Brains (S. A. Brain & Company Ltd.) is a regional
brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...
based in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, Wales. It was founded in 1882 by
Samuel Arthur Brain
Samuel Arthur Brain (4 May 1850 – 19 February 1902) was a brewery entrepreneur in Cardiff, Wales, founder of Brain's Brewery. He was also a JP and local councillor, becoming an alderman and Mayor of Cardiff.
Background
Brain was born in ...
. The company controls more than 250 pubs in
South Wales (particularly in Cardiff),
Mid Wales and the
West Country
The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...
. The company took over Crown Buckley Brewery in
Llanelli
Llanelli (" St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarth ...
in 1997 and Hancock's Brewery in 1999. In 2000, Brains moved to the former Hancock's Brewery just south of
Cardiff Central railway station. The Old Brewery, in
Cardiff city centre
Cardiff city centre ( cy, Canol Dinas Caerdydd) is the city centre and central business district of Cardiff, Wales. The area is tightly bound by the River Taff to the west, the Civic Centre to the north and railway lines and two railway s ...
, has been developed into a modern bar and restaurant complex.
The company produces a range of beers under the Brains, Buckley's and Hancock's names. As part of their marketing strategy, Brains use
shirt sponsorship for the
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team ( cy, Tîm rygbi'r undeb cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played the ...
and the
Crusaders Rugby League
Crusaders Rugby League ( cy, Croesgadwyr Rygbi'r Gynghrair) was a professional rugby league club based in Bridgend and later in Wrexham, Wales. They played for six seasons in the Rugby Football League competitions, including three years in the ...
team.
History
![Royal Oak, Adamsdown, January 2021 05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Royal_Oak%2C_Adamsdown%2C_January_2021_05.jpg)
Samuel Arthur Brain was born in 1850 and brought up in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, England, before moving to Cardiff to train as a brewer. A talented brewer, he quickly rose to become Manager of the Phoenix Brewery in Working Street. In 1872 he married a girl whose father owned Thomas's brewery in St Mary Street, Cardiff. In 1882 the Thomas brothers sold the Old Brewery in Cardiff in order to pay debts. Samuel Arthur and his uncle Joseph Benjamin Brain, Chairman of the
West of England Bank, founded their business by buying the brewery from the Thomas brothers. Part of the building dated from 1713 and it had been a brewery since at least 1822.
In 1882 the brewery produced 100 barrels of beer a week and operated 11 pubs. By 1900 this had grown to 1,000 barrels of beer a week, supplying 80 of their public houses. The company became a limited company, S A Brain & Co Ltd, in April 1897 and purchased the business for £350,000.
Interior of the Golden Cross, Cardiff (8).jpg
Brains expanded the Old Brewery was expanded in 1914 by having a new brewery built in
St Mary Street.
In 1997 Brains took over Crown Buckley in Llanelli. It closed Crown Buckley's brewery and transferred production to Cardiff. In 1999 Brains bought the former Hancock's Brewery just south of
Cardiff Central railway station. In 2000 it moved production there, and in 2003 the Old Brewery was redeveloped as a bar and restaurant complex.
![The Old Arcade, Cardiff, March 2020](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/The_Old_Arcade%2C_Cardiff%2C_March_2020.jpg)
Until September 2009 the multi-millionaire chairman of the company was Chris Brain. The chairman is now John Rhys, the great-great-grandson of company founder Samuel Arthur Brain.
![Duke of Wellington, Cardiff, 2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Duke_of_Wellington%2C_Cardiff%2C_2011.jpg)
In March 2019 the new Dragon Brewery, at the Pacific Business Park in
Tremorfa
Tremorfa (Welsh for ''Tre'' town + ''morfa'' coastal marsh) is a district and (since 2016) community of the city of Cardiff, Wales. It falls into the Splott ward of Cardiff.
Transport
Tremorfa is served by the Cardiff Bus 11 route (was 61 for ...
, was opened by
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who was taken on a tour of the new facility by head brewer Bill Dobson.
In December 2020, Brains handed over the running of its 156 pubs via a 25-year lease-back deal to
Marston's
Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Marston's disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the C ...
Ninety-nine Brains pubs were later put up for sale.
Coffee#1
In September 2011 the company diversified into coffee shops, buying the Cardiff-based coffee house chain,
Coffee#1. In mid-2018, SA Brain announced that they wished to sell a majority stake in Coffee#1, after a strategic review. In January 2019,
Caffè Nero bought a 70% stake in the business, which at that time had 92 outlets.
Beer brands
Brains brand
Brains SA, the company's flagship brand, is a light-coloured malty best bitter which is colloquially known as "Skull Attack". Its formulation has undergone several revisions since the beer was launched in the early 20th century; the most recent revision was launched in early 2006 and increases the quantity of
hops in the brew.
Brains Dark is a dark
mild ale
Mild ale is a type of ale. Modern milds are mostly dark-coloured, with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 3% to 3.6%, although there are lighter-hued as well as stronger milds, reaching 6% abv and higher. Mild originated in Britain in the 17th centur ...
with an emphasis on roasted malts. There is also a 'smooth' variant.
Brains Bitter is the brewery's standard bitter and the most commonly available in Cardiff. Many Brains' pubs serve only bitter from a cask. When served
pasteurised
Pasteurization American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mi ...
and
nitrogenated it is termed Brains Smooth.
Brains IPA, an unusually malty example of the
India Pale Ale style, is usually seen on cask only in the valleys outside Cardiff, although some pubs stock it as keg beer or in bottles in Cardiff proper.
SA Gold, the newest addition to the line, is – according to a release note sent out to Brains pubs in early 2006 – Brains' attempts to branch out into both the English and youth markets, areas in which Brains is visibly struggling. Its official launch was June 2006, but many houses retired it in favour of the bi-monthly guest ale rotation. The beer is hopped with Cascade, Target and Styrian Golding hops.
45 was a
keg beer at 4.5% ABV. It was launched in 2006 in Cardiff as a competitor to strong lagers such as
Stella Artois
Stella Artois ( ) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries like the UK, Ir ...
. In March 2007, the recipe was radically altered from the original used in the January launch after slow market growth and poor in-house response. It was discontinued in 2011.
The Rev. James is a 4.5% ABV dark best bitter carried over from the Buckley's range after the two breweries merged.
Brains Black is a 4.1% ABV stout launched on St David's Day 2010.
Buckley's brand
Brains bought the Llanelli-based Crown Buckley in 1998. It continues to brew three Buckley's beers, all at its Cardiff brewery: Buckley's Bitter, Buckley's IPA and Reverend James best bitter.
Hancock's brand
Hancocks HB is a 3.6%
session bitter
Bitter is an English style of pale ale that varies in colour from gold to dark amber, and in strength typically from 3% to 5.5% alcohol by volume.
History
The term "bitter" has been used in England to describe pale ale since the early 19th cent ...
first brewed by Hancock's brewery. Formerly Wales' biggest brewer, the brewery was founded by William Hancock (father of
Frank
Frank or Franks may refer to:
People
* Frank (given name)
* Frank (surname)
* Franks (surname)
* Franks, a medieval Germanic people
* Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang
Curr ...
,
Froude and
William Hancock) and bought by
Bass in 1968. Brains bought Hancock's in 1999, but initially Bass kept the rights to the brands. Production later came back to Cardiff.
Seasonal beers
Seasonal beer A seasonal beer is a beer that is typically brewed during or for a particular season, holiday or festival period. Many breweries and microbreweries produce seasonal beers. Seasonal beers may be produced when fresh ingredients are available during v ...
s' include ''St David's Ale, which is brewed to celebrate
St David's Day and is available in February and March. Taff End is available in June and July and celebrates sponsorship of the Glamorgan County Cricket Club. Brains' Bread of Heaven, named after a traditional
Welsh rugby anthem, was launched in 2005 in commemoration of the sponsorship, and is mostly sold during the
Six Nations Championship and
autumn internationals.
Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land Of My Fathers) was launched in 2006 to commemorate the 150th
anniversary of the
Welsh national anthem. It is a golden ale brewed with Welsh honey.
Marketing
![Cardiff PenarthRd bridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Cardiff_PenarthRd_bridge.jpg)
Brains sponsored a number of railway bridges over roads in Cardiff to have its advertising slogans painted on them. They include ''"It's Brains you want!"'' in Clare Road and Leckwith Road and ''"People who know beer... have Brains"'' in Penarth Road.
![Stadiwm y MileniwmLB01 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Stadiwm_y_MileniwmLB01_%28cropped%29.JPG)
Brains was the shirt sponsor for the
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team ( cy, Tîm rygbi'r undeb cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played the ...
from 2004 until 2010. As
French law
The Law of France refers to the legal system in the French Republic, which is a civil law legal system primarily based on legal codes and statutes, with case law also playing an important role. The most influential of the French legal codes is t ...
forbids
alcohol sponsorship logos from appearing on
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
jerseys, when the team played in France the branding was changed. In 2005, "Brains" was replaced with "Brawn", in 2007 it was changed to "Brawn Again", and in 2009 it was replaced with "Try Essai", a
pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
on the invitation to "try SA".
The Old Brewery Quarter
In 2003, Brains vacant Old Brewery was redeveloped into the "Old Brewery Quarter" .It is a mixed development of of leisure space around an open-air piazza in the heart of Cardiff's growing
city centre, together with 42 long-leasehold loft style apartments and penthouses.
The development has attracted a range of bar and restaurant operators including
Chiquito, La Tasca, Lava Lounge,
Nando's
Nando's (; ) is a South African multinational fast casual chain that specialises in flame-grilled peri-peri style chicken. Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando's operates over 1,200 outlets in 30 countries. Their logo (also seen as a sort of ...
, Pancake House,
Starbucks, Thai Edge and SA Brains own flagship venue, the Yard Bar and Kitchen.
References
External links
Official website
{{Economy and industry of Cardiff
Breweries in Wales
Companies based in Cardiff
British companies established in 1882
Welsh brands
Food and drink companies established in 1882
1882 establishments in Wales