Meantime Brewing Company was a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

based in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, London, England, and owned by

Asahi Breweries The is a Japanese beverage holding company headquartered in Sumida, Tokyo. In 2019, the group had revenue of JPY 2.1 trillion. Asahi's business portfolio can be segmented as follows: Alcoholic drink, alcoholic beverage business (40.5%), over ...

. The company was founded by Alastair Hook in 1999.

History

It was founded in 1999 by Alastair Hook, who trained at Heriot-Watt University and the brewing school of the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

Weihenstephan Weihenstephan () is a part of Freising north of Munich, Germany. It is located on the Weihenstephan Hill, named after the Weihenstephan Abbey, in the west of the city. Weihenstephan is known for: * the Benedictine Weihenstephan Abbey, founded 7 ...

. He started the brewery in a small lock-up on an industrial estate opposite Charlton Athletic's ground, before moving to the Greenwich Brewery, 0° 2' 12" east of the

Greenwich Meridian The Greenwich meridian is a prime meridian, a geographical reference line that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England. From 1884 to 1974, the Greenwich meridian was the international standard prime meridian, ...

, and then to a site on nearby Blackwall Lane in 2010. The brewery, including Rolec brewhouse, cost £7M; by 2013 they were producing 50,000 hectolitres but a growth rate of 60% per year meant that they expected to reach their capacity of 120,000 hectolitres by 2016. In May 2015, it was announced that Meantime was being bought by

SAB Miller SABMiller plc was an Anglo–South African multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in Woking, England on the outskirts of London until 10 October 2016 when it was acquired by AB InBev for US$107-billion. It was the world's sec ...

, for an undisclosed amount. In July 2015 Hook was named Brewer of the Year by the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group at its annual awards dinner. In the same year The Beer Academy awarded Rod Jones, Meantime's beer sommelier and brewer, the Beer Sommelier of the Year title. This was also the year that production of Thomas Hardy's Ale began at Meantime. In August 2015, Meantime stated that production of their London

Lager Lager (; ) is a Type of beer, style of beer brewed and Brewing#Conditioning, conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be Pale lager, pale, Amber lager, amber, or Dark lager, dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially availab ...

had, on occasion, been outsourced to

Grolsch Koninklijke Grolsch N.V. (; "Royal Grolsch"), known simply as Grolsch, is a Dutch brewery founded in 1615 by Willem Neerfeldt in Groenlo. In 1895, the Family de Groen, de Groen family bought the brewery. They had started their own brewery in Ensc ...

(another SAB Miller brand) in the Netherlands to meet demand, but that the Dutch beer made up no more than 10% of any bottle. Meantime confirmed that the use of Dutch beer would no longer be necessary after additional investments at the brewery, with the aim of keeping production entirely in London. Meantime was purchased by

SABMiller SABMiller plc was an Anglo–South African multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in Woking, England on the outskirts of London until 10 October 2016 when it was acquired by AB InBev for US$107-billion. It was the world's sec ...

in May 2015. As part of the agreements made with regulators before

Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 20 ...

was allowed to acquire SABMiller in 2016, Meantime was sold to

in October 2016. Meantime was sold to Asahi Group Holdings of Japan in April 2016. The sale was completed on 13 October 2016. In January 2019 Asahi also bought the brewing division of

Fuller's Brewery Fuller's Brewery in Chiswick, west London, England, was the brewing division of Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC, a family-run business from its foundation in 1845 until 2019, when it was sold to the Japanese Asahi Breweries. John Fuller's Griffin Br ...

and its subsidiary Dark Star. Meantime started production of Dark Star's portfolio of beers after Asahi closed the Sussex brewery in December 2022. In March 2024 Asahi announced the closure of the Meantime brewery site in Greenwich. Production of Meantime and Dark Star beers was transferred to the Asahi-owned

site in Chiswick.

Beers

Meantime brews a range of twelve regularly available beers which focuses on traditional British and European styles such as Lager,

Pale Ale Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at th ...

Porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., a locom ...

and India Pale Ale. In addition, it also produces an annual range of limited edition seasonal ales, which vary each year.

Outlets

From 2001, Meantime owned and operated the Greenwich Union public house on Royal Hill,

. This was formally closed following the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 and sold to

Young's Young's (Young & Co.'s Brewery Plc) is a British pub chain operating nearly 220 pubs. The company was founded as a brewery in 1831 by Charles Young and Anthony Bainbridge when they purchased the Ram Brewery in Wandsworth. The company closed ...

to become an extension of an existing Young's pub next door, the Richard I. In 2010, the same year the main production site moved to Blackwall Lane, Meantime opened the Old Brewery Greenwich brewpub in the original 1836 brewhouse of the

Old Royal Naval College The Old Royal Naval College are buildings that serve as the architectural centrepiece of Maritime Greenwich, a World Heritage Site in Greenwich, London, described by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) ...

, part of the Maritime Greenwich

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. Following the acquisition by Asahi, this was sold to Young's in 2016 and brewing activities ceased. Between August 2014 and the end of 2017, Meantime operated outdoor bar the Beer Box near

The O2 The O2 (formerly known as the Millennium Dome) is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, Town square, piazzas, ...

on the

Greenwich Peninsula The Greenwich Peninsula is an area of Greenwich in South London, South East London, England. It is bounded on three sides by a loop of the River Thames, Thames, between the Isle of Dogs to the west and Silvertown to the east. To the south is the ...

. In early 2015, Meantime opened a taproom, shop and visitor centre at the main production site. This was closed by April 2024 in preparation for the brewery closure.

References

External links

*
Youtube video of Meantime Brewery on BBC Inside Out
{{coords, 51.489, 0.008, display=title Asahi brands Breweries in England Breweries in London Beer brands of England British companies established in 2000 Food and drink companies established in 2000