lichfieldbrewery

Welcome to Lichfield Brewery's Web Site

last updated: Tuesday, February 28, 2006

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Lichfield Brewery was set up over 10 years ago by two CAMRA enthusiasts who felt the need to bring back brewing to the Staffordshire city after a break of 60 years. Pictured below is the old Lichfield Brewery building in Upper St. John street.

The first brew was "Inspired" - still going strong, and the second, a few months later was "Xpired" that has, well, unfortunately expired.

Brewing started in this charming building................................ (No, the windows aren't boarded up, they're vertical blinds)

Seen here is Malcolm - one of the founders - also still going strong - with four-legged helper.

A few years ago, the brewery moved to the back of the John Thompson Inn in Ingleby, Derbyshire (below) where they shared premises, but not vessels or recipes, with Lloyds Country Beers. The new premises were even more picturesque than their original home!

These days, over 200 outlets are supplied, both directly or through agencies.

Our rolling portfolio usually consists of 6 beers with varying strengths and characteristics.

Our Spring price list comprises Spring Barley, Uprising, Resurrection, St. Chad, Steeplejack and Cavalier.

Hopefully, these are the beers you are most likely to see from March.

Our regular beer portfolio

What defines a regular beer? Is it one that is brewed all year round? Is it one that comes round regularly, like the seasons, but maybe only once a year? Does anybody really care? Why all the questions?

For the purposes of this section, "Regular beers" includes all year round offerings plus brews that, although seasonal, crop up on a regular basis - if that makes sense. These are in no particular order.

Steeplejack Premium Bitter 4.5% ABV	This is our flagship brew that has been around a long time. Steeplejack is pale brown, hoppy, fruity and aromatic.
Musketeer 4.6% ABV	Musketeer is a dry, smooth, mellow full flavoured amber ale.
Inspired 4.0% ABV Overdraught 3.8% ABV	This is a crisp, fruity, clean-tasting beer that, at 4% has hardly changed since it was introduced as our very first beer 10 years ago. A light and hoppy beer - credit where it's due!
Spring Barley 3.9% ABV	Pale and Fruity. Malty and more-ish.
M.T.Pocket. 3.9% ABV	A post-christmas brew that is light on the pocket, but heavy on taste.
Frostbite 4.7% ABV	A pale, hoppy, aromatic beer with a bite.
Steeplechase 3.7% ABV Resurrection 4.3% ABV	This is a regular Summer brew that is light and fragrant. Steeplechase is an ideal session beer. Our regular spring beer is pale, aromatic, refreshing and superbly balanced.
Steeplechase 3.7% ABV Resurrection 4.3% ABV

Our Special brews

This section lists special brews which you won't see that often. They may be brewed for special one-off occasions or they may prove so unpopular that they are never seen again!

Cavalier 4.7% ABV Staffordshire Bull 4.4% ABV	Pale, hoppy, fruity and flamboyant! . A beer to get your teeth in to!
Sundance 4.2% ABV Long Hop 4.2% ABV	Just what you want after a long hot day -let's go to the hop! A summer brew that is long on hops - a perfect delivery!
Sundance 4.2% ABV Long Hop 4.2% ABV
Uprising 4.1% ABV	Isn't it time you had one?
St. Chad 4.4% ABV	Hoppy and refreshing - a classic bitter for Spring. Named after a former Bishop of Lichfield.
Doctor Sam 4.1% ABV Chill Out 4.2% ABV	Drink to Lichfield's most famous son, Dr Samuel Johnson - a self-confessed beer lover who we hope would have enjoyed our medication! A golden, well balanced brew to brighten up those winter blues.

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Outlets

Although based in Lichfield and traditionally serving that area of the West Midlands, Lichfield Brewery has been expanding its customer base and you can now find our beer in other parts of the country.

We are also concentrated in Manchester and the North West and the South East , but our beer can pop up just about anywhere where the landlord, he say "yes"! (If you're a landlord/landlady who wants to say "yes", please get in touch!)

Below are listed some of the outlets that have had a delivery in the last month, so there is a good chance you may catch sight of one of our pump-clips behind the bar. If at first you don't succeed, well you've got another excuse to call back later. These landlords and ladies show impeccable taste, so you should find something there to satisfy you!

Some of the outlets have their own web site so click on the link if you see one.

Midlands
Lincolnshire			River Don Tavern, Eastoft
Leicestershire			King William IV, Market Bosworth
			Red Lion Hotel, Market Bosworth
Nottinghamshire			Globe, Nottingham
			Horse & Groom, Linby Market Hotel, Retford Old Coach House, Southwell

Shropshire			Crown Inn, Oakengates, Telford

Staffordshire			Tommy Sykes, Burton
			Bluebell, Kidsgrove
			Queen's Head, Lichfield
			Shoulder of Mutton, Lichfield
			Swan with two Necks, Longdon
West Midlands			Waterfall, Blackheath
			Fountain, Lower Gornal Jolly Crispin, Upper Gornal
Herefordshire			Lichfield Vaults, Hereford
Worcestershire			Three Kings, Hanley Castle
			Nag's Head, Great Malvern Farmers Arms, Birtsmorton White Lion Hotel, Upton-upon-Severn Swan with two Nicks, Worcester
Warwickshire			Cape of Good Hope, Warwick
			Old 4d Shop Hotel, Warwick


South East
Bedfordshire			Tudor Oaks, Astwick Engineers Arms, Henlow
Buckinghamshire			White Horse, Hedgerley
			White Hart, Sherington
			Cock Inn, Wing
Cambridgeshire			NCI Club, Cambridge
			Kingston Arms, Cambridge
Essex			Three Horeshoes, Duton Hill
			White Hart, Margaretting Tye
			Kings Head, Pebmarsh
			White Horse, Ridgewell
			Woolpack, Witham

Hampshire			Red Lion, Aldershot
Hertfordshire			Pappilon, Stapleford
			Our Mutual Friend, Stevenage

Kent			Dog & Bone, Gillingham
			Rising Sun, Kemsing
London			We'll be back


Surrey			Crossways Inn, Churt

			Royal Oak, Wood Street
Sussex			Gardeners Arms, Lewes
			Stanley Arms, Portslade

			Red Lion, Shoreham Buckingham Arms, Shoreham
			Dripping Spring, St Leonards
			Maypole, Yapton
South West
Bristol
Gloucestershire			New Inn, Gloucester
Somerset
North West
Cheshire			Mill Hotel, Chester
Cumbria
Lancashire			Derby Arms, Aughton
			Eagle and Child, Bispham Green
			Sparrow Hawk Hotel, Burnley

			Cartford Hotel, Little Eccleston
			Ship & Mitre, Liverpool
			Vernon Arms, Liverpool
			Red Herring, Coppull
			Smithfield Hotel, Manchester
			Hayfield, Ormskirk
			New Britannia, Preston
			Market Hotel, Preston
			New Hall Tavern, Salmesbury Dog & Partridge, Standish
North East
Yorkshire			Red Rooster, Brighouse
home			Three Pigeons, Halifax
			Running Man, Halifax Brewery Arms, Keighley
			Bowling Green, Otley

			Devonshire Cat, Sheffield Kelham Island, Sheffield Victoria Inn, Thorne George & Dragon,Wentworth
In the City
Things have certainly become complicated in the brewing and pub business recently. Years ago it was so simple with several very large breweries owning virtually all the pubs through their tied estates. This meant that you could go in to a town and find that virtually every pub was tied to one specific brewery - what exciting times! The tied estate was thought to be "uncompetitive" so the idea of the guest beer was introduced. Breweries owning over a certain number of tied houses were required to offer a guest beer free of the tie. It seemed a good idea at the time, but the big boys retaliated by selling off some or all of their estates and thus entered into supply agreements with pub groups. In order to keep up with this ever-changing face we hope to include recent news items involving the industry.
Down with the Brewing Giants, long live the Pub Groups In September, Punch Taverns bought InnSpired Pubs for £335 million, bringing their total to about 8,400 pubs. InnSpired was largely made up of former Ushers' pubs. If you think this is a lot, when Enterprise Inns completed their takeover of The Unique Pub Company, it gave them a total of 9,000 pubs. Both groups gave outlined plans to expand to 10,000. Punch started out with the aquisition of Bass's leased estate and added pubs from Allied Breweries, Whitbread and Greene King. Pubmaster is an amalgam of pubs previously owned by Tolly Cobbold, Courage, Vaux and Greenalls. Somebody needs to do a "Pub Family Tree" in the style of the "Rock Family" trees on T.V! Another one bites the dust. The latest small brewery to be taken over by one of the few remaining big boys is Gales of Horndean - brewers of the excellent HSB. They've been snapped up by Fullers of Chiswick for £82 million. If you are ever in Winchester, you can take advantage of the "Wayfarer's Dole" - a piece of bread and a cup of ale (supplied by Gales) at the Hospital of St. Cross. Well worth a visit even without the beer!
The "super-duper regionals" continue to swallow up the minnows. Wolverhampton & Dudley have taken over Jennings of Cockermouth so Greene King have retaliated by snapping up Belhaven of Dunbar. They also swooped on Ridleys in Essex who had been brewing XXMild for them. They liked the beer so much, they bought the company. This is a personal tragedy as I used to drink Ridleys in the early '70's when Essex was awash with Keg. Greene King have already closed the brewery and started stripping out the equipment. I'm sure the site will make a very desirable housing complex - has the brewery got listed status I wonder?

The truth about lager! As a real ale lover, you probably have a pretty good idea where your favourite pint comes from. Pity the sad lager drinker who thinks he is drinking some sophisticated continental beer - think of Moe in the Simpsons impressing Homer by changing his bottle of duff to "dooof" with the addition of two dots over the letter u.