Joseph Holt is a brewery in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England, founded in 1849, which has been owned by the same family for six generations. It owns 127 pubs in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

and the North West and its beers are supplied to over 500 nationally.

Brewery

Joseph Holt have brewed on their site in

Cheetham Cheetham may refer to: People * Cheetham (surname) Places * Cheetham and Altona Important Bird Area, Melbourne, Australia * Cheetham Close, a megalith and scheduled ancient monument located in Lancashire, very close to the boundary with Greater ...

, north of

Manchester city centre Manchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England, within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way, which collectively form an inner ring road. The City Centre ward had a ...

, since 1860. Ale and lager

malt Malt is any cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air, a process known as "malting". Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar, ...

s are delivered in bulk loads and stored in silos, while speciality malts continue to be delivered in sacks. Between 15 and 500

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

s (4,500 – 150,000

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 one-eighth of a gallon. The British imperial pint ...

s) can be brewed per day, and a hopback is still in use, along with traditional whole leaf hops, to collect and clarify wort after boiling. All ales are top fermented in enclosed square fermenters using a historic yeast strain, while lagers are fermented and conditioned in modern cylindroconical vessels. Joseph Holt have their own

borehole A borehole is a narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water ( drilled water well and tube well), other liquids (such as petr ...

on the brewery site to abstract brewing liquor (water) and are one of only a handful of brewers in the UK still to rack into 36 gallon casks, as well as

hogshead A hogshead (abbreviated "hhd", plural "hhds") is a large Barrel (storage), cask of liquid (or, less often, of a food commercial Product (business), product) for manufacturing and sale. It refers to a specified volume, measured in either Imperial ...

s, the largest barrel size, carrying 432 pints () and weighing roughly when full.

History

Joseph Holt, the son of a weaver, was born in 1813 in

Unsworth Unsworth is a settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Bury district, in Greater Manchester, England. The population of Unsworth Ward, as of the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census is 11,034. The village sits approximately north of ...

, a textile village near Bury. He worked as a carter at Harrison's

Strangeways Brewery Strangeways Brewery was a landmark in Manchester, England, just north of the city centre, which was famous as the home of Boddingtons Bitter. It closed in 2005 and was demolished in 2007. History The Strangeways Brewery was founded by two grain ...

. In 1849 he married Catherine Parry, who helped finance a small brewery behind a pub on Oak Street, Manchester. In 1860, he purchased the brewery site on Empire Street,

. His reputation in Manchester endures; in 2007, readers of the

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...

voted him "People's Champion" in the "Greatest ever Business Leaders" awards. In 1882, by which time he had established a chain of 20 public houses, Joseph passed control of the brewery to his son

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

. Edward Holt was later knighted, served as

Lord Mayor of Manchester This is a list of the lord mayors of the City of Manchester in the North West of England. Not to be confused with the Directly elected Greater Manchester mayor. The current and 126th lord mayor is Paul Andrews, Labour, who has served Since ...

from 1907 to 1909 and was made a baronet in 1916. He died in 1928 and the company passed to his son,

; it is still in the hands of the same family. For more than thirty years, Peter Kershaw, a former rackets and

real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

champion and a notoriously economical man, was chairman of the brewery. His son, Richard Kershaw, the great-grandson of the founder, joined him on the board in 1980 and, since the death of his father, in 2000, has been the chief executive.

Charitable work

The company has a long-standing relationship with the

Christie Hospital The Christie, formerly known as Christie Hospital and The Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute, is a specialist National Health Service, National Health Service (NHS) single site cancer centre in Manchester, United Kingdom. The hospital is ...

and the Holt Radium Institute in Manchester. This dates back to Sir Edward Holt, the great-grandfather of the current

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

who founded the Holt Radium Institute in 1914. In 2018, Joseph Holt received the

British Beer and Pub Association The British Beer and Pub Association is the drinks and hospitality industry's largest and most influential trade association representing some 90% of UK brewing (by volume) and the ownership of around 20,000 of the nation's pubs. History The A ...

's Heart of the Community award for the third year in a row, following campaigns to raise money for the Christie and

Maggie's Centre Maggie's centres are a network of drop-in centres across the United Kingdom and abroad that aim to help anyone who has been affected by cancer. They are intended as welcoming and caring environments that provide support, information and practica ...

. In 2017 the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group awarded Joseph Holt the National Pub Aid award for their support to the community.

Beers

Draught

* Joseph Holt's Bitter * Joseph Holt's Mild * Joseph Holt's Smooth (

nitrokeg Draught beer, also spelt draft, is beer served from a cask or keg rather than from a bottle or can. Draught beer served from a pressurised keg is also known as Name Until Joseph Bramah patented the beer engine in 1785, beer was served ...

bitter) * Joseph Holt's Black (nitrokeg mild) * Joseph Holt's IPA * Joseph Holt's Two Hoots * Joseph Holt's Humdinger * Joseph Holt's Crystal (lager) * Joseph Holt's Crystal Cold * Joseph Holt's Crystal Gold * Joseph Holt's Diamond

Bottled

* Humdinger * 1849 * Touchwood * Maple Moon * Sixex * Thunderholt * Fifth Sense * Two Hoots (4.2

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest of the solution, ...

) * Bitter * Maple Gold ;Canned * Holt's Bitter * Holtenbrau

References

External links

Company website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, Joseph Manufacturing companies based in Manchester Food and drink companies based in Manchester Food and drink companies established in 1849 1849 establishments in England Breweries in England British companies established in 1849