Leeds Brewery Tour

It seems so simple, this-setting-up-a-brewery lark.

Walking around the compact, but seemingly organised Leeds Brewery with co-founder Sam Moss, it’s easy to forget that the business has only been in existence for a touch over two years.

Situated on a light industrial estate not far from Leeds’ bustling centre, the brewery is the hub of an expanding local empire that now stretches to three pubs across the town centre as well as the modern and compact Leeds Brewery HQ. The team produces three permanent beers and twelve seasonal beers; one for each calendar month. The beers are on sale across the country and also in Leeds brewery’s three self-owned pubs in Leeds city centre.

The Leeds Brewery team

Being Leeds residents and big fans of the beers that the brewery makes, we jumped at the chance to take a day off work and visit our very own local brewers. Upon arrival the other half of the management, Michael Brothwell, was busy making an emergency keg delivery in the back of his Ford Fiesta, so it was down to Sam to take us round the modern set up…

Sam takes us through the mash tuns, coppers, fermentation tanks right to the conditioning tanks where the final brews are materialising, and we chat about beer and business the whole way round. Our first question was simple, where do you start when setting up a brewery?

Leeds Brewery Mash Tuns and Coppers

“We thought it would be a good idea to develop some beers,” says Sam. “We had decided that we would like a pale, medium and dark beer, as well as a weaker, medium and strong alcohol strength beer”.

The results were Leeds Pale, Leeds Best and Midnight Bell, three very drinkable pints that are perhaps less experimental than some of those produced by other fledgling breweries, and deliberately so.

“We had set out to sell beers. This meant that they had to be very drinkable. As well as this, we have worked hard to make the brewery as commercially viable as possible; creating a strong and trusted brand, immediately recognisable and trusted on the pumps at the bar in order to keep people coming back.

Whilst we wander around the building talking – the smell of mash and brew filling the air - it is clear that the brewery house is full of action today. The head brewer Venkatesh Iyer is laying out the casts ready to fill with a freshly fermented batch of Leeds Pale. “Venkatesh is probably the youngest head brewer in the country,” points out Sam with a hint of pride. “He’s great, certainly the youngest head brewer of an operation of this size”.

Leeds Brewery Mash Tuns

Our journey takes us from the stainless steel mash tuns and coppers, through to the polished and gleaming conditioning tanks Some of the vessels are imported from Germany because of course our European friends are the kings of precision engineering – quality vessels are required at this stage to ensure smooth surfaces and thus reduce the risk of yeast infection, which at this point in the process would be pretty devastating.

“We retain the yeast from each brew which means that it is ultimately unique to us. The life span of yeast used in this way is a fairly lengthy cycle, so it can be reused for a good period of time.

Leeds Brewery fermenting tanks

Whilst admiring the shiny vats Venkatesh begins filling the casks with fresh Leeds Pale, hurriedly switching the pipe from cask to cask. Ah yes, the beer.

Sam explains that Leeds Best is an all-British beer; the malt is sourced in Britain, the hops are sourced in Britain and of course the water is British. The team agrees that brewing an all-British product was important. But Midnight Bell and Leeds Pale spread the net slightly farther afield, with Pale using hops sourced from Slovenia.

Unique to all the Leeds beers is the yeast which they use. With each brew, the yeast – unique to the brewery – is retained. The process is one of top fermentation, technically, and the yeast can be captured from the top of each brew once fermentation is complete. The life span of yeast used in this way is a fairly lengthy cycle, so it can be reused for a good period of time.

One of the interesting aspects of the business model is the progression of the self-owned chain of pubs that are appearing across Leeds. The Brewery Tap , PIN, and The Midnight Bell are three modern pubs which stock the permanent cask ales, as well as a range of continental beers (bottled and tap) and guest casks from around the country. Each watering hole has it’s own personality and the system harks back to an age when Leeds acquired its grand Victorian pubs, in the days before Tetley’s moved in and took over the cities brewing and selling trade.

To put the brewing landscape of Leeds in perspective. Sam makes an interesting point that despite the huge Tetley brewery (now owned by the Carlsberg Group and scheduled for closure in 2011), there are very few, if any, competitive breweries in Leeds – one of the largest cities in the North of England.

When we first started looking at Leeds as a potential place to set up, we couldn’t believe that despite being known as ‘The Leeds Brewery’, no one at Tetley’s had thought to copyright that name. We thought we would step in and take the chance to create a good brand that takes pride in being associated with the city.”

Leeds Brewery is well on its way to becoming one of stars of the booming micro brewery scene. And soon enough they may be the only brewery left in the centre of Leeds, with the impending closure of the Tetley’s plant barely a mile away. Leeds Brewery’s physical size is dwarfed by the colossus of the beer giant, but there’s time for LB yet. The light industrial estate location might not scream authentic micro brewery, but Leeds modern brewing set up and quality ales more than make up for that.

The speed at which Leeds Brewery has established itself and its beers in Leeds and across Yorkshire is a sure sign of Sam and Michael’s determination to make their venture work. By creating a strong base of pubs and brewery, coupled with an understanding of how to create a modern brand in a rapidly-changing landscape, it is exciting to consider how far such a young brewery might go.

“One of the questions we had been ready to pose was one that was born from conflicting rumours we had heard circulating the local area, about the future of Midnight Bell – LB’s dark mild offering – as a bottled product.
Sam sadly confirmed that Midnight Bell wouldn’t be available in bottles any longer, but the good news is that it will be replaced by the more marketable on-trade bottles of Leodis (their premium lager) and Hell Fire (a fruity beer) the latter two both available in the 330ml sizes.”