Breweries of Cumbria

Latest....Geltsdale Brewery - Brampton - Started up in November 2006. Two new brew pubs in operation :Strands - Nether Wasdale; Farmers Arms - Newton (Dalton in Furness) Still under construction/awaiting planning approval; Blackbeck Hotel - Gosforth (brew pub) and Whitehaven Brewing Co - Ennerdale There are currently some 20+ breweries producing excellent cask conditioned beers within Cumbria. More details on some of the brewers is given below. Barngates Brewery, The Drunken Duck, Barngates, Ambleside Beckstones Brewery, Broughton in Furness Bitter End Brew pub, Cockermouth Coniston Brewery, Coniston Dent Brewery, Cowgill, Dent Derwent Brewery, Silloth Foxfield Brewery, Prince of Wales, Foxfield Great Gable Brewery, The Wasdale Head Inn, Wasdale Hawkshead Brewery, Hawkshead Hesket Newmarket Brewery, Hesket Newmarket Jennings Brothers PLC, Castle Brewery, Cockermouth Loweswater Brewery, The Kirkstile Inn, Loweswater Tirril Brewery, Brougham Ulverston Brewery: www.ulverstonbrewingcompany.co.uk Yates Brewery, Westnewton Abraham Thompson's Brewery, Barrow Ulverston Brewing Co Hardknott Brewery (Woolpack Inn, Boot) Keswick Brewery: The Keswick Brewing Company was established by Phil and Sue Harrison during Spring 2006. The brewery is located on the site of a brewery which closed in 1897, at The Old Brewery on Brewery Lane in Keswick. Brewery Tours are available. Please ring to find out opening times or to book a tour. Cumbrian Legendary Ales, Hawkshead Hawkshead Brewery second site at Staveley Watermill Brewing Company, Ings. Additionally, breweries are under construction at : Black Beck Hotel, Beckermet (due to start-up in July) Geltsdale Brewery, Brampton (due to start up in the Autumn) Also, we have a Cider Maker producing in Cumbria : Cockrobin Cider, Abbeytown.   Jennings Drawing its water from a well below Cockermouth Castle, Jennings are one of the best small breweries in Britain according to CAMRA. They now have revamped their brewery shop and visit centre. This year (1999) their Cocker Hoop won the bronze award for Best Bitter at the Great British Beer Festival. Jennings, taken over by Wolverhampton and Dudley in 2006 have their own web site which can be found at: Jenningsbrewery.co.uk Yates Cumbria's original micro-brewery set up in 1986 by the then brewer at Jennings. Graeme and Caroline Baxter, from County Durham, recently took over as the new owners of the award-winning Yates brewery at Ghyll Farm, Westnewton, near Aspatria. And the couple have launched a new beer to mark their arrival as successors to brewery founders Peter and Carole Yates. But real ale enthusiasts are assured there will be no change to Yates' two traditional bitters, which are regarded as flagship brews by CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. he brewery's capacity of 34 barrels a week. These are mostly distributed to free houses. Yates Bitter is 3.7ABV, Yates XB is 4.5% and Yates Premium is 5.2% They also produce a malty US style No3 at 4.2% and dark Best Cellar at 5.9%. Barngates brewery near Ambleside produces the rich amd tasty Cracker Ale with an ABV of 3.9%. Bitter End Brew-pub in Cockermouth. Coniston Brewing Co's Bluebird bitter , declared overall Champion Beer of Britain by CAMRA. Coniston's Old Man Ale is 4.4%ABV. Eskdale The brewery, known as Hardknott Brewery, started brewing in December 2005. The first beers being available by New Years Eve. We use a 2 barrel brew length plant. We currently brew 2 regular brews - Woolpacker, a golden brown session ale at 3.8% and Tenacity - a deap ruby red malty ale at around 5%. The plant has been installed in the old bunkhouse at the Woolpack Inn. There is much more information on the web site www.woolpack.co.uk Hesket Newmarket brewery Blencathra Bitter and Pigs Might Fly are among beers brewed at Hesket Newmarket brewery. The village's 240 residents use 'crowns' to pay for their beer. Kim Matthews, landlord of the Crown public house with help from Voluntary Action Cumbria clubbed together and raised £58,000 to ensure continuation of business started 13 year earlier by retired teachers Liz and Jim Fearnley . Wasdale The Wasdale Head Inn now have a micro-brewery that will be brewing such local delights as Great Gable beer and Wasd Ale and Eskd Ale. Although the area had numerous local breweries in the Victorian era, there have been none for many years. And mine host at Wasdale Head Hotel, Howard Christie says At the busy weekend Wasdale Fest when we had hundreds of visitors we were showing them our new micro-brewery that should go into production this autumn.

There are four CAMRA Branches covering Cumbria, namely West Cumbria and Western Lakes, Westmorland, Furness and Solway. Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)

In 2005 The four Cumbria branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) have produced the first comprehensive guide to real ale pubs in the county for over 12 years.

This pocket sized Cumbria Real Ale Guide (CRAG) is a must for beer lovers or indeed for anyone visiting the Lake District who wants to know where to get a pint of real ale. It contains location details and brief descriptions of 565 pubs, hotels, bars and clubs, as well as handy town maps and a pull-out map of Cumbria.

Editor Jim Chapple thinks that beer buffs will seek out the guide not least for its section on the breweries of Cumbria, complete with tasting notes of each of their regular beers. 'This is the first time so much information has been collected together in one publication' he says. 'The beer choice is now better than it has ever been, with more than 70 different beers being regularly brewed in Cumbria.'

When the last Cumbrian guide was produced in 1993 there were just five breweries in the county. The new guide lists sixteen breweries, ranging from the tiniest microbrewery Abraham Thompson's in Barrow, and the yet to be opened Ings Mill brewery at the Watermill, through to our historic regional brewery Jennings of Cockermouth. Jim points out that 40% of real ale pubs in Cumbria, including many free houses, offer one or more Jennings beers on a regular basis. For further information contact:

Jim Chapple, CRAG editor, CAMRA West Cumbria 01900 827005
Alan Risdon, Branch Contact, CAMRA Westmorland 01539 433912
Phil Tuer, Pubs Liaison Officer, CAMRA Solway 01228 522118
Kate Tomlinson, Branch Contact CAMRA Furness 01229 833773
Ros Berry, Press Officer, CAMRA West Cumbria 01900 825614
Further details of the Cumbria Real Ale Guide can be found on the West Cumbria CAMRA website www.westcumbriacamra.org.uk and future changes to pub listings will also be displayed here.

Appropriately named 'Beer is My Life' web site! Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) “Ministere de la Biere” world directory for the professionals and amateurs of beer:www.ministeredelabiere.com Keswick Beer Festival web site.