About our Sponsor
Who are the Black Sheep Brewery?The Black Sheep Brewery has now been operating for over 16 years. It was October 1992 when the beer first made an appearance in pubs in and around the Yorkshire Dales, this began a new era for Paul Theakston, whose family has brewed in Masham for 6 generations.
It also allowed him to put behind him the heartache left by the often acrimonious battles that culminated in the "old" family firm of T & R Theakston Ltd ending up at the time as part of Scottish & Newcastle Breweries.
In a world of ever increasing bland, mass-produced beer Paul saw an opportunity to return to what his family had done best since 1872, making beer in the time-honoured fashion.
Fate played a kind hand here as an old maltings building, once part of Lightfoot's Brewery ( Mashams "other" brewery purchased for Theakston's by Paul's grandfather in 1919) became available.
This landmark building, standing high over the banks of the River Ure had fallen into direpair, but Paul assembled a small team around him to fight its overburdening rat population and build a brewery. A traditional country brewery.
It also allowed him to put behind him the heartache left by the often acrimonious battles that culminated in the "old" family firm of T & R Theakston Ltd ending up at the time as part of Scottish & Newcastle Breweries.
In a world of ever increasing bland, mass-produced beer Paul saw an opportunity to return to what his family had done best since 1872, making beer in the time-honoured fashion.
Fate played a kind hand here as an old maltings building, once part of Lightfoot's Brewery ( Mashams "other" brewery purchased for Theakston's by Paul's grandfather in 1919) became available.
This landmark building, standing high over the banks of the River Ure had fallen into direpair, but Paul assembled a small team around him to fight its overburdening rat population and build a brewery. A traditional country brewery.
Initially Paul had thoughts of reviving the Lightfoots Brewery name, this was thwarted when Scottish & Newcastle applied to register the name.
Another name was needed to reflect the area and history of the place.
Sheep have always figured largely in the history of the Masham ares, which was once an important centre for sheep trading and famous for its sheep fair.
However, Sheep Brewery seemed a bit tame. In a timely stroke of inspiration Sue, Paul's wife, coined the name Black Sheep Brewery.
The new Brewery now had a name that sat well with the area, spoke volumes about the Breweries maverick attitude to the multi-nationals seeking to dominate the brewing industry, and it captured the essence of Paul's struggle that led to the birth of this new Brewery.
In 1995 the then Harrogate and District Summer Race Series was looking for a new sponsor and Arthur Rayner the organiser of The Burn Valley Run suggested I approach Paul Theakston, I did, and so began our long association with the Black Sheep Brewery.
2010 will be our 14th year, and I am sure another successful one.
