The Family Brewers of Britain: A celebration of British brewing heritage by Roger Protz

Author:Roger Protz [Protz, Roger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-30T18:30:00+00:00

Sir Edward Holt died in 1968, aged 85, and with 64 years’ service to the brewery. He was succeeded by his nephew Peter Kershaw, who steered the company through the difficult years of the 1960s and 70s, which saw the rise of giant national brewers and their keg beers and lager. While Joseph Holt entered the lager market with its own brands, it remained committed to draught ale. The arrival of CAMRA in 1971 saw interest in cask beer increase. By 1979 brewery volumes had risen substantially and half a million pounds were invested in expanding and renewing equipment at the brewery so capacity could increase by 50 per cent.

By the early 1990s increasing demand for Holt’s beer led to further expansion. Additional fermenting capacity and kegging equipment were installed, and new buildings erected on the site of the old stables enabled production to again grow by 50 per cent. At the same time, several old regional breweries were being taken over and closed by national companies. The disappearance of the Oldham Brewery and then Boddingtons gave a further boost to sales of Holt’s beer – though no one at the Derby Brewery expressed any pleasure at the demise of companies with whom they had enjoyed good neighbourly relations for many years, not least during the Second World War.

Investment and a community focus

Today, brewers Phil Parkinson and Lloyd Rees start a tour in the brewery yard where a new bore hole has been sunk for a supply of ‘liquor’ or brewing water: water from an old, deeper bore hole is no longer of sufficient quality for brewing. Inside the brewery, the expanded capacity can be seen by not one but two mash tuns and two coppers that can cope with brew lengths of up to 150 barrels. Thirty fermenting vessels cope with ale and lager, with conical lager tanks outside the brewhouse. Lager is hopped with the Celeia variety from Slovenia, while ales use two English varieties, Admiral and Whitbread Goldings.

Holt’s Bitter is brewed with pale and black malts while Mild is made with pale, crystal and black malts and brewing sugar. Two Hoots is brewed with a blend of pale and lager malts and hopped with an English version of American Cascade while IPA is made with just pale malt and Cascade.

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