Joseph Holt is an independent Manchester Brewery and an indispensable part of Manchester life. From humble beginnings in 1849 in what is now the Northern Quarter, to our current Empire Street brewery which has been home to Joseph Holt since 1860, we continue to create our award-winning beers which have been enjoyed by generations.
Still being housed at the original Brewery means we never lose sight of what’s important to us. We have remained faithful to the brewing traditions established by Joseph Holt back in the 1840s but we have embraced modern technology to ensure our beer tastes better than ever.
Today, our independent family-run brewery is equipped with three different sized mash tuns and two coppers, which are capable of brewing up to 500 barrels per day – which is over 100,000 pints. We use the best quality English malt and hops from the UK and lager hops from Slovenian hop gardens.
With 173 years of experience under our belts, we have perfected the brewing technique. Our range of ales are all top fermented in enclosed square fermenters. During the brewing process, the temperatures of all fermenting vessels are closely monitored and we use chilled water jackets to give us full control of the all-important temperature.
Our lagers are bottom fermented using multiple continental profiles. They are cold conditioned in cylindro-conical vessels at a temperature of 0 degrees centigrade for 21 days prior to earth filtration and packaging into kegs.
Natural sedimentation is used at all stages and cask beers are allowed to settle for a minimum of 18 hours prior to packaging.
We know good beer which is why bottles of Holt’s are exported – and enjoyed – around the world and it’s also why we have five International Brewing Award Gold Medals.
