Meantime Brewery is an award-winning 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....

 based in Greenwich

Greenwich

Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, 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...

.

History

It was founded in 2000 by Brewmaster, Alastair Hook, who trained at the world famous brewing school at the Technical University of Munich

Technical University of Munich

The Technische Universität München is a research university with campuses in Munich, Garching, and Weihenstephan...

 of Weihenstephan

Weihenstephan

Weihenstephan is a part of Freising north of Munich, Germany.Weihenstephan is known for:* the site of one of the three campuses of the Technische Universität München , namely the one for life sciences* the Fachhochschule Weihenstephan...

. The Greenwich Brewery, home of the Meantime Brewing Company, is located 0° 2' 12" east of the Greenwich Meridian, though the brewery will be moving to new premises in 2010.

This mission driven company aims to help the consumer rediscover their cultural and culinary beer heritage, which it believes has, in the UK at least, largely been lost as beer manufacture has been concentrated in the hands of a smaller number of ever bigger brewers, who do not wish the consumer to have any great understanding or appreciation of beer.

Sinces its establishment Meantime has built a worldwide reputation for both quality and for the authentic recreation of several of the world's iconic and pivotal beer styles. Its India Pale Ale

India Pale Ale

India Pale Ale or IPA is a style of beer within the broader category of pale ale. It was first brewed in England in the 19th century.The first known use of the expression "India pale ale" comes from an advertisement in the Liverpool Mercury newspaper published January 30, 1835...

 and London Porter (beer)

Porter (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...

 are generally regarded as being amongst the most historically accurate recreations of these beers available today.

Meantime has matched its reputation for authenticity with one for innovation. Its Coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

Porter

Porter (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...

 - launched in 2005 - was Britain's first Fairtrade beer (using coffee from the Maraba Coffee

Maraba Coffee

Maraba coffee is grown in the Maraba area of southern Rwanda.Maraba's coffee plants are the Bourbon variety of the Coffea arabica species and are grown on fertile volcanic soils on high-altitude hills. The fruit is handpicked, mostly during the rainy season between March and May, and brought to a...

 cooperative of Rwanda

Rwanda

Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

), and went on to win a gold medal at the 2006 World Beer Cup

World Beer Cup

The World Beer Cup, known as "The Olympics of Beer Competition", is one of several major international beer competitions. It was founded by Association of Brewers President Charlie Papazian....

. Meantime was the first British brewery to win medals at the World Beer Cup

World Beer Cup

The World Beer Cup, known as "The Olympics of Beer Competition", is one of several major international beer competitions. It was founded by Association of Brewers President Charlie Papazian....

 in 2004 and is the only British brewery to have won medals at every WBC since. In 2007 Meantime had no fewer than four beers ranked in the 'Worlds 50 Best Beers' as compiled by the UK based International Beer Challenge; a feat it repeated in 2008.

As a consequence of Meantime's striving to raise the bar of British brewing Alastair Hook was named the 2008 Brewer of the Year by the British Guild of Beer Writers.

Products

Meantime brews a range of 12 regularly available beers which focus on traditional British and European styles, such as Kolsch

Kölsch

Kölsch may refer to:*Kölsch , a beer speciality from Cologne, Germany*Kölsch language, a Ripuarian dialect spoken in Cologne*Historic Colognian, a predecessor of todays Kölsch language....

, Helles, Porter

Porter (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...

 and India Pale Ale

India Pale Ale

India Pale Ale or IPA is a style of beer within the broader category of pale ale. It was first brewed in England in the 19th century.The first known use of the expression "India pale ale" comes from an advertisement in the Liverpool Mercury newspaper published January 30, 1835...

.

In addition it also produces an annual range of Limited Edition seasonal ales, which vary each year.

Prior to September 2009 Meantime also manufactured all the beers in Sainsbury's "Taste the Difference" range.

Outlets

Meantime owns and operates the Greenwich Union public house on Royal Hill Greenwich

Greenwich

Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...

 and in 2010 will be opening the Old Brewery, bar and restaurant with brewery in the original 1836 Brewhouse of the Old Royal Naval College

Old Royal Naval College

The Old Royal Naval College is the architectural centrepiece of Maritime Greenwich, a World Heritage Site in Greenwich, London, described by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation as being of “outstanding universal value” and reckoned to be the “finest and most...

, Greenwich, making it only the second brewery in the world to be located within a UNESCO World Heritage Site.