Anyone who visits Cumbria, however briefly will have noticed the logo of the Jennings brewery.
Jennings, being the largest brewer in Cumbria practically owns the county. It is tied to 127 pubs county-wide.
Jennings was founded in 1828 by John Jennings in the village of Lorton in 1847 the brewery moved to its present home the Castle hill Brewery in Cockermouth due to the location of a pure water well which the brewery still obtains all its water from to this day.
In 2005 the Brewery was purchased by the Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries, now known as Marstons. this was greatly opposed but as actually been a very good thing with £250.000 investment in the brewery and the brewery still being allowed independence to carry on as normal.
In 2009, the brewery alongside the rest of Cockermouth was ruined or destroyed by the floods when the river broke its banks flooding the town. Our tour guide stated that the water was not only coming through the doors and windows but through the actual walls themselves, the flood line reached about 5 feet inside the brewery. Brewing switched to the Midlands during the recovery but now the brewery is fully refurbished and back in full production.
The tour was a very informative trip showing each part of the brewing process, it lasted a very quick hour and was followed by a tasting session of 3 halves of Jennings beers, *go with a none drinker and you can have their halves as well*. It costs only £6 for the tour and samples and is a very cheap and interesting way to spend a couple of hours. The beers are superb but don't take my word for it as I'm a biased Cumbrian, go try them yourself and check out this historic brewery.
Beers Sampled
Bitter 3.5% - Dark Nutty Bitter - Delicous - My Personal Favourite
Cocker Hoop 4.6% - Very Tasty Golden Beer
Sneck Lifter 5.1% - Dark and Rich, Strongest Jennings Beer
Dark Mild 3.1% - Very rare to find this due to decline in Mild popularity
Honey Bole 4.0% - Stunning honey beer
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