Durham Brewery

Microbrewery in Bowburn, Durham, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
Associated Venue: Durham Brewery

Established in 1994

Contact
Unit 6a, Bowburn North Industrial Estate, Bowburn, DH6 5PF, England
Description
The brewery was set up by former music teachers Steve and Christine Gibbs in 1994. The Durham Brewery produces a wide range of cask and bottle-conditioned ales. The brewery has a ten barrel plant but with a 20 barrel mash tun for the stronger ales, four 10-barrel fermenters and various conditioning tanks for bottled beer with a warm room for bottle conditioning. All production is onsite, including bottling, and it is company policy that there be no filtration and no pasteurisation. The brewery motto is “Perfected”. Despite all our years, this family owned brewery is still small, preferring to concentrate on perfecting beers rather than manufacturing volume.

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6.8
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6.5

500ml bottle from Durham Brewery. Golden colour, white foam head and aroma of herbs, spice, zesty fruit, yeast. Taste is bready malt, herby, mint, spiced, yeasty, hay, with some currant fruity notes and earthy bitterness. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, drying herbal tangy bitter finish. Quite drinkable.

Tried from Bottle at Durham Brewery on 24 Aug 2025 at 19:00


6.6
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6

Sample at the Queen on cask.
Medium white head. Clear light amber pour. Light bitterness

Tried from Cask at Queen (Crafthouse & Kitchen) on 23 Aug 2025 at 09:58


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6.6
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Third of a pint on cask at the Queen.
Medium creamy beige head. Clear almost black pour. Lots of chocolate

Tried from Cask at Queen (Crafthouse & Kitchen) on 21 Aug 2025 at 18:03


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6.5
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Cask at Darlington Snooker Club. Gluten Free. Golden colour, white foam head and aroma of light hop. Taste is fruity, malt, grain, with tangy hop bitterness. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, drying earthy bitter finish. Quite drinkable

Tried from Cask at Darlington Snooker Club on 17 Aug 2025 at 20:28


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7
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

Cask at Darlington Snooker Club. Low Gluten. Golden colour, white foam head and aroma of peach, citrus, hops. Taste is malt, grain, tangy, stone fruits, citrusy, with hop bitterness. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, drying hoppy bitter finish. Nicely drinkable

Tried from Cask at Darlington Snooker Club on 25 Jul 2025 at 16:56


7.8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5

19th July 2025
Panda thanks to Cloin. A long time since I have had a Durham brew! Near clear gold beer, small bubbly off white head. Light palate, semi dry, good fine minerally carbonation. Buttery oaky tinged light malts, a thin creamy sweetness and a whisper of oak induced vanilla. Nice brandy soaked ripe fruits, touch of unsweet marmalade. Light finish. The barrelling has kinda overwhelmed the base tripel, not sure anyone would care. Nice brandy barrel brew!

Tried on 19 Jul 2025 at 14:08


7.4
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5

Tried on 15 Jul 2025 at 20:43


7.5
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Tried on 15 Jul 2025 at 20:01


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6.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Cask at Crafty's, Darlington. Gluten Reduced. Golden colour, white foam head leaving lacing and aroma of citrus, hops. Taste is malt, caramel, fruity, grapefruit, woody, with citrusy hop bitterness. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, drying tangy bitter finish. Quite drinkable .

Tried from Cask on 28 Jun 2025 at 19:05


7.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

22nd June 2025
Panda thanks to Cloin. Clear deep amber brown beer, small bubbly dark tan head. Fairly light palate for a beer of this hefty. A mild dryness, decent fine minerally carbonation. Good dark chocolate malts, pretty cocoa and fair serving of earthy coffee with it. The rum barrelling is pretty light. A little boozy ripe fruity goodness but, coulda shoulda been a lot more in my book. Fairly light and semi dry finish. Yeah, a very solid base beer, bolder barrelling would have suited it. A lot.

Tried on 22 Jun 2025 at 18:01