Cains Brewery Trip

Cain’s brewery trip Saturday 26 January 2008

 

As Cains beer is the official beer for Liverpool’s City of
Culture year, it seemed a particularly appropriate time to organise a visit
round the brewery (it’s not often you can pass off a brewery trip as a cultural
event!)

 

16 of us met at the brewery tap for a swift pre-tour drink,
having made our way to Liverpool via various trains and buses. Phil, Colin and
I also had a look at one of the landmark City of Culture buildings/art exhibits
on the way to the brewery (see photographs) – suspect that pub will be rather
draughty for drinks in the future.

 

There were 25 of us on the tour altogether and, despite the
site not being in operation that day as it was a Saturday, we were given a most
interesting tour round the brewery, with plenty of anecdotes on the brewery’s
history. We also heard of its future plans, the current owners having taken
over about 5 years ago when the brewery was on the point of ceasing altogether.
They have a large canning unit there, canning drinks for numerous other
companies, but their bottling is done at Robinsons, so it’s almost a local
beer.

 

After the tour we returned to the brewery tap to use our 2
free vouchers on pints to drink there or bottles to take home, and were
provided with sandwiches, sausage rolls etc to keep us going.

 

From there we split up into several groups, some heading
home or to look round Liverpool, and some to visit the Philharmonic pub, as
recommended by the guide, for further drinks. This is a particularly ornate pub,
the wooden interior having been made by workers from the local shipyard.
Apparently the gents toilets were particularly ornate, though I never got to
see those.

 

A further split in the group saw 6 of us enjoying a meal at
the Philharmonic, followed by a train trip home (with a whisky for the road en
route).

 

Helen