The Isle of Man is fairly unusual in that it has (similar to Germany) its own beer purity laws , which -unlike Germany -date back to 1874. The law forbade the use of any supplement to malt, hops, sugar, water and brewers’ yeast. The Manx Government controversially amended the act in 1999 to enable Okells to contract brew a pseudo Canadian lager,allowing them to put inferior additives in the brew, but less harmfully to permit the use of specific additives e.g. fruit .
The brewery moved in 1990 to an out of town location on Mount Murray with “Beerhunter” Michael Jackson very kindly ageeing to overseeing the official opening. During the expansion, beautiful new equipment was acquired, incorporating a Robert Morton Brew Tower, a bank of stainless, conical fermenting vessels, all individually thermostatically controlled, and a host of built in controls which ensure the consistency of all our brews, whether summer or winter.
Head Brewer, Neil (Curly) Convery is a real ‘hands on’ brewer who is involved at every stage of the process – including the consumption of the finished product! Ably assisted by team mates Adey ( in the fermenter), with Ed cracking the whip in the office. There is a passion for real ale and other styles of beer, and that passion shines through in the quality of their work. Oh and don’t mention the ciggy in Deb’s hand please!!
