Theakston: Original gravity

As Theakston approaches its 200th year, a visit to Masham finds a Yorkshire tower brewery still taking the time to do things right. In partnership with Theakston.

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Ferment team

Saturday 25 July 2026

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This article is from

Yorkshire

issue 133

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There are two significant breweries in Masham, which feels like a generous allowance for a Dales market town of this size. The elder of the pair is Theakston, brewing here since 1827, while the younger, Black Sheep, was founded in 1991 by a Theakston who fancied striking out on his own. The original firm has stayed in the family throughout, and is now run by the fifth and sixth generations of it.

That dynasty began in 1827, when Robert Theakston took a lease on the Black Bull Inn and began brewing in the cellar. His sons built a new brewery on a patch of ground called Paradise Fields in 1875, and that is – give or take – the building you walk through today; a Victorian tower brewery, one of the few still working in Britain. The gravity-fed design means that malt and water go in near the top, and the beer makes its way down through each stage under its own weight, floor-by-floor, until it reaches the casks at the bottom. It has been doing its job superbly for 150 years.

The modern visitor centre is called the Black Bull in Paradise, a name that folds both halves of the history together: the inn where it all started and the field where it settled. From here the guided tour runs about 45 minutes and takes you up into the tower itself, past the mash tun and copper, with stairways steep enough and walkways narrow enough that sensible shoes are a requirement (flip-flops and heels are turned away at the door, and under-12s aren't permitted on the tour at all).

Most visitors make the pilgrimage for one beer in particular. Old Peculier has been brewed under that name since the 1890s, and the spelling is not a misprint. Masham was once a "Peculier" – an ecclesiastical district that sat outside the usual church hierarchy and ran its own affairs, complete with its own court. The brewery's seal still carries the date ‘1741’ and the title of the Official of the Peculier of Masham. The beer itself is a dark, strong old ale in the stock-beer tradition, the sort once brewed through winter and held back to round out the lighter summer brews. It is rich and faintly vinous, and Yorkshire once knew it (affectionately, we believe) as Lunatic's Broth. These days it lends its name to the Harrogate crime-writing festival.

One of the main draws of the brewery tour is the opportunity to experience Old Peculier poured straight from a wooden cask in the bar. This is an act bound up in Theakston’s identity, and its place in Britain’s brewing heritage, since this is one of a tiny number of British breweries that still employs a full-time cooper, Euan Findlay, who makes and repairs the oak casks by hand. Coopering has all but vanished from modern brewing, and if your visit lands while he is at the bench, you can watch it being done the way it has always been done here. Every tour ends with a pint included – or two halves, or three thirds – with soft drinks for younger guests and tea and coffee on hand.

It’s an experience worth building a day around, and Masham sits at the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, with a broad market square, independent shops and a clutch of good pubs. Larger groups are well catered for, with discounts for parties of 15 or more and private or later tours arranged on request.

All of this arrives at a fitting moment. In 2027 Theakston turns 200, marking two centuries of brewing under one family, in one town, in a building that still works the way its builders intended. There are probably easier ways to make beer, sure. But there are very few more interesting places to watch it being made.

BOOK A TOUR HERE: https://www.theakstons.co.uk/products/brewerytour

01765 684333 | bookings@theakstons.co.uk | theakstons.co.uk

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