The Leeds Brewery is an independent

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 ...

established in June 2007 in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

, UK by former local radio presenter Michael Brothwell. The company uses a 20 barrel brewing plant located in a trading estate on the outskirts of the city; it is capable of delivering 150,000 pints of beer a week, and produces five regular brands, including their flagship ''Leeds Pale Ale'' at 3.8%, a 4.3% best bitter ''Leeds Best'' and the award winning

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 ...

''Midnight Bell''. The company also produces a series of monthly specials. The company had seven

pubs A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

in Leeds, with a microbrewery upstairs at The Brewery Tap and two pubs in York but these were sold to

Camerons Brewery Camerons Brewery Ltd is an English brewery established by John William Cameron in Stranton, Hartlepool, County Durham, in 1865. It is the largest independent brewer in the North East of England, with a brewery capacity of 1.5 million hectoli ...

in 2016. In January 2023, Leeds Brewery ceased trading and the Leeds Brewery brand was sold to Kirkstall Brewery.

History

Leeds Brewery was established in June 2007 by university friends Michael Brothwell (a former

BBC Radio York BBC Radio York is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of North Yorkshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Bootham area of York. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience o ...

presenter) and Sam Moss and has since been producing a range of permanent and seasonal cask ales. In 2008 the Leeds brewery asked

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

supporters to help name a new beer in an online poll. The favourite was to name the beer Radebeer after

player

Lucas Radebe Lucas Valeriu Ntuba Radebe OIS (born 12 April 1969) is a South African former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He began playing in South Africa with Kaizer Chiefs, before transferring to Leeds United, where he played 256 ...

. The beer was available in local

, with 10p from every

pint The pint (, ; symbol pt, sometimes abbreviated as ''p'') is a unit of volume or capacity in both the imperial and United States customary measurement systems. In both of those systems it is traditionally one eighth of a gallon. The British impe ...

sold going towards the

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

fund.

Brewery

The brewery is located on a trading estate in Beeston, on the outskirts of the city. The brewery uses a 20 barrel brewing plant, capable of delivering 150,000 pints of beer a week; and produces four regular all year brands along with a pilsner style lager and seasonals throughout the year. The regular beers are ''Leeds Pale,'' a 3.8% session bitter, ''Leeds Best'', a 4.3%

best 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 c ...

, ''Yorkshire Gold, a hoppy golden ale at'' 4% and ''Midnight Bell'', a 4.8%

which was awarded "Best New Brewery Beer" at the 2007 Peterborough Beer Festival. Midnight Bell recently won Gold at the SIBA beer awards for dark cask beers. The lager, Leodis at 4.6% is named after the Roman name for Leeds The seasonals include ''Gathering Storm'', a 4.4% stout, in October, ''New Moon'', a 4.3% black IPA, in February, and ''Samba'', a 3.7%

golden ale Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at that time. Di ...

, in June.

Pubs

The company had seven

, in

. The Midnight Bell, The White Swan, The Crowd of Favours, The Lamb & Flag, The Garden Gate, PIN Bar and The Brewery Tap. The Brewery Tap had a microbrewery upstairs for brewing

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storag ...

. The company also opened its first pubs outside Leeds in 2013, the Duke of York and The Eagle and Child, both in York city centre. In July 2016, the estate of seven pubs (excluding PIN which closed and The Garden Gate) was sold to

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Official website
of Leeds Brewery Breweries in Yorkshire British brands British companies established in 2007 Manufacturing companies based in Leeds