Muirhouse Brewery

Hello to you all, I hope you’re keeping yourselves well and safe during the lockdown!

Just before I get onto the next post, I want to mention that the former ales and breweries blog has successfully been rebranded to The Cask Connoisseur – I also now have got a tremendous new website and I’ve got plenty of content posts to keep you all occupied over the next coming week.

Who’s excited? I certainly am, I am in love with the new makeover and I hope you as my followers really like it as well.

Today’s post is on The Muirhouse Brewery which is a fantastic, classic and traditional Microbrewery and the owners of this business are lovely and I’ve met them on several occasions!

History

The Muirhouse Microbrewery is a small family run business which is based in Derbyshire in the town of Ilkeston.

The brewery was established in 2007 by Husband Richard Muir and Wife Mandy Muir, Richard was running the business as a head brewer on a part-time basis whilst still doing his daily job as a production manager, whilst Mandy worked in a supermarket.

Richard was operating The Muirhouse Brewery from his own house at Long Eaton inside his garage, this is where the name of the brewery came from – Muir being Richard’s surname and House because he was brewing in his home.

Here is the man himself Mr Richard Muir!

Stuart Gates, owner of Gates Burton Brewery is also another iconic head brewer who is brewing beer in his own garage at home as well.

Muirhouse Brewery was currently using at first a 100-litre brewing kit which allowed them to only brew once a week on a Sunday.

Then, because the microbrewery was becoming increasingly popular, both owners decided a change was needed, so in 2011 when it was Richard’s 40th Birthday his main present was an upgrade from his 100-litre brewing kit to a 2 BBL barrel brewery.

Furthermore, Muirhouse Brewery decided because of the upgrade and size of the microbrewery they both moved the business over to Ilkeston and this where it currently stands today.

Due to Richard passion towards the brewing industry, he then became the head brewer of the microbrewery on a full-time basis after leaving his Production Manager role.

Again due to an increase in demand, Muirhouse went even further and purchased a new 4 BBL barrel brewery, this also helped the brewing schedule to change from once a week to twice a week.

The vision of the business was set and their aim was to brew beers with a passion and enormous amounts of flavour.

In 2015, Mandy left the supermarket trade and joined the business on a full-time basis, at this time the brewery had other products they wanted to achieve.

Between 2015 and 2017, Muirhouse Brewery owned The Last Post Micropub in Derby, so both partners were brewing and running a pub at the same time – What dedication towards the industry that is.

After leaving The Last Post in 2017, Richard and Mandy just focused on the brewing side of the business and by this point, they both have produced a wide range of different Cask Ales.

Then, in 2019 both owners took on The Weighbridge Inn, which is small classic micropub situated in brewing capital of Burton Upon Trent, originally the pub was owned by Old Cottage Brewery but due to a lack in demand the pub closed and the brewery collapsed.

Since 2019, Richard and Mandy have been at the helm of the micropub and their aim is to create a difference in the pub which is to provide a different selected range of cask ales on draught as well as their own beers.

They still both currently own this tremendous micropub!

What we have learnt so far is that The Muirhouse Brewery has achieved so much over the years, from starting the business in the garage to now having their own fully functional microbrewery is just amazing.

I will now progress onto the beers that this wonderful brewery has to offer!

Muirhouse Brewery Cask Ales

I will admit there so much choice on the cask ales and they all do sound gorgeous!

APA – 4.2% ABV – A traditional American Hopped pale ale

Back In the Building – 5.0% ABV – Strong Pale Ale with Simcoe and Citra American Hops

Coffee Porter – 5.0% ABV – A Strong and rich porter with a hint of coffee

Don’t Tell Him Your Name Pyke – 4.6% ABV – A beer specifically brewed in conjunction with the battle of brewers between Muirhouse Brewery and Briabank Brewery.

Erewash FC – 4.0% ABV – Classic pale ale brewed with sticklebract hops to leave a citrus and pine flavour.

Fully Fitted Freight – 4.0% ABV – Amber coloured, premium bitter with a fine blend of malts and hops which leaves a dry finish.

Hat-trick IPA – 5.2% ABV – A traditional IPA packed with a hat-trick of American hops.

HDB – 4.3% ABV – A golden beer that was brewed for a charity football event

Hop Garden – 4.0% ABV – A special beer blended with a different series of hops, extremely hoppy

Magnum Mild – 4.5% ABV – A fantastic and rich copper coloured mild ale which has won an award at the Leicester Beer Festival – This is my favourite beer from Muirhouse Brewery

Mango and Passionfruit Dark – 4.1% ABV – A dark coloured beer with plenty of fruitiness and sweetness.

Mango Man – 4.2% ABV – A golden pale ale with added mango to give a fruity finish.

Pirates Gold – 4.5% ABV – Gold coloured bitter which is packed with admiral hops.

Ruby Jewel – 3.9% ABV – A beautiful and rich award-winning ruby red ale.

Shopping For Hops – 3.9% ABV – A hoppy pale ale with a citrus bitterness.

Shunters Pale – 3.8% ABV – A refreshing and hoppy pale ale with Columbus and Styrian hops.

Simple Simons Stout – 4.5% ABV – A dark and rich full-bodied complex stout with a blend of 7 other stouts.

Stumbling About – 5.2% ABV – A strong and original ruby red beer – Don’t drink too much of this haha.

Summit Hoppy – 4.0% ABV – A pale and hoppy session ale which is brewed with American summit hops.

The Greedy King – 4.7% ABV – A single hopped pale ale which uses Citra hops, to create a citrusy beer.

Tick-Tock – 4.0% ABV – A copper coloured ale balanced with a slight bitterness.

True Gent – 4.3% ABV – A hoppy session pale ale which is dedicated to a true gent, Colin Gent.

This concludes all of the cask ales that Muirhouse Brewery brew, what a huge range and they do all sound terrific, I have tried a fair few of the brewery’s beers and my favourite as of yet is Magnum Mild just because it’s so sweet and delicious.

Furthermore, the brewery has got many more beer recipes coming up in the pipeline in the years to come, I wonder what could be next.

Ending

This microbrewery has gone above and beyond and has truly shown what a successful business it’s turning into.

I believe there is still more to come from this brewery and to see how they started small and to where they’re today is just amazing and I truly do wish Mandy and Richard well for the future.

I am hoping soon once it’s safe and when the pubs re-open that I will get the chance to head back down to The Weighbridge Inn and meet the two iconic heroes behind this Marvellous Microbrewery!

On that note…

Cheers

Luke x

Stay Safe and Take Care everyone!