McMullen's Brewery explained

McMullen & Sons Ltd
Type:Private
Founder:Peter McMullen
Location City:Hertford
Homepage:http://www.mcmullens.co.uk/

McMullen's, known locally as Mac's,[1] is a regional brewery founded in 1827 in Hertford, England, the United Kingdom. The brewery expanded during the second half of the 19th century by purchasing other breweries and their associated pubs. In 1902 it was the second largest brewery in Hertfordshire. The brewery has occupied several different sites in Hertford and moved to its current location in 1891. There have been several breweries on this site and the current one opened in 2006. As of 2021, members of the 6th generation of the McMullen family are still involved with the business.

History

McMullen's was founded in 1827 in Back Street (now Railway Street) Hertford by Peter McMullen(1798-1881),[2] the son of an Irish nurseryman.[3] [4] The passing of the Beerhouse Act in 1830 enabled Peter McMullen to open his own beerhouse named after William IV in Mill Bridge, Hertford.[2] [5] The passing of the Beerhouse Act acted as a stimulus to common brewing and led to an increase in the number of breweries in Hertford, peaking at eight in Hertford in 1838.[3] In 1966 McMullen's were the sole survivor.[3] In 1860 Peter McMullen passed the business onto his sons Alexander Henry and Osmond Henry who began trading as P. McMullen & Sons.[6] The company expanded during this period and acquired a number of local breweries.[1] As the business grew it moved to Old Cross, Hertford in 1891 and a new brewery was built. The new brewery was designed by William Bradford and is now a grade II listed building. In 1897 the brewery became a limited company, McMullen & Sons Ltd, when it owned 90 pubs.[3] [7] Osmond Henry became Chairman of the new company[2] whilst Alexander Henry retired from the brewery and founded a seed merchant in Hertford.

By 1902 McMullen's were the second largest brewery in Hertfordshire, behind Benskins Brewery of Watford and owned 131 pubs[2] Osmond Henry died in May 1914 and his son Lieutenant colonel Osmond Robert became chairman.[2] Osmond Henrys's grandson Peter, a former Special Operations Executive colonel, ran the brewery from 1946 to 1980.[2] In 1966 the brewery owned 200 pubs.[3] A modern brewhouse was built in 1984 when John McMullen was company director.[5]

From the 1960s until the early 1990s, Mac's also brewed a range of kids' soft drinks that were sold at their pubs and also in the local ice cream stands and newsagent shops. These included lemonade, Shandimac, ginger beer, lime soda, orange soda, and Maxi-Cola which came in reuseable glass bottles that could be returned for a discount on the next drink.[8]

In 2002 there was a split between various members of the McMullen family some of whom wanted to turn their holdings into cash whilst others were happy to remain shareholders.[9] Financial consultants were appointed and the company was put up for sale. The company was independently valued at £176m in 2002.[9] A new independent chairman, Charles Brims, secured a compromise whereby several non-brewing property investments were sold in order to release cash to appease the majority shareholders and a plan was developed to build a new, smaller brewhouse.[10] The company decided to shed contract brewing and take advantage of tax breaks by becoming a smaller brewer. As the new Whole Hop Brewery (opened 2006) was more compact than the 1984-built plant, the spare land was sold to Sainsbury's in 2007. This is the fifth McMullen brewery to operate on this site[10]

McMullen's brews cask ale and pasteurised bottled beers. The company owns over 130 freehold pubs, mainly in the Home Counties, with a number in London, including The Spice of Life in Cambridge Circus, The White Swan in Pimlico and The Nag's Head in Covent Garden. McMullen's is acquisitive and has recently purchased pubs and bars in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Sevenoaks, Fleet, Marlow, Milton Keynes and Bishop's Stortford.

Due to the forced pub closures during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–21, Mac's began selling takeaway casks of beer directly from their brewery yard.[11] The company has no debt.[12]

Beers

McMullen's produces three regular cask ales and several occasional ales. The regular range consists of:

Cask Ales

Cask ales are real ales that have been cask conditioned and will continue to ferment in the cask in a process known as secondary fermentation.

McMullen AK

McMullen AK is a mild beer with an ABV of 3.7%, brewed in Hertford since 1833. AK was once a popular designation for beers which were light in gravity and colour and lightly hopped.[13] Brewed with a mix of malts with Kentish Whitbread Goldings the only hops used.[14]

McMullen IPA

McMullen IPA is a traditional English IPA with an ABV of 4.8%. The hops used are undisclosed, but are added as whole leaf hops, as opposed to the compressed hops pellets more commonly used in non-traditional brewing.[15]

Country Best Bitter

Country Best Bitter, first brewed in 1964, is a traditional bitter with an ABV of 4.3%, brewed with Fuggle, Progress and Bramling Cross hops and a mixture of pale malts.[16]

McMullen Cask

McMullen house cask ale, in production since 2007, is a 3.8% ABV 'honey-gold' ale with undisclosed ingredients[17]

Mac's No.1 Pale Ale

Number One Pale Ale is a 3.8% amber cask ale popular among agricultural workers since the turn of the 20th century. It was previously advertised under the slogan "second to no-one", or "second to none", and was known as No.1 Bitter before 1950.[18] Discontinued during the early 1990s, but brought back into production in 2021.[19]

Bootwarmer

Bootwarmer is an old ale first brewed in 1995 and sold in McMullen pubs during the Christmas holidays from 2002 onwards. It was discontinued in 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but brought back in December 2021.[20] [21]

Bottled Beers

McMullen Hertford Castle

Hertford Castle is a 5% ABV strong ale brewed with Suffolk barley and undeclared whole leaf hops. First brewed in 1960, the beer is named after Hertford Castle, where Queen Elizabeth I of England spent much of her childhood.[22] [23]

McMullen Stronghart

A speciality brew with an ABV of 7%, Stronghart is made to an 1850s recipe with East Anglian barley and undeclared whole leaf hops and won gold in the 1997 CAMRA Champion Beer of Briton barley wine and strong old ale class.[24] [25] Originally known as Mac's Olde Time Strong Ale, it was rebranded as Stronghart in 1993.[26] [24]

Rivertown

The Rivertown range was introduced in 2017 to produce vegan-friendly pale ale, IPA and Pilsner.[27] The Session IPA, at 4.1%, uses Citra, Waimea and crystal hops for a citrus finish.[28]

Guest beers

Out of production

Pubs

External links

51.7985°N -0.0803°W

Notes and References

  1. . 150 Years of 'Macs'. The Campaign for Real Ale - South Herts. Newsletter. January 1977 . 7 August 2021. live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210807203616/https://southherts.camra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SHN7-Web-Version.pdf . 7 August 2021.
  2. . Mac's No.1 - Peter the Poacher . The Campaign for Real Ale - Hertfordshire Newsletter. live. April 1981. 7 August 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210807091206/https://southherts.camra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/HN38-Web-Version.pdf . 7 August 2021.
  3. Connell . E.J . 1967 . Hertford Breweries. Industrial Archaeology. 4. 29–43.
  4. Web site: McMullen & Sons Limited - 1827: The Very Beginning . live. 7 August 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210807203616/https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/about-us/our-history/1827-the-very-beginning . 7 August 2021.
  5. Web site: The history behind Hertford's McMullen & Sons brewery that faced both World Wars, Spanish Flu and now Covid-19 . Cunningam . Alice . 8 October 2020 . Hertfordshire Mercury . 7 August 2020 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210807091212if_/https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-news/history-behind-hertfords-mcmullen--4496594 . 7 August 2021.
  6. Web site: McMullen & Sons Limited - 1860 . 7 August 2021 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210808182659/https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/about-us/our-history/mcmullens-history-1860 . 8 August 2021.
  7. Web site: McMullen & Sons Limited - 1897 . 7 August 2021 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210809192731/https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/about-us/our-history/mcmullens-history-1897 . 9 August 2021.
  8. https://southherts.camra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/HN87-Web-Version.pdf South Herts Camra 1985
  9. News: Lewis . Alex . 1 March 2002 . Brewery sale clouds pubs' future . St Albans & Harpenden Review . 11 September 2021.
  10. . The McMullen legacy . Brewer and Distiller International . The Institute of Brewing and Distilling . October 2006 . 11 September 2021.
  11. Web site: McMullen's Tackling the Virus . 9 September 2021 . South Hertfordshire Campaign for Real Ale . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210807091239/https://southherts.camra.org.uk/2020/04/mcmullens-tackling-the-virus/ . 7 August 2021.
  12. Web site: McMullen & Sons Ltd . 9 September 2021 . Independent Family Brewers of Britain . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210909200954/https://www.familybrewers.co.uk/meet-the-brewers/mcmullen-sons-ltd . 9 September 2021.
  13. Web site: Second thoughts on the mysterious origins of AK . Cornell . Martyn . 23 July 2014 . Zythophile . 9 September 2021 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210601222745/http://zythophile.co.uk/2014/07/23/second-thoughts-on-the-mysterious-origins-of-ak/ . 1 June 2021.
  14. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-beers/mcmullen-ak AK XXXX
  15. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-beers/ipa Mac's IPA
  16. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-beers/country Country
  17. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-beers/mcmullen-cask Cask
  18. https://labology.org.uk/?page_id=5453 McMullen labels
  19. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-beers/macs-no1 Mac's No.1
  20. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/blog/2019/12/bootwarmer Bootwarmer beer
  21. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-beers/bootwarmer McMullens Bootwarmer
  22. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-beers/castle Castle
  23. https://www.ratebeer.com/Story.asp?StoryID=273 Regional breweries of Britain 2004
  24. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-beers/stronghart Stronghart
  25. https://southherts.camra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/HN173-Web-Version.pdf South Herts Camra Feb 1999
  26. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/blog/2019/12/bootwarmer Bootwarmer
  27. https://untappd.com/Rivertown_Brewing Rivertown untapped
  28. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-beers/rivertownsipa Rivertown IPA
  29. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/blog/posts/view/quin Introducing Rivertown Quin
  30. https://untappd.com/b/mcmullen-and-sons-mac-s-nags-head-bitter/873888 Nags head
  31. https://untappd.com/b/mcmullen-and-sons-mac-s-fit-for-a-king/5338990 Fit for a king
  32. https://untappd.com/b/rivertown-brewing-elysium/5137315/photos Elysium
  33. https://untappd.com/b/rivertown-brewing-ernest/5234222/photos Ernest beer
  34. https://untappd.com/b/mcmullen-and-sons-mac-s-mcmulled-beer/5184537/photos McMulled Beer
  35. https://shop.mcmullens.co.uk/product/solstice-seasonal-keg/ Seasonal keg
  36. https://untappd.com/b/mcmullen-and-sons-mac-s-1950-celebratory-porter/5040544 Untapped 1950 porter
  37. https://untappd.com/b/rivertown-brewing-amber-bay/4986907/nearby Amber Bay
  38. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22157/56561/ Beer Advocate
  39. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-beers/solstice-seasonal Rivertown Solstice
  40. https://www.mca-insight.com/pubs-bars-and-clubs/mcmullen-denies-greene-king-rumours/422573.article Macs denies Greene King rumours
  41. https://untappd.com/b/mcmullen-and-sons-mac-s-jubilant-70/4851609 Jubilant 70 ale
  42. https://southherts.camra.org.uk/2020/07/around-the-herts-cask-breweries/ Cask breweries
  43. Web site: Untappd.
  44. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-beers/oatmaltstout Oat Malt Stout
  45. https://untappd.com/b/mcmullen-and-sons-mac-s-hopguzzler/2634971 Hopguzzler
  46. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/blog/2018/10/mcmullen-new-stout-victory-irish-guard New Victory Stout
  47. https://southherts.camra.org.uk/2017/10/a-golden-beer-for-golden-years/ South Herts Camra: Golden beer for golden years
  48. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/blog/2018/04/special-day-beer-mcmullen-willow-foundation Brewed with the Willow Foundation
  49. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/blog/2015/11/hop-on-a-mo Brewed in honor of Movember
  50. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/blog/2015/06/brewed-in-aid-of-keech-hospice-care Brewed in aid of Keech hospice care
  51. http://www.mcmullens.co.uk/ourbeers.php Mcmullen beers
  52. http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/the-whole-hop-stag-bitter/95065/ Stag bitter
  53. https://southherts.camra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/POV189-Web-Version.pdf Herts Camra Oct 2001
  54. http://www.45spaces.com/beer-labels/r.php?r=bec074906 45 spaces
  55. https://labology.org.uk/?page_id=5453 McMullen beer labels
  56. http://www.mcmullens.co.uk/our-locals?page=2 Our locals
  57. https://issuu.com/mcmullens1827/docs/macsnews_spring2016_final The Plough at Crews Hill reopens 2016
  58. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/blog/2017/04/kings-mead-ware-pub-open#.WW52jrpFyP8 Kings Mead now open
  59. https://www.mcmullens.co.uk/bullbroxbourne The Bull Broxbourne
  60. Web site: Heron awarded pub of the year . 2017-07-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160106014548/http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/pub-year-magnificent-decor-heron-10017187 . 2016-01-06 . dead .

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