Acclaimed ‘Pendle Witch’ brewer Moorhouse’s has hailed its first Halloween charity beer festival as a bewitching success.
Held last weekend (Friday and Saturday 26/27 October) the festival marked the 400th anniversary Halloween of the 1612 Pendle Witch Trials while also raising funds for the Pendleside Hospice.
Some twenty haunting ales were spirited away including an array of ghostly guest beers alongside the Burnley brewer’s own core brews such as Black Cat and Blond Witch, special October brew Ruby Witch and several Halloween blended ales. Many festival goers dressed up in scary costumes to turn the Saturday night session into a real Halloween party.
David Grant, managing director and head of the Moorhouse’s coven (see photograph) said: “The festival was a great success. In a really magical weekend we made some 2,500 pints disappear to more or less sell out of all the beer on the bar. People entered into the seasonal spirit with some great costumes to make Saturday a fun Halloween party, while also, of course, sampling great cask ales.
“With our increased capacity at the brewery we are now able to consolidate our title as the foremost Halloween brewer. This first Halloween festival marked the 400th anniversary of the Pendle Witch Trials to get our message across as well as raising crucial money for Pendleside Hospice.”
Each October sales traditionally surge by some 35 per cent as Moorhouse’s is increasingly hailed as THE Halloween brewer and have already hit a new high this year with more than half a million pints sold even before many pub celebrations on October 31 .
The North West’s leading dedicated cask ale brewery also expects Halloween to bring further focus to its online ‘Pardon the Pendle Witches’ campaign which claims a gross miscarriage of justice in 1612. To support the campaign visit www.moorhouses.co.uk/site/
The new brewing complex opened in 2011 to treble capacity to more than 1000 barrels a week. The Halloween event was the third themed festival this year in the events suite of the multi-million pound development.
Ends/Ref: MHPR Halloween festival success 2012.
Note to editors: Moorhouse’s has won more awards than any comparable brewer, including Black Cat voted Camra Supreme Champion Beer of Britain 2000. Last year Black Cat also took gold in the Standard Strength Cask-Conditioned Ale category of the Brewing Industry International Awards (BIIA). Founder William Moorhouse established his drinks manufacturing business in Accrington Road, Burnley, and Lancashire in 1865. Originally it produced mineral waters and then low strength hop bitters for Temperance Movement bars. Moorhouse’s began full strength brewing in the 1970s and in the eighties Manchester businessman Bill Parkinson bought the then ailing brewery ‘because he liked the beer’. Now, Moorhouse’s directly supplies several hundred pubs throughout the North West, Midlands and Yorkshire, while distributing nationally via leading wholesalers and major pub chains.
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