Jennings Brewery
Encyclopedia
Jennings Brewery was established as a family concern in 1828 in the village of Lorton
, between Keswick
and Cockermouth
in the Lake District
, England
. The brewery
was started by John Jennings Snr, son of William Jennings (a maltster). Jennings brewed exclusively in Lorton until 1874 when its present home, the Castle Brewery in Cockermouth, was purchased. The Lorton brewery closed some five years later.
Jennings Brewery brew a range of ale
s using lakeland
water
drawn from the brewery's own well
, malted Maris Otter
barley
from Norfolk
and Goldings, Fuggles and Challenger hops
from Kent
, Herefordshire
and Worcestershire
. The malt used by Jennings brewery is screened and crushed rather than ground into a flour to keep the husks as whole as possible. The hops used are flaked rather than the increasingly popular hop pellets available nowadays.
In May 2005 Jennings Brewery was purchased by the national brewer, Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, renamed Marston's
PLC in January 2007. The purchase was opposed by the Campaign for Real Ale
, which feared W&DB would close the Cockermouth brewery. These fears seem to have been unfounded, however, as in June 2005 W&DB announced it would invest £250,000 to expand fermenting and cask
racking capacity in Cockermouth, this work had been completed before the end of October 2008
Following the takeover by W&DB, the brewery's distribution centre in Workington was closed and its tied estate of 127 pubs absorbed by the W&DB pub company. Due to the takeover and subsequent name change, Marston's Pedigree is becoming more common in Jennings pubs.
Jennings beers are available across the north of England and are increasingly seen in W&DB pubs in the midlands as well as being sold in free trade outlets throughout the country.
Classic Beers:
Seasonal Ales:
Smooth Ales:
Currently not in production:
Lorton, Cumbria
Lorton is a civil parish in the district of Allerdale, in the county of Cumbria, England, containing two small villages - Low Lorton and High Lorton, both approximately four miles south of Cockermouth. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish had a total population of 250 people...
, between Keswick
Keswick, Cumbria
Keswick is a market town and civil parish within the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It had a population of 4,984, according to the 2001 census, and is situated just north of Derwent Water, and a short distance from Bassenthwaite Lake, both in the Lake District National Park...
and Cockermouth
Cockermouth
-History:The Romans created a fort at Derventio, now the adjoining village of Papcastle, to protect the river crossing, which had become located on a major route for troops heading towards Hadrian's Wall....
in the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
was started by John Jennings Snr, son of William Jennings (a maltster). Jennings brewed exclusively in Lorton until 1874 when its present home, the Castle Brewery in Cockermouth, was purchased. The Lorton brewery closed some five years later.
Jennings Brewery brew a range of ale
Ale
Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...
s using lakeland
South Lakeland
South Lakeland is a local government district in Cumbria, England. Its council is based in Kendal. It includes much of the Lake District.The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972...
water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
drawn from the brewery's own well
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
, malted Maris Otter
Maris Otter
Maris Otter is a 2-row "winter" variety of barley commonly used in the production of malt for the brewing industry. The variety was bred by Dr G D H Bell and his team of plant breeders at Cambridge...
barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
from Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
and Goldings, Fuggles and Challenger hops
Hops
Hops are the female flower clusters , of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine...
from Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
and Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
. The malt used by Jennings brewery is screened and crushed rather than ground into a flour to keep the husks as whole as possible. The hops used are flaked rather than the increasingly popular hop pellets available nowadays.
In May 2005 Jennings Brewery was purchased by the national brewer, Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, renamed Marston's
Marston's
Marston's is the colloquial name for the brewer and pub operator Marston's plc . The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index...
PLC in January 2007. The purchase was opposed by the Campaign for Real Ale
Campaign for Real Ale
The Campaign for Real Ale is an independent voluntary consumer organisation based in St Albans, England, whose main aims are promoting real ale, real cider and the traditional British pub...
, which feared W&DB would close the Cockermouth brewery. These fears seem to have been unfounded, however, as in June 2005 W&DB announced it would invest £250,000 to expand fermenting and cask
CASK
Peripheral plasma membrane protein CASK is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CASK gene. This gene is also known by several other names: CMG 2 , calcium/calmodulin-dependent serine protein kinase 3 and membrane-associated guanylate kinase 2.-Genomics:This gene is located on the short arm of...
racking capacity in Cockermouth, this work had been completed before the end of October 2008
Following the takeover by W&DB, the brewery's distribution centre in Workington was closed and its tied estate of 127 pubs absorbed by the W&DB pub company. Due to the takeover and subsequent name change, Marston's Pedigree is becoming more common in Jennings pubs.
Jennings beers are available across the north of England and are increasingly seen in W&DB pubs in the midlands as well as being sold in free trade outlets throughout the country.
List of brewed ales
All year round ales by Jennings are:- Cumberland Ale (4.0% abv) - Cumberland Ale (or a pint of sausage) has been brewed for over 100 years. The brewery's biggest selling ale.
- BitterBitter (beer)Bitter is an English term for pale ale. Bitters vary in colour from gold to dark amber and in strength from 3% to 7% alcohol by volume.-Brief history:...
(3.5% abv) - The original beer from the Jennings brewery in Cockermouth and the brewery's biggest seller in west Cumbria. - Sneck Lifter (5.1% abv) - Launched in 1990 as a winter beer and moved into all year round in 1995. "Sneck" is a northern word for door latch. A sneck lifter is a man's last sixpence, allowing him to lift the pub's door latch and purchase a pint, whereupon he hopes to make enough friends that they may offer to buy him further rounds.
- Cocker Hoop (4.6% abv) - Launched in 1995 as "September Ale". Cock-a-hoop is the old custom of removing the cork from a barrel and resting it on the hoop of the cask before drinking from that barrel. Its name was changed to Cocker Hoop as a reminder of the breweries location on the banks of the River Cocker.
Classic Beers:
- Amber Ale (3.7% abv)
- Classic Pale Ale (4.2% abv)
- Dark Mild (3.1% abv) - Due to the decline of milds this is becoming a rare find.
- PorterPorter (beer)Porter is a dark-coloured style of beer. The history and development of stout and porter are intertwined. The name was first used in the 18th century from its popularity with the street and river porters of London. It is generally brewed with dark malts...
(4.5% abv) - Rye Beer (4.0% abv)
- Winter Ale (4.5% abv)
Seasonal Ales:
- Crag Rat (4.3% abv Mar-Apr) - Launched in May 2001. Named for slang for rock climbers. Has been found available out of season.
- Golden Host (4.3% abv Mar-Apr) - named from a line in I Wandered Lonely as a CloudI Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is a poem by William Wordsworth.It was inspired by an April 15, 1802 event in which Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, came across a "long belt" of daffodils...
by William WordsworthWilliam WordsworthWilliam Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
, who was born in Cockermouth - Tom Fool (4.0% abv) - Thomas Skelton of Muncaster CastleMuncaster CastleMuncaster Castle is a privately owned castle overlooking the Esk river, about a mile south of the west-coastal town of Ravenglass in Cumbria, England.-History:...
in the Lake District was known for his pranks or "Tomfoolery". Part of his will reads: "And when I’m bury’d then my friends may drink, but each man pay for his self, yt’s best I thinke!" - Fish King (4.3% abv) - Launched in 2005 when it was brewed as a celebration of the Lake District Osprey Project.
- Red Breast (4.5% abv Oct-Jan)
- World's Biggest Liar (4.3% abv) - Jennings are sponsoring the 2008 World's Biggest Liar competition held in Searton Bridge.
- Mountain Man (4.3% abv)
- Honey Bole (4.5% abv)
- Yan T'yan Tethera (3.8% abv) - Named for the Cumbrian dialect of "One, Two, Three" (shepherds counting sheep). Label on pump has sheep imaged.
- Swan's Lake (4.2% abv Oct-Nov) - Launched in 2008 and named after the Lakeside-Bowness ferry which has been running 70 years.
- Cross Buttock (4.5% abv)
- 1828 (3.8% abv)
- Stickle PikeStickle PikeStickle Pike is an outlying fell located in the southern Lake District near the small town of Broughton-in-Furness, with the summit situated between the lower Duddon Valley and the quiet smaller valley of Dunnerdale. Despite its low altitude the sharp, conical summit is prominent in views from the...
(3.8 abv)
Smooth Ales:
- Bitter Smooth (3.5% abv) - Launched in 1996; formerly named Old Smoothy
- Cumberland Cream (4.0% abv)
Currently not in production:
- Laal Cockle Warmer (6.5%% abv) - Winter seasonal ale from 1995 after former winter ale, Sneck Lifter went to all year round. "La'al" is the Cumbrian word for little and, due to the strength of this ale, it may sometimes be drunk in half pintPintThe pint is a unit of volume or capacity that was once used across much of Europe with values varying from state to state from less than half a litre to over one litre. Within continental Europe, the pint was replaced with the metric system during the nineteenth century...
s. Cockle Warmer was last brewed in December 2005.
Awards
- Great British Beer Festival 1999 Cocker Hoop received Best Bitter
- Drinktec 2005 International Milds, Stouts and Porters, class 2, Sneck Lifter received bronze