Food and Drink > Lancashire Specialities > Pendle Witches Brew

Pendle Witches Brew

When William Moorhouse founded Moorhouse's in 1865, in premises not far from the present production site, he produced mineral waters, which were sold in bottles and half-gallon jars.

By 1870 the business was doing so well that William decided to build his own premises and relocated to the building that is occupied today. This brewery was purpose-built as a drinks-manufacturing site, with the terraced houses on either side being added later to house workers and members of the Moorhouse family. In its original layout, incorporated into the brewery buildings were the stables in which the delivery dray horses were kept.

Moorhouse's developed the Hop Bitters - Old Kent Mild, Old Peter Stout, and Old Boss Bitter - which won two exhibition awards. These Hop Bitters were low in alcohol, less than 2%abv, and deemed to be "non-intoxicating liquours". They were sold on draught in Temperance bars throughout the North West and exported in bottles throughout the world, selling particularly well in Muslim countries, where alcohol is banned.

The brewery changed hands many times, with each successive owner failing to make the venture profitable.
The company has six pubs of its own; three in Burnley - The General Scarlett, The Stanley, and The Wheatsheaf ; one in Bury -The Dusty Miller; one in Atherton - The Pendle Witch; and one in Rawtenstall - The Craven Heifer. In addition to supplying its own outlets, Moorhouse's supplies beers to approximately 300 Free Trade outlets within a 50-mile radius of the brewery and enjoys national distribution through a comprehensive wholesale network.

Two of Moorhouse's products are available in bottle, Pendle Witches Brew and Black Cat. Both are available through Morrisons and Booths. In addition to these domestic sales, the bottles are exported to Canada, U.S.A, Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Sweden and Cyprus. Pendle Witches Brew is also brewed under license in Cyprus.

Over the years Moorhouse's beers have won numerous awards at beer festivals up and down the Country. In addition to these Moorhouse's beers have gained recognition at the Brewing Industry International Awards, the "Oscars" of the brewing industry. This award ceremony takes place every two years and the prizes are keenly fought over by breweries from around the world. At the last judging, in April 2004, Moorhouse's walked away with a clutch of awards.