A big lick of liquorice on the nose inviting you in to taste sweet caramel and toasted malt loaf flavours found under its lush creamy head.

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This is a deep red, nutty 3.8% bitter based on the old NBC recipe, passed on to us by Pat Heron who started at NBC in 1954. Pat’s father was Head Brewer at NBC’s Phoenix Brewery on Bridge Street before him. Red Star is a true working man’s pint made with the traditional Mild Ale malt variety that was a staple of NBC bitters and milds in the 1950s.

A pint of bitter that gives you a full range of complimentary flavours and a dry finish that leads you smoothly into your next pint. Cobblers Ale was a 1930s NBC brew that celebrated both the county’s famous shoe industry and its football team. Back in 1897 Pickering Phipps became the first chairman of the newly formed Northampton Town Football Club, loaning the club £500 to start the hand stitched leather ball rolling.

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We made a few adjustments to Cobblers recently, a bit of a darker malt profile makes this a much more robust bitter, with amped up notes of biscuit and toffee to compliment the refreshing hop flavours.

Brewed to mark the 850th anniversary of the trial of Thomas Becket at Northampton Castle and inspired by the recent discovery of the town’s first commercial brewery at an archaeological dig opposite our brewery. We have crafted a sweet dark and malty pint with honey the key constituent, an ingredient often found in Medieval ales.

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Becket’s Ale won the best Artisan Drink award at 2015’s Northamptonshire Food & Drink Awards

Another fresh development marrying elements of Phipps historic recipes with iconoclastic new styles. The dark malt signature is robust but smooth whilst the fruity but subtle hop flavours give the beer an easy drinkability. Black Star was originally a winter seasonal special but demands from discerning drinkers has kept it in our range all year