About us

Purple Moose Brewery is based in the historic harbour town of Porthmadog, nestled in the beautiful foothills of Snowdonia, North Wales. Our multi award-winning beers are brewed with love and passion using entirely UK malted barley and water from the hills of Snowdonia.

Famous for their exceptional taste and quality, our beers have won over 100 major awards, including Gold in category at the CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain competition, and ‘Best Welsh Speciality’ at the Great Taste Awards.

Our dedicated team put every effort into ensuring the highest quality and consistency in every brew. From stunningly refreshing pale ales and zingy, hoppy IPAs to deep and delicious dark bitters and stouts, our extensive range of cask, keg and bottled beer means there is the perfect pint for any taste and occasion.

We hold current food safety and quality accreditation through the Society of Independent Brewers.

Where it all began

Homebrew

Lawrence Washington discovered a passion for brewing in 1995, albeit at homebrew scale. He quickly learned how to calculate his own recipes and use raw ingredients, refining his technique along the way. Some of the early beers he created included names such as ‘Merry Ex-Moose’ and ‘Dark Side of the Moose’, hinting at Lawrence’s taste for Monty Python and Pink Floyd.

Before long Lawrence realised this was to be his career path, taking satisfaction from seeing others enjoy the beer he’d created. Several years of training, planning and market research followed, until setup of the commercial brewery in Porthmadog commenced in 2004, opening the following year.

Our name

What would the brewery be called?

The origins are now mere legend, but from day one, back in 1995, the brand was, and is today, Purple Moose Brewery.

The brewhouse

When the brewery opened in June 2005 we had a ‘10-Barrel’ brewhouse, giving a weekly capacity of up to 16,000 pints.

Further fermenting vessels were added a few years later, before increasing demand signalled major expansion.

In 2013 we commissioned our brand new ‘40-Barrel’ brewhouse.

This now provides a weekly capacity of over 57,000 pints, enabling us to keep our ever-popular beers available for our customers.