from stable with estates continuing to be "churned", bigger PubCos swallowing smaller ones and also attempting to grab successful free trade outlets. Stability has gone and choice is as much under threat as ever. CAMRA's job has become harder than ever.