Monty’s Brewery receives significant investment in line with ambitious growth plans

Monty’s Brewery, award-winning brewers of Welsh beers, ales, and stouts, is delighted to share news of investment from renowned entrepreneur, Mike Harris, who has acquired a 51% stake in the company in line with ambitious growth plans.

Based in Montgomery, Powys, Monty’s Brewery have picked up a variety of awards for their outstanding range of products in recent years, including Insider’s prestigious Made in Wales Award within the Food & Drink category, as well a Gold Award in the Wales and West SIBA competition for their famous Monty’s Red IPA.

All products currently produced by Monty’s Brewery, including their various ales, stouts, and gluten-free beers, will continue to be produced and will still be available through existing outlets, with plans for further growth on a national scale currently in the works.

The acquisition is the first brewing acquisition made by Mike Harris’s investment vehicle, Ubuntu Holdings Ltd, with others expected on the Horizon. It follows Harris’s recent acquisition of Welshpool’s award-winning distillery, Henstone Distillery, as Ubuntu continue to expand on their operations across Wales and beyond.

Speaking on his excitement, Founder of Ubuntu Business Holdings Ltd and Chairman at The New Saints FC, said:

“This is a really exciting day for both myself and the team at Ubuntu Holdings Ltd. Monty’s Brewery has an excellent range of products on offer, frequently enjoyed by those across Powys and beyond.

“As one of the region’s most popular breweries, I’m excited to help Monty’s Brewery increase production and distribution on a national scale.”

Also speaking on the acquisition, Russ Honeyman, Commercial Director at Monty’s Brewery, said:

“This is a fantastic opportunity for us here at Monty’s Brewery. Mike has always had strong visions for the local area and community, as highlighted through his incredible work with The New Saints FC.

We are looking forward to  sharing our multi-award winning beers with a wider audience and creating new products to add to The Monty’s Range.” 

ENDS

Monty’s Brewery, Hendomen, Montgomery SY15 6HA

About Ubuntu Business Holdings Ltd:

Oswestry-based Ubuntu Holdings Ltd is owned by entrepreneur Mike Harris, operating as an investment vehicle for a variety of successful local businesses including NetPMD, SiFi Networks, and The New Saints Football Club.

About Monty’s Brewery

Monty’s Brewery was founded in 2009 by husband and wife, Russ and Pam Honeyman. They are a multi-award winning brewery, brewing beers of all styles, well-renowned throughout Wales for their alternative gluten-free range. www.montysbrewery.co.uk

New Wyvern Range

Monty’s has launched a new branded range of beers called “Wyvern” The range of beers will be gluten free and all have Welsh names. See the Wyvern range page for details. Click for more details - Galaeth or Gwyn a Du

Monty’s Red IPA Wins Gold!

Our Red IPA recently won Gold in the Wales and West SIBA competition. It was in the Cask Session Pale ale category. At 4.2% this Red IPA is a winner! It’s gluten free too and we are excited to have it in Cask, Bottle and Keg.

The beer will now go through to the SIBA Finals in March 2025.

This beer was the first beer wholley created by our head practical brewer Kate Thomas, we are all really pround of her!

Monty's Imperial Stout wins SIBA National Silver.

Our 9% Imperial stout wins Silver at the Society of Independant Brewers Association (SIBA) National Awards. The Immpy stout won Gold at the Wales and West competion, and therefore went through to the finals. It is a stunning example of an Imperial stout, acutely dark, rich and balanced packed with vanilla, chocolate and hints of burnt wood flavours. Gentle aromas of liquorice. A beer to be sipped and savoured!

The beer was also the base beer used for our Fifteenth birthday celebrations in Jan 2024 too called XV. Where we aged it in a Penderyn Bourbon cask for 7 months. So both beers turned out to be a huge sucess for us.

Magnitude at the All Party Parlimentry Dinner

We were really proud to have had our 8% barley wine - Magnitude, selected to go with the dessert of sticky toffee pudding and vanilla ice cream at the All Party Parlimentry Awards Dinner in early July.

Three beers were chosen from around the UK for the event - one for each course of the three-course dinner. The beers were blind tasted and chosen by a team of tasters led by award-winning beer writer Jonny Garrett. 

 As the Montys beer was served at the dinner, Jonny Garrett explained, “The style barley wine came from a 19th century marketeer, who wanted a way to counter the threat of French wine imports, so it was made to make British beer more aspirational. Brewers started to adopt this term for their strongest beers. It was normally made in October to coincide with the new barley and hops harvest.”

 He said of Montys’ Magnitude, “At the tasting the judges said they loved this bitter sweet beer and how it softened the sweetness of the sticky toffee pudding, and added complexity with liquorice, and caramel to the dessert.”

 The event took place at One Great George Street, London, in the Great Hall with around 150 guests from all corners of the brewing and hospitality sector, from AB InBev, Coors, Heineken and Greene King, to UK hospitality, APPBG, Beer and Pub associations and SIBA as well may others.

 Russ Honeyman Commercial Director from Monty’s said, “We were extremely pleased our barley wine was chosen. It was a great honour to be invited down to the event and to have our beer served there.”

Monty's at Number 10 for St David's Day

On St David’s Day this year, Russ and Pam Honeyman, our founders of the brewery were invited to 10 Downing Street with seven other Welsh Food and Drink business’s to showcase the very best of Welsh Food and Drink.” To be invited too such an iconic building and to be part of showcasing the very best of Wales was a great honour” Pam said. There were over 120 guests, including Welsh opera singer Bryn Terfel, and Max Boyce, although no Oggy Oggy Oggy’s were heard in number 10! The brewery showcased their new beer Navigation Pale Ale which is being launched for Easter as well as their regulars like Sunshine, Dark Secret and Masquerade.

Monty's Brewery Wins Insider Made in Wales Award

It was a fantastic night for Monty’s in Cardiff on the 21st October when Monty’s Brewery was announced winner of the “Insider Made in Wales Award for Food and Drink”.

The awards celebrated companies that have created products to help directly in the battle against Covid, as well as those that have changed what they do in response to the challenges of the pandemic. The event was held at the Mercure Cardiff Holland House Hotel and was compered by Jason Mohammad.

Russ Honeyman Commercial Director of Monty’s received the award from Janis Richards from Made UK and TV and Radio presenter Jason Mohammad. Russ talked about the award how important it was and appreciated by everyone at Monty’s Brewery. He explained how difficult it had been for breweries and the hospitality sector during the pandemic and how Monty’s Brewery had adjusted and looked to the future by reducing plastic in its packaging, installing a canning line, growing their online presence, and recently introducing a non-alcoholic beer to the range. He said “ I’m really proud of what we have achieved, we have a great team, we have some exciting exports and projects ahead it’s important to look forward now.”

Secretary of State for Wales visits Monty's Brewery

Monty’s Brewery received a visit this week from the Secretary of State for Wales, Simon Hart, and Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams. The ministers were visiting a handful of businesses in Mid Wales and rounded their day off at Monty’s Brewery. The timing couldn’t have been better as Monty’s was able to talk about their experiences throughout COVID and the work they are doing now to rebuild the business with exports, as well as contracts with supermarkets and growing online sales. Indeed the minister saw there was a pallet ready to ship to The Netherlands, a first order of their gluten free range of beers, to the biggest gluten free distributor in Holland, a contract which has been secured over the last few months. They also discussed the levelling plans for Mid Wales to bring business and opportunities to Mid Wales.

Russ Honeyman Commercial Director for Montys Brewery said “It was a pleasure to show The Secretary of State for Wales and Craig Williams around our brewery and to talk about our plans for export and the future, they showed great interest in our plans. Of course after talks we had a taster and tried our summer beer Desert Rats, where we donate 5p a pint to SSAFA, The Armed Forces Charity, the Secretary of State was very impressed with that as an Ex Army man!”

Great British Food Awards 2020

HIGHLY COMMENDED AT GREAT BRITISH FOOD AWARDS

Monty’s Brewery are excited to announce that their Gluten Free stout ‘Dark Secret’ has been awarded ‘Highly Commended’ at this year’s prestigious Great British Food Awards 2020.  “It is an absolute honour to receive this award particularly with so much other competition out there”, said Russ Honeyman, Commercial Director

The Brewery set out to create a great tasting gluten free stout that everyone could enjoy, without compromising on flavour. Dark Secret is a rich full-bodied stout with hints of chocolate and coffee it’s brewed with barley and oats but with the gluten removed. Receiving this Great British Food Award clearly shows they got it right

Monty’s Dark Secret has won many awards including 3 gold star awards with Great Taste Awards for two consecutive years,  Silver at the London Beer Competition, Bronze at the Free From Food Awards

Magnitude, their 8% barley wine was also a finalist in the competition. This indulgent beer is full of sweet, malty characteristics and warming alcohol, perfect for sipping in front of the fire on a cold evening.

Russ Honeyman Commercial Director said “to have two beers as finalists and one of them to receive ‘Highly Commended’ is a testament to the skill and hard work of our staff and brewers at the Brewery. Dark Secret has been winning prizes consistently since we began brewing it in 2016. Awards like the Great British Food Awards enable us to secure sales not only in the UK but as far as Finland and Singapore”.

Dark Secret and all of Monty’s range can be purchased from our Website https://www.montysbrewery.co.uk/products-page or you can telephone 01686 668933 to place your order for home delivery. If you are local to Montgomery why not pop along and enjoy a pint in our visitor centre ‘The Cottage’.

Finalist Champion Beer of Britain 2019

We can finally announce that Monty's Sunshine was a finalist in this year’s CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain competition held at Olympia. The whole team were thrilled with this as Sunshine was the very first brew we made over 10 years ago, and is still our biggest selling beer.

Sunshine has stood the test of time, with its floral and citrus aromas and fruity flavour. It goes great with spicy food, steak or cheese. Just a great all rounder.

Dark Secret gets 3 Gold Stars

Our gluten free beer Dark Secret was one of only five beers that won the coverted Three Gold Stars at this years Great Taste Awards. Comments such as "cleverly constructed" and "Excellent" were just some of the comments the judges gave.