We’re on a mission to grow Beartown by challenging ourselves and our community to dream big. It’s that simple. However It takes decades of dedication to truly understand that progress can’t be rushed. We understand that time doesn’t guarantee anything but a journey to be shared and it’s exactly that which inspires us.
Beartown means more than a pint of beer, it’s a community of drinkers that identify with a cause to give back to their roots. A spirited belief in the power of persistence, creativity and that a pint tastes best when earned. We have a vision to spread our ethos, furthering the growing community of Beartowners and all whilst making great tasting craft beers that can be enjoyed by generations.
Regardless of beer style or vessel, the one thing that runs through the core of all our beers, is what we Beartowners pride ourselves on, quality craftsmanship and flavours… It’s that simple. If you’re in it for the long haul, new blood comes, and fresh ideas, both of which we love to invest in.
We then use our team’s passion, skills and free thinking, to innovate and grow with the people’s demands, this opens the doors to new beer styles, and flavours, which are the foundations to any award winning beer. Time generates perfection through repetition, and having made our beers for decades, we think we’re pretty close now.
We’re proud of the fact that our people are among the most committed and passionate people you’ll find in craft beer.
Like a phoenix from the ashes, our brewery is born again and all led by the passion we have for our flagship beer, Inception.
New kit, new blood, new ideas, new passion, new branding, and a whole load of new beers coming out. - Loads of ambition and blank pages to write.
The Wonky pear was born, the Lion and the Beartown tap were shifting tonnes of beer, and the brewery was smashing its sales budget, with plenty of wind in the sales, Beartown brewery began to manoeuvre for an upscaling and modernising of kit…. Things were looking pretty exciting… and then Covid came along.
As did all breweries we pivoted, and in doing so we found the love of our local community, we had been searching far afield for it in the bright lights of the cities, but there was a lot of love waiting for us on our own doorstep, it was with this support and love that gave us the confidence to make the move and upscale our kit as we came out of lock down.
Mannings swiftly outgrew their 3 barrel kit, and started contract brewing with Beartown, - enabling 80 firkins to come off a brew instead of 12 but for the same amount of work. Obviously the cogs started spinning, one thing led to another, and after a year of working together from the Bromley house site, a deal was agreed, and the 2 business’ became one.
Manning brewers was born, a move up the food chain, for some, a step around retirement for others, and a step into a new exciting world for all. A trip down to Ashford in Kent, to buy some old milk tanks, and a couple of recipes ( the recipes were never given) - lead to a good few months of some extremely average brown beer, being pedalled through the White lion - tell me the last time you bought 5 pints for £10. - But we've all gotta start somewhere right.
The Mannings took on the tenureship of their first pub, the White Lion, in little old Congleton, the pub was heavily tied, with only one handpull free of tie, and you can guess what lived here, Beartown brewery became a mainstay on the bar. The price difference between a tied product and a list price product hadn’t gone unnoticed.
Beartown brewery was founded by Ian Burns, a home brewer at the time, with no books, apps, or youtube videos on how to brew, just a load of passion for beer, the message coming from his neighbours who attended the “garage pub” was clear, - your making something worth paying for. Against the run of play at that time, with no beer duty relief, (Beartown later campaigned for that in 2003) and only the big boys to play with, Beartown Brewery was born.
It probably starts all the way back here, when a bunch of party animals in Congleton decided to sell our bible to buy a bear, ensuring that we would have some good entertainment at the party. - or so the story goes.
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This project will create additional Jobs at Beartown Brewery as a result of increased brewing capacity. It is part funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
