Belhaven Brewery

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Entrance to the Belhaven Brewery
Belhaven Brewery building

The Belhaven Brewery is a brewery in the Scottish town of Dunbar in the Council Area East Lothian . Today it belongs to the English Greene King Brewery . The headquarters were listed in the Scottish Monuments List in 1971 in the highest category A.

history

The history of brewing beer around Dunbar can be traced back to the 12th century, when David I gave the lands to the Benedictine monks . The Belhaven Brewery was founded in 1719. However, there was probably a brewery on site before that. This can also be seen from older building fragments, as well as from records from the 1550s, which show that the soldiers stationed at Dunbar Castle were supplied with beer from Belhaven.

Although it was initially a local brewery, the Belhaven Brewery built up a national reputation until the 19th century , reaching as far as London and even to the imperial court in Vienna . The Scottish writer James Boswell noted on one of his trips that it was the best light beer he had ever drunk.

After fires in 1814 and 1887, the brewery was rebuilt and expanded. Like numerous breweries, Belhaven also operated its own malt house in the past . The malt obtained was also given to the surrounding whiskey distilleries. The brewery was operated for over 250 years by the founding family under the name Dudgeon & Company . A hotel chain acquired the company in 1972, but left management with the founding family. After a turbulent phase, the brewery went back to the founding family through a management buy-out in 1993. This made it one of the last large independent breweries in the United Kingdom . This ended with the takeover by the English Greene King Brewery in 2005.

Products

Production facilities

After the capacity of the Belhaven Brewery was 30,000 barrels per year in 1992, the production capacity was expanded to 100,000 barrels in the 2010s. The brewery produces a range of over 20 beers. Ales that are brewed the traditional Scottish way make up by far the largest share.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Information about the Belhaven Brewery
  2. ↑ a b Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  3. ↑ a b c d Information in the Gazetteer for Scotland

Web links

Commons : Belhaven Brewery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 55 ° 59 ′ 50.4 "  N , 2 ° 32 ′ 15.5"  W.