Copper Dragon 3.16

In 1816, Christopher Scott, a maltster from Leeds, commissioned the construction of Skipton Brewery. Located in the centre of the historic market town next to the Leeds and Liverpool canal, The Victorian Tower brewery was completed in 1816, only 3-years after being commissioned.
The plant had a 60-barrel brew length and was initially powered by water wheel, coal and finally by steam and was one of the town’s more famous landmarks.
For more than 90 years the brewery supplied fine ales to local and surrounding pubs and in 1897 Scott acquired Frederick Binns of White Horse Brewery, Keighley together with seven tied Houses & Inns which expanded the brewery’s portfolio.
Sadly though, in 1902 Bentleys of Woodlesford, Leeds, purchased Scott’s entire estate, comprising of both breweries and all 39 Houses. Both breweries were closed two years later, the Houses and Inns being retained for Bentleys own brand.
It’s now more than 100 years since the people of Skipton saw the last horse drawn dray wagon travelling from Scott’s Skipton Brewery, delivering the final oak barrels of fine ales to their 39 tied Houses and Inns. Much speedier mechanical vehicles continuing Skipton’s fine brewing heritage now replace the horse drawn drays of yesteryear.
Creation of a brewery
Enthusiastic to restore the historic brewery, Copper Dragon founders Steve Taylor and Ruth Bennett undertook a two-year study to look into the state of the UK Brewing Industry. This involved many painstaking months of research with consultants and engineers.
The conclusion was the giant breweries dominated the market with their standard range of products nation wide and had a disregard for localised production. There was also a culture of takeovers, brewery closures and redundancies
As depressing as the whole scene sounded, this was seen as an opportunity to re-establish Skipton Brewery. With an excellent geographical location and a supply of high-quality soft water from Embsay Reservoir, the conclusion was to rebuild the new Skipton Brewery under the trade name of Copper Dragon for the production of high quality ales.
With all these facts in mind and a team of professional brewers it would be possible to re-create flavours from the last century using only the choicest of ingredients as well as creating some more modern ales to suit every palate.
In 2002, Copper Dragon Brewery was born and was housed in a brand new building to the south of Skipton. The new brewery had the good fortune to secure two professional brewers, Gordon Wilkinson and Ian Johnson (both from Samuel Webster (Halifax) and Bass (Burton on Trent), both of whom had been in the industry for many years. This was to prove invaluable in the creation of Copper Dragon recipes.
14 years later, the Copper Dragon brand and it flagship beer Golden Pippin is one of the UK’s finest blonde ales and continues to dominate this ever popular market.
One thing that never changes though is the brewer’s desire to continue the heritage of brewing the finest quality ales, time after time.