Bass Brewery

The Bass Brewery, founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-on-Trent, the historical home of pale ale. There the company brews its famous Draught Bass and Worthington White Shielded, a noted bottle conditioned ale.

The brewery saw remarkable growth in it early years with ale sent to Russian in1784 and to North American by 1799.

The company’s flagship Draught Bass is cask –conditioned, a practice followed by many of Britain’s ale brewers and the odd American microbrewery.

International fame came under William’s grandson Michael Thomas Bass II, who was senior partner in Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton for half a century.

In the mid 1870s, the c0mpany was briefly the largest brewer in the world, with an output close to 1.5 million hectoliters (39.6 million US gallons) from three breweries in Burton on Trent, backed by a network of agencies and stores.

By 1888, the Bass brewery complex covered 145 acres of land and employed more than 2500workers, with output approaching the million barrel mark. In the 1960s Bass continued to grow, emerging with the UK’s largest brewery following acquisition of Charrington United Breweries, brewers of Carling.
Bass Brewery