McMullen's Brewery

History

McMullen's was founded in 1827 in Railway Street, Hertford. As the business grew larger it moved first to Mill Bridge in 1832 and then to Old Cross in 1891. A modern brewhouse was built in 1984. In 2002, the business was valued at £176m. In the mid-2000s the company had a narrow escape from closure as the controlling family split between those shareholders who wanted to receive a reasonable dividend and those who wanted to reinvest annual profits into the company and keep dividends very low. David McMullen stepped down as Chairman following an unsuccessful attempted management buyout. A new independent Chairman, Charles Brims, produced a compromise whereby several non-brewing property investments were sold to release cash to appease the majority shareholders and a plan was launched to build a brand new, smaller brewhouse. The company decided to shed contract-brewing and take advantage of tax breaks by becoming a smaller brewer. As the new 'Whole Hop Brewery' (opened 2006) was much more compact than the 1984-built site the spare land was sold to Sainsbury's.

Brief details

McMullen's brews cask ale and pasteurised bottled beers. The company owns over 130 freehold pubs mainly operating in the Home Counties and with a number of pubs in London including The Spice of Life Cambridge Circus and The Nag's Head in Covent Garden. McMullen's is acquisitive and has recently purchased pubs and bars in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Sevenoaks, Fleet, Marlow, Milton Keynes and Bishops Stortford. The company has no debt.

Beers

McMullen's produces three regular cask ales and several occasional ales. Its AK XXX, first brewed in the 19th century, is the only beer of its type to survive in the UK. The regular range consists of:

McMullen's brews a guest beer every month which is available for a limited period. These can include its IPA, Tooty Fruity, McDuff, and Harvest Moon. The beers are advertised with the tagline 'From the whole hop brewery'.

Bottled Ales

Guest beers

Out of production

Pubs