Joseph Holt's Brewery
Type | Brewery |
|---|---|
| Industry | Brewing |
| Founded | 1849 |
| Founder | Joseph Holt |
| Headquarters | Manchester , England |
Number of locations | 127 pubs (2019) |
Area served | North West England |
Key people | Richard Kershaw (CEO) |
| Products | Beer |
| Brands | Bitter, Two Hoots, Black Crystal, Diamond, Crystal Gold, Humdinger, Sixex |
| Services | Public houses, beer wholesaler |
| Parent | Joseph Holt Limited |
| Subsidiaries | Touchwood Limited |
| Website | www.joseph-holt.com/  |
Contents
1 Joseph Holt
2 Brewery
3 History
3.1 Brands
4 Charitable work
5 References
6 External links
Joseph Holt
Joseph Holt is a family brewing business which was founded in 1849 and which has remained in the same family for six generations. Based in Manchester, the company owns 127 pubs in Manchester and the North West and supplies Joseph Holt's award-winning beers and lagers to over 500 accounts nationally. The company has a long-standing relationship with the Christie Hospital and the Holt Radium Institute in Manchester. This dates back to Sir Edward Holt, the great-grandfather of the current Chief Executive who founded the Holt Radium Institute in 1914. In 2016 Joseph Holt were incredibly proud to win the British Beer and Pub Association’s Heart of the Community award for the second time, this was after a campaign to raise £402,000 for the Christie. As a testament to the company’s commitment, the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group which has over 300 MPs awarded Joseph Holt with the National Pub Aid award for their support to the community. Over the years, the family brewer has achieved many accolades for their beers. Most notably, the brewery is one of only a handful of breweries to have recently won four gold awards consecutively at the prestigious International Brewing Awards for their Crystal and Diamond lagers and for Black, their keg beer. Many of the pubs now serve fresh food and all stock an exquisite range of wines and spirits from around the world.
Brewery
Joseph Holt Brewery on Empire Street in Manchester
Joseph Holt still brew on the same site – just to the north of Manchester city centre - as they did in 1860 (The company was founded in 1849). Ale and lager malts are now delivered in bulk loads and stored in silos while speciality malts continue to be delivered in sacks. The highly flexible brewhouse can brew between 15 and 500 barrels (4,500 – 150,000 pints) in a single brew and a hopback is still in use, along with traditional whole leaf hops, to collect and clarify wort after boiling. All ales are top fermented in enclosed square fermenters using the historic Joseph Holt yeast strain, while lagers are fermented and conditioned in modern cylindroconical vessels. Joseph Holt have their own borehole on the brewery site to abstract brewing liquor (water) and are proud to be one of only a handful of brewers in the UK still to rack into 36 gallon casks.
History
Joseph Holt, the son of a weaver,[1] was born in 1813 in Unsworth, a textile village near Bury. He worked as a carter at Harrison's Strangeways Brewery. In 1849 he married Catherine Parry, who helped finance a small brewery behind a pub on Oak Street, Manchester.[1]
In 1860, he purchased the brewery site on Empire Street, Cheetham.[1] His reputation in Manchester endures; in 2007, readers of the Manchester Evening News voted him "People's Champion" in the "Greatest ever Business Leaders" awards.[2] In 1882, by which time he had established a chain of 20 public houses, Joseph passed control of the brewery to his son Edward. Edward Holt was later knighted, served as Lord Mayor of Manchester for 1907-09 and made a baronet in 1916. He died in 1928 and the company passed to his son, Edward; it is still in the hands of the same family.[1]
For more than thirty years, Peter Kershaw, a former rackets and real tennis champion and a notoriously economical man, was chairman of the brewery.[3] His son, Richard Kershaw, the great grandson of the founder,[1] joined him on the board in 1980 and, since the death of his father in 2000,[3] is the chief executive.
Holt's Bitter
Holt's public houses offer a selection of Holt's draught, bottled and canned beers.
Brands
- Draught
- Joseph Holt's Bitter
- Joseph Holt's Mild
- Joseph Holt's Smooth (nitrokeg bitter)
- Joseph Holt's Black (nitrokeg mild)
- Joseph Holt's IPA
- Joseph Holt's Two Hoots
- Joseph Holt's Humdinger
- Joseph Holt's Crystal
- Joseph Holt's Crystal Cold
- Joseph Holt's Crystal Gold
- Joseph Holt's Diamond
- Bottled
- Humdinger
- 1849
- Touchwood
- Maple Moon
- Sixex
- Thunderholt
- Fifth Sense
- Two Hoots (4.2 ABV)
- Bitter
- Maple Gold
- Canned
- Holt's Bitter
- Holtenbrau
Holt's is one of only a few remaining UK breweries able to supply their beers in hogsheads,[4] the largest barrel size, carrying 432 pints (54 gallons) and weighing roughly 660 lbs when full.
Charitable work
The company has supported the Christie Hospital since the early years of the 20th century. Sir Edward Holt raised £20,000 to start the Holt Radium Institute. In 1997 Lady Holt bequeathed more than £8 million to the Christie.
References
^ abcde Moore, Sheryl (18 April 2006). "Joseph Holt". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 30 September 2010..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ "Free Holt's beer with the M.E.N". Manchester Evening News. 4 October 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
^ ab "Peter Kershaw". The Daily Telegraph. 15 July 2000. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
^ Anon. "Joseph Holt Brewery, Manchester, United Kingdom". Net Resources International. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
External links
- Company website
