Irwell Works Brewery is situated in the former 'Irwell Steam, Tin, Copper and Iron Works' on Irwell street in Ramsbottom, Lancashire. The building itself dates from 1888 and was originally built for local coppersmith Richard Mason. Used as an engineering works until a few years ago, being in a conservation area, the building has now been sympathetically restored and Irwell Works now houses a 6 BBL brewery and brewery tap. Brewing started in November 2010 and 'Copper Plate' a 3.8% session bitter was the overall winner of the Bury Beer festival later the same month. We now have 5 standard beers name in honour of the works, these are: 'Copper Plate' 3.8% Bitter, 'Steam Plate' 4.3% Best Bitter, 'Iron Plate' 4.4% Lancashire Stout, 'Tin Plate' 3.6% Dark Mild and 'Richard Mason's 1888' 4.0% Pale Ale. To celebrate the opening of the brewery tap in August 2011 we brewed two summer ales namely 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen' 5.5% Indian Pale Ale and 'Lightweights and Gentlemen' 3.2% Light refreshing pale ale. Both ales have remained in production and have become part of our core range due to popularity and demand. Our head brewer, Pete does a monthly special brew, these are all generally musically named and include 'Marshmallow Unicorn' 4.4% Milk Stout and 'The Green Manalishi' 4.5% Green Hopped Beer, only made once a year using fresh hops direct from the hop farm. We are still working on parts of the brewery and work is in progress to get the kitchen finished in order to serve food at lunch times. We will provide small plate food, namely small portions of good Lancashire fayre, soups and breads. We use beer in our recipes too...! We intend for the menu's to be small, fresh food, cooked the same day and once it's gone, it's gone.