Beartown Brewery, based in Congleton, has officially broken ground on its new brewery, as the business invests further in new kit and continues to upscale its offering across 2022.
The new brewery, set to open in late spring, will offer four times the capacity of the original Beartown brewery, which opened in 1994, with the ability to continue adding to their fermenter farm and produce eight times more capacity,
Alongside capacity expansion, Beartown Brewery has invested in upgrading its original kit to make way for some big hitting flavour profiles in the next six months. The new kit will also allow Beartown to offer contract brewing to smaller brewers without the skills or capacity of the established brand.
This will be explored through the introduction of the ‘Dirty Dozen’, seeing 12 limited-edition beers over 12 months, a brewers indulgence allowing the head brewer to entertain his curiosities and interests, with beers ranging from no/low NEIPA’s to 12% impys.
With the craft market still in a strong growth, 13% year on year, Beartown Brewery looks to firmly put itself on the keg map, with the addition of a keg machine and closed top Uni tanks, the breweries focus, can be placed in cultivating a place on the craft beer market.
Speaking on the brewery expansion, Joseph Manning, managing director of Beartown Brewery said: “2021 saw us us achieve record sales, higher than pre-pandemic, something which really affirmed that now was the right time to expand the brewery, investing in new kit and giving us the opportunity to grow the Beartown brand.
“We are keen to grow our keg offering, as kegs have become increasingly popular on the market. Pre-covid our business was 95% core cask to the trade and now we have a strong consumer bottle and can customer base and have seen keg take off with our on-trade customers in a big way throughout 2021.”
“This new brewery is a long time in the making and testament to how far we’ve come, but also how far we want to go, with increased operations and opportunities.”
Alongside capacity and keg expansion, the new brewery will also offer a consumer focused experience, with a stunning tap room featuring floor to ceiling glass windows with panoramic views of the brewery and sampling opportunities.
Looking to bring the brand to new audiences, Beartown also has a series of events planned including Congleton Unplugged, an acoustic music festival, plus a series of own-brand beer festivals.
With the opening of the new brewery, Beartown will be looking to expand with a series of new hires, alongside identifying new sites for Beartown pubs and looking to bring their canning machine online.
The Beartown Brewery story began in 1632, when Congleton, a town in Cheshire, sold its bible to buy a Bear. From that day forward Congleton was given a new name, Beartown
Beartown Brewery was officially born in 1994, blossoming in a world of cask beer – the pinnacle of craft brewing and has over the decades added bottles, cans and kegs to the range. Regardless of beer style or vessel, the one thing that runs through the core of all Beartown Brewery beers, is quality craftsmanship and flavours.
The business which is owned by the Manning family, is committed to remaining a sustainable brewery and as they expand the site, the Manning’s are looking at new ways to be as sustainable as possible.
Read more of the latest developments in our new edition: January – February 2022 Issue Form – Show Home Magazine (yourshow-home.com)
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Roshini Bains,
Editor, Showhome Magazine
Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823 922
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