History of the Alnwick Brewery

The history of beer brewing in Alnwick dates back to the 1700s when ales were produced for the whole family and were considered safer to drink than the often polluted water supplies. The Alnwick Brewing Company was formed from several smaller companies in 1890, with the inception of the Companies Act, making it one of the UK's first limited companies.

Unfortunately the brewery itself finally closed in 1986 and the site is now a supermarket car park, but happily the recipes for the brewery's range of beers did survive and are now being given a new lease of life.

The new Alnwick Brewing Company is intending to develop a brewing facility in Alnwick over the next few years. As Ian Linsley explains:

"We hope that the new Alnwick Brewery will help resurrect the traditional arts of brewing in this area such as malting and coopering, providing jobs for local people and using local products such as barley. We're intending to include a museum and education centre where people can learn about the history of brewing in the area, and of course taste the brews as they used to be produced".