When I was growing up in Congleton, the only brewery I was aware of was in my mate’s garage, and its mercifully brief output made us all violently ill. The ‘beer’, which was the dubious product of a homebrew kit from Boots, was the colour of car wash run-off, and not dissimilar in flavour. None of us went on to make any significant headway in the brewing industry, and thank god for that frankly.
Beartown, however, Congleton’s flagship brewery since 1994, is a bit better at making beer than we were. Well, a lot better. Last week, as it re-opened its brewery space following a huge refit, its co-owner Joe Manning, surrounded by friends and family celebrating with him, pulled up two kegs and told me how he’s planning to write a new chapter for the business.
Like me, Joe is Congleton born and bred. So he knows the hoary old tale of the town’s nickname as well as anyone. In the 1600s, those in charge of Congleton’s entertainment budget decided to borrow money which had been set aside to buy a new bible to buy a new dancing bear instead, following the sad demise of the town’s previous bear. There was no Netflix, and you can hardly blame them. So henceforth, Congleton has been known as Beartown.
