Okells

Okells is a regional brewery founded in 1850 by Dr. William Okell in Douglas, Isle of Man.

History

Dr. William Okell, a Cheshire surgeon, started Okell's Brewery in Castle Hill, Douglas in 1850. By 1874 Dr. Okell owned many of the pubs on the island, had convinced the Tynwald, the island's ruling council, to create an act ensuring the purity of beer brewed on the Isle of Man, and built The Falcon Steam Brewery just outside Douglas.

In 1972 Okells was bought by Heron & Brearley, a local drinks company. Then, in 1986, it was merged with Castletown Brewery and renamed The Isle of Man Breweries.

In August 1994 the company moved to a new purpose built brewery outside Douglas and reverted back to the name Heron & Brearley.

Availability

Beers are available on the Isle of Man and in the UK. Okells have 4 UK pubs:

* "Thomas Rigby's", Liverpool
* "The Fly In The Loaf", Liverpool
* "Bear and Billet", Chester
* "The Academy", Aberystwyth, Wales

The beer is also available through Major UK beer distributors. Bottled beer is also available on the Isle of Man and Finland.

Beers

The company brews four regular cask ales:

* Okells Bitter.
* Okells mild.
* Dr. Okells IPA.
* Okells Maclir.

Four seasonal beers:

* Spring Ram
* Summer Storm
* Autumn Dawn
* St. Nick

And five occasional beers:

* Dr. Okells Elixir
* Dr. Okells Eastern Spice
* Casteltown Bitter
* Olde Skipper
* Aile - a smoked Porter

Also available are Dr. Okells IPA, Okells Maclir and Okells Aile, sold in bottles.

External links

* [http://www.okells.co.uk Brewery website]
* [http://www.beermad.org.uk/cgi-bin/show_brewery_info.cgi?id=706 BeerMad's brewery information]
* [http://www.ratebeer.com/brewers/okells/1029/ RateBeer's brewery information]
* [http://www.quaffale.org.uk/php/brewery/159 Quaffale's brewery information]