People often ask us where the name comes from. Before a drop of beer had ever been brewed, before hazy beer existed, and before craft beer boomed in the United Kingdom, the farm on which we call our home existed as a working farmhouse, with the space that would become the birthplace of the first beers we would ever brew occupied by the Wheldon family horse, Polly.
After dipping his toes into running a one-man-band cask brewery, our owner Sean decided to strip things back to square one; focusing his attention on brewing beyond the then-constraints of our local area to look further afield. With an enormous focus on the fresh, modern, hop-forward beers from the United States that we loved to drink ourselves, Loka Polly was born on a snowy Monday morning in January 2018 as a two-man set up – Sean on the brewing side and Arron on the Sales side.
Rapidly growing from humble beginnings of brewing once every eleven days and packaging three times a month to three times a week within our first six months, we quickly expanded our team to three to close out our first year, and moved across the yard from Polly’s stable to a larger workshop to accommodate the growing demand for our beer in 2019. Further expansions across our second year brought our blossoming team to six, and things were looking rosy for even more expansion as we came into 2020.
In spite of everything thrown at us during the pandemic period, we still managed to go from strength to strength; using the time whilst we were throttled back to focus on making our beer the best it possibly could be, and producing a list of what are now very much considered our best beers. Our reputation also grew in leaps and bounds simultaneously; reinforcing our position as the highest rated brewery in Wales bar none, and considered amongst the best rated breweries in the UK as a whole. This reflected in our efforts behind the scenes too – we brought production back up to and exceeding pre-pandemic volumes by 2021, and added more staff to our growing team, bringing our numbers to eleven.
As we came into our fourth year, we set about solidifying our status amongst the elite of the UK’s brewing industry with everything we missed out on over the previous two years; booking collaboration beers with breweries that inspired us to brew in the first place, including Northern Monk, Cloudwater, and Verdant. We repaid the faith our overseas fans had put into our brewery in leaps and bounds with our first long overdue international festivals, a regular fixture here at modern Polly’s as we continue to partner with our 30+ importers. We saw 2022 out with yet another growth in our staff numbers as we grew to fourteen – an incredible achievement in just over four years.
The Polly’s of today is an entirely different beast to the one that came into the world back on that snowy morning in January 2018. Today we are a modern, sophistic set up; capable of brewing up to ten times a week and looking after the livelihoods of fifteen incredibly talented team members. We’re incredibly conscious of looking after our people here, and reinvest back into our staff tenfold – operating a four day working week for all production staff, building a free-to-use on site gym, and offering private healthcare to all; with everyone given the opportunity to climb the ladder within the business.
Our reputation remains as consistent as ever – as we have since we were first eligible, we remain Wales’ most highly rated and sought-after brewery; and amongst the highest rated in the UK as a whole. Our mindset has never changed since we started however, and we remain determined to improve on every beer we produce to become the best brewery we possibly can be. Our journey continues to pick up steam, with our first bar opening in early 2025 in our hometown of Mold, North Wales. It’s been a pretty incredible adventure up to now, and it’s only just beginning.
Collection Opening Hours:
Monday – Thursday
9am – 5pm
Address:
Holland Farm
Black Brook
Mold
North Wales
CH7 6LU
Collection Opening Hours:
Monday – Thursday
9am – 5pm
Address:
Holland Farm
Black Brook
Mold
North Wales
CH7 6LU
© Polly’s Brew Co. 2024
Collection Opening Hours:
Monday – Thursday
9am – 5pm
Address:
Holland Farm
Black Brook
Mold
North Wales
CH7 6LU
© Polly’s Brew Co. 2024
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