Description

The Dunham Massey Brewing Company is a small family owned business. A brewery is located on the land of the National Trust in the town of Dunham Massey. It was at the end of 2006 when chief brewer John Costello decided to open his own brewery. He had toyed with the idea about ten years ago when Tetley Walker was closed in Warrington. John had worked at Tetley's for many years and was very passionate about beer, especially real beer, but due to the circumstances, he could not put his idea for a small craft brewery into action. However, things have recently developed that have enabled John to realize his dream. After submitting several requests for vacant premises to set up the brewery, the National Trust suggested using a disused barn behind the Big Tree Farm at Dunham Massey. The barn had not been used for seven years and was in poor shape, but John could see the potential. Just down the road from the barn is Little Heath Farm, and one of the major waste products in brewing beer is grain. Ironically, used grain is an ideal food source for cattle. The second major waste product is hops, an ideal fertilizer. So it made perfect sense to turn the barn into a brewery, and the Dunham Massey Brewing Company was born. On August 1, 2007, John officially took over the premises and, together with the National Trust and several family members, embarked on the daunting task of turning the barn into a brewery. It was hard work, but as you can see, he did the work. John was a perfectionist when it came to brewing. Before he started brewing, he had made many attempts. In October 2007, he brewed his first batch of Big Tree Bitter (3.9%) and Deer Beer (4.5%). And it was not long before they were combined with Dunham Massey's other regular beer, Stamford Bitter (4.2%), and the seasonal beer Dunham Massey Winter Warmer (6.6%). The special thing about Dunham Massey is that it is as traditional as possible. All ingredients are English and sourced from as local as possible. In fact, the only things that get into the beer are water, malt, hops and yeast. All sugars are made in an old-fashioned way by being extracted from the malt itself. Our philosophy is to use the best English malt and hops with no added sugar to brew traditional Northwestern quality beer.