Unfortunately, due to health and safety reasons, we are unable to offer brewery tours to the general public.

Brewery Process & Beers

Although the brewing process is almost exactly the same as when the equipment was installed in 1860 all of the plant has been replaced over the years. We are now equipped with a very flexible traditional English brewery utilising three different sized mash tuns and two coppers capable of brewing anything between 15 to 500 barrels per day. Best quality English malt is purchased on an annual contract basis from various UK maltings. All beer colour is derived from blends of coloured malts and no caramel is used in any of our products. English hops are forward contracted up to four years ahead and harvested from the Midlands and Kent. Lager hops are forward contracted from Slovenian hop gardens. We are one of the few UK breweries still using whole cone hops which are separated from the wort with a hop back.

Fermenting

Where appropriate we have made the most of high technology control systems in critical areas. For example the temperatures of every fermenting vessel are monitored and if necessary corrected every 0.8 seconds. The system is accessible by brewing staff from their homes via modem link. All ales are top fermented in enclosed square fermenters with chilled water jackets. Individual fermenter working capacities range from 10 barrels to 250 barrels and all beers spend a Sabbath in vessel. We are very careful that our ale yeast strain which has been handed down over the years is maintained in top condition in chilled, mixed tanks to maintain viability.

Lager is bottom fermented at a low temperature using multiple temperature continental profiles and cold conditioned in cylindro-conical vessels ranging from 160 to 240 barrels capacity. All lager is cold conditioned at a maximum of 2 degrees Centigrade for a minimum of two weeks prior to diatomaceous earth filtration and keg packaging.

Settling

Natural sedimentation is used at all stages and cask beers are allowed to settle for a minimum of 18 hours prior to packaging.

Packaging

Cask sizes range from 9 gallons (firkin), 18 gallons (kilderkin), 22 gallons (no name), 36 gallons (barrel) and kegs from 11 to 22 gallons.

Product Range

At the heart of the Joseph Holt range is the company's draught bitter which is brewed at the Derby Brewery in Cheetham Hill, using a process, which is almost the same as when the plant was opened in 1860. Only the finest malt and processes are used to combine time-honored traditions with modern technology.

The same process is used for the full range of Holt's draught beers, comprising bitter, mild and a wide selection of seasonal beers. A similar attention to quality characterises Holt's lagers that use the finest Slovenian hops to brew Crystal and Diamond.

Never one to shy away from innovation Joseph Holt have successfully developed smooth bitter and mild products to meet the changing tastes of their customers.

Joseph Holt has also developed range of seven bottled beers for sale in its managed houses. Three of these have won awards - 1849 and Maplemoon won Gold and Silver respectively at the Munich International Beer Awards and Humdinger was the winner of the Tesco beer challenge. The range is also making inroads into new retail areas such as Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Morrisons.

A relatively recent but increasingly important addition to the Holt product offering is the Seasonal Beer Calendar, offering a different premium ale on draught for every month of the year. This gives discerning drinkers the Opportunity to sample a wide range of beers.

Product Quality

We are fully equipped to be self-sufficient in the analysis of all analytical parameters. No beer progresses to the next stage before full analysis. Minimum blending of beer occurs during the process so each brew will carry its own unique character within strict analytical boundaries.