Cheers for Beartown Brewery and its beer for our bears
A big thank you from our rescued bears – and bottoms up!
The first three beers went down a treat with bear-loving patrons.
Head Brewer Ian Burns has turned history on its head.
A northwest English brewery is doing its bit to erase a dark chapter in its town’s history – and our bears are certainly drinking to that!
The Beartown Brewery and Beartown Tap in the picturesque town of Congleton in Cheshire are raising funds – and awareness – of the Moon Bear Rescue from the sale of some very special brews. Each month the brewery is releasing a new beer named after one of our rescued bears. In May there was “BJ Organic”, June was “Jolly Jasper”, July was “Double Trouble” and many more are to come.
Congleton is known as the “Beartown” from an incident during Elizabethan times when bear-baiting was a popular sport. As one story goes, Congleton owned an old and decrepit bear and was unable to attract large crowds to its bear-baiting contests. It also lacked the money to pay for a new and more aggressive bear. It did however have a sum of money saved to buy a new bible. The town decided to use the money in the bible fund to pay for a new bear, and then replenished it with the income from the increased number of spectators.
However, when the story was reported to neighbouring towns, it got corrupted and the legend grew that Congleton had sold its bible in order to buy a new bear.
Whatever the true history of Congleton, Animals Asia is certainly very grateful to Head Brewer Ian Burns and his team for their support. These beers are all on sale on tap in pubs across Cheshire, and nationally at beer festivals. The brewery also produces a bottled beer called “Kodiak Gold” with the Animals Asia logo on the bottles and a percentage from the sales will also come to us. Ian is also spreading the word about the Moon Bear Rescue on his website: www.beartownbrewery.co.uk.
On her UK Roadshow in June 2007, Jill and our UK director Dave Neale sampled some of the tipple and they both gave it a resounding “thumbs up”. Jill even brought a few bottles back to Chengdu for the local staff to enjoy.
A huge thank you to Ian for his support. It’s great to know that in the future Congleton will be know as Beartown not because of its reputation for cruelty to bears, but for its kindness.
Jill shares some "Jolly Jasper" beer with the staff at Chengdu.
Jill serves up a foaming "Jolly Jasper".
Our UK Director Dave Neale pulls a pint at the Beartown Brewery.
