Bullish Batemans rebrands its 'craft ales' with 140 years of family heritage

Stuart Bateman has thrown a hand grenade into the craft beer debate. Those who think that only brash young brewers are entitled to wear the craft beer badge had better duck when they see Bateman coming: he’s a big bloke and he doesn’t take prisoners.

He runs the family brewery at Wainfleet in Lincolnshire and with his sister Jaclyn he represents the fourth generation of the family to brew on the same site where they are toasting 140 years of continuous production.

Bateman was busy last month both celebrating the 140 years’ anniversary and also going through a re-branding exercise. On four consecutive nights, crowds packed into the bar and reception areas at the brewery, beneath the famous Bateman windmill. Guests were made up of publicans, retailers, fellow brewers and consumers. They were there to toast the company and admire the new pump clips, labels and posters that have a common theme: “Batemans – craft brewers since 1874”.

Stuart Bateman was in bullish mood. “I’m fed up with being told I can’t call myself a craft brewer because I’ve been brewing for more than two years,” he said. “People who say that are denigrating the industry. I haven’t got a pony tail, ear-rings or tattoos but I’m producing craft beer.

“Heritage is a good thing – it’s not old fashioned. If you Google the word ‘craft’ up comes ‘artistry’ and ‘attention to detail’ but you will also get ‘skills passed on from generation to generation’.

“When a brewery is passed on from one generation to the next you can’t fail to be passionate. When you’re in a brewery on the edge of a river with a windmill, that makes you even more passionate.”

But Stuart and Jaclyn Bateman and their team know they can’t afford to stand still. They run 62 pubs but they are also supplying a free trade that’s buckling under the vast range of beers from an ever-growing number of breweries. Those pubs are meeting a demand from drinkers for ever more exciting flavours and hop character.

Stuart Bateman said there had been long discussions at the brewery about such slogans as “Good Honest Ales” and the logo of a windmill that adorns pump clips and labels. “Did they seem old fashioned?” was the question asked. The answer was no – but they needed re-defining and re-designing. Good Honest Ales has been kept and even extended: the tied houses are now labelled Good Honest Pubs and Good Honest Inns.

Far from abandoning the windmill, it’s been retained but has undergone a major overhaul. The new, clover-shaped pump clips for the stalwart cask ales – Dark Mild, XB and XXXB – bear a modern interpretation of the mill like an artist’s sketch, with background colours that indicate the appearance of each beer.

Cask beer remains the belt-and-braces of the brewery.

Batemans has responded to the changing pub scene by holding and conditioning cask beers in the brewery for nine days rather than five. “Beer is so much better when it’s properly conditioned,” Stuart Bateman said. “Publicans today can’t afford to keep stock tied up and we’re sending them beer that drops bright within eight hours. We’re backing that by telling consumers that our beers enjoy extended maturation. In other words, they’re mature beers, craft beers, not mass produced.”

One major change has seen Dark Mild uplifted from 3% to 3.6% and renamed Black & White. It’s brewed with roasted malts and Challenger hops and has a richer coffee-and-chocolate character underpinned by peppery hops. Stuart said that on all four nights of celebration at the brewery, Black & White was the beer that was drunk in greatest quantities and received the most plaudits.

There’s a new range of seasonal ales called Biscuit Barrel Beers that includes Oatmeal Biscuit, Barley Biscuit, Bourbon Biscuit and Chocolate Biscuit. The aim is to show that barley and its many biscuit-like characteristics make just as important a contribution to beer as hops.

The award-winning Bohemian Brews such as Mocha and Orange Barley continue, along with the superb Salem Porter: the brewery is reached by Salem Bridge and it’s possible that the first English settlers in North America took the name with them, along with their port of embarkation, Boston.

The entire re-branding exercise – pump clips, point-of-sale and posters -- has cost Batemans just £34,000. Most of the design work has been done in-house to keep costs down. Equally important, all members of staff have been involved in the scheme and made important contributions to ideas for new beers.

In case the message hasn’t sunk in, they’re all craft beers. My message to young brewers is simple: leave your prejudices at home and go and sample the Bateman’s range. Then join the celebrations for 140 years of brewing heritage. Stuart Bateman’s son Harry is now working two days a week in the brewery to get a feel – and passion – for the business. They look good for a further 140 years.