Dunham Massey Brewing Company is a small family run craft brewery located on National Trust land in the town of Dunham Massey. It was in late 2006 when head brewer John Costello decided that he would go ahead and start up a brewery of his own. He had toyed with the idea around 10 years ago when Tetley Walker's in Warrington closed down. John had worked at Tetley's for many years, and was very passionate about beer, particularly real ale, but due to circumstances at the time he couldn't put his idea for a small craft brwery into practise. However recently things developed which allowed John to persue his dream. After making various enquiries about vacant premises on which to set up the brewery, the National Trust suggested the use of a dis-used barn, located behind Big Tree Farm in Dunham Massey. The barn hadn't been used for 7 years, and was in a state of disrepair, but John could see the potential. Just down the road from the barn is Little Heath Farm, and one of the main waste products from brewing beer is spent grains. Ironically, spent grains are an ideal source of food for cattle. The second main waste product is spent hops, which is an ideal fertiliser. So it made perfect sense that the barn should be converted into a brewery, and Dunham Massey Brewing Company was born. John officially took over the premises on 1st August 2007, and along with the help of the National Trust, and a few family members, set about the daunting task of converting the barn into a brewery. It was hard work but as you can see, he got the job done. Ever a perfectionist when it comes to brewing, John had done many trials before going ahead with the first brews, and in October 2007 he brewed his first batch of Big Tree Bitter (3.9%) and Deer Beer (4.5%). And it wasn't too long until these were joined with Dunham Massey's other regular beer, Stamford Bitter (4.2%), and the seasonal ale, Dunham Massey Winter Warmer (6.6%). What's special about Dunham Massey beer is that it is as traditional as you can get. All the ingredients are English and are sourced from as local as possible. In fact the only things that go into the beer are water, malts, hops, and yeast. All the sugars are formed the old fashioned way by extracting them from the malt itself. Our philosophy is to use the best English malts and hops, with no added sugars, to brew quality traditional North Western beers.