Stalwarts of the Somerset and Bristol brewery scene, Butcombe have been brewing consistently high-quality premium beers since 1978. Butcombe Brewing Co. love nothing more than hosting a bunch of beer enthusiasts at their brewery. Great for experts and beginners alike, we’ll happy share our passion and craft with you.
40 years of brewing great beer. Simon Whitmore, Founder of Butcombe and former MD of Courage Western and prior to that with Guinness Worldwide, set up Butcombe Brewery in old farm buildings at his family home in Butcombe, 10 miles south of Bristol, in September 1978. He used his £24, 000 redundancy payment from Courage to convert the buildings, and buy most of the brewery equipment from Allied Breweries surplus plant department in Burton-on-Trent. Simon even picked up the plant and bought it back to Bristol in his famously unreliable second hand Bedford 35cwt truck …luckily he made it!
The brewery has been extended twice since then. In the summer of 1982, increasing the brewery length to first 20 barrels and subsequently to 45 barrels, and again in the autumn of 1992 increasing the brew length to 85 barrels. The superb Boby 4 roller mill, which you can see in our shop today, milled for 27 years between 1978 and February 2005, a staggering 285, 000 barrels of beer or just over 82 million pints …no wonder it needed replacing!
Simon and the team brewed one beer for the first 21 years – The iconic Butcombe Bitter, no wonder it’s called The Original! With Gold finally being added to the stable in 1999.
Now owned by The Liberation Group, Butcombe have 7 beers in their classic range, including their newest launches Blackbeard Stout and Underfall Lager, as well as consistently launching seasonal beers and their own cider – Ashton Press. Butcombe beers (and cider) are available throughout Somerset in pubs, supermarkets and at the brewery shop. For a real taste experience of Butcombe, try visiting one of their own 19 managed or 23 tenanted pubs or the brewery shop on site in Wrington.
There’s nothing we love more than hosting a bunch of beer enthusiasts at our brewery. Even if you don’t know much about beer and are keen to find out more, we’ll happily share passion and craft with you. We’ve got a great story to tell, and our vision for the future is just as exciting, so come have a look around and enjoy a pint with us. Get behind the scenes, see how we work our magic at the brewery and finally taste some of our finest brews with the people who lovingly made them.
Facilities:
Brewery Shop, Brewery Tours (First Tuesday of every month – pre-booking essential), 19 Managed pubs