alcoholic beverage founded 1882 founder samuel arthur brain headquarters cardiff wales area served south and mid wales products beer owner chris brain website sa brain brains s. a. brain & company ltd is a regional brewery founded in 1882 in cardiff wales by samuel arthur brain . 1 the company controls more than 250 pubs in south wales particularly in cardiff mid wales and the west country . the company took over crown buckley brewery in llanelli in 1997 and hancock s brewery in 1999 . brains moved to the former hancock s brewery just south of cardiff central railway station in 2000 . the old brewery in cardiff city centre has been developed into a modern bar and restaurant complex . the company produces a range of beers under the brain s buckley s and hancock s names . brains use shirt sponsorship for the welsh rugby union team and the crusaders as part of their marketing strategy . 2 contents 1 history 2 beer brands 2.1 brains brand 2.2 buckley s brand 2.3 hancock s brand 3 seasonal beers 4 marketing 5 the old brewery quarter 6 references 7 external links history edit brain s current brewery the former hancock s site that brains bought from bass in 1999 in 1882 the thomas brothers sold the old brewery in cardiff in order to pay debts . samuel arthur brain and his uncle joseph benjamin brain founded their business by buying the brewery from the thomas brothers . part of the building dated from 1713 and it had been a brewery since at least 1822 . 3 4 brains expanded the old brewery was expanded in 1914 by having a new brewery built in st mary street . in 1997 brains took over crown buckley in llanelli . it closed crown buckley s brewery and transferred production to cardiff . in 1999 brains bought the former hancock s brewery just south of cardiff central railway station . in 2000 it moved production there and in 2003 the old brewery was redeveloped as a bar and restaurant complex . in september 2011 the company diversified into coffee shops buying the cardiff based coffee house chain coffee 1 . 5 the current owner is chris brain . beer brands edit beer taps with badges of some of the brains range brains brand edit brains sa the company s flagship brand is a light coloured malty best bitter which was colloquially known as skull attack . its formulation has undergone several revisions since the beer was launched in the early 20th century ; the most recent revision was launched in early 2006 and increases the quantity of hops in the brew . brains dark is a dark mild ale with an emphasis on roasted malts . there is also a smooth variant . brains bitter is the brewery s standard bitter and the most commonly available in cardiff . many brains pubs serve only bitter from a cask . when served pasteurised and nitrogenated it is termed brains smooth . brains ipa an unusually malty example of the india pale ale style is usually seen on cask only in the valleys outside cardiff although some pubs stock it as keg beer or in bottles in cardiff proper . sa gold the newest addition to the line is according to a release note sent out to brains pubs in early 2006 brains attempts to branch out into both the english and youth markets areas in which brains is visibly struggling . its official launch was june 2006 but many houses retired it in favour of the bi monthly guest ale rotation . the beer is hopped with cascade target and styrian golding hops . 45 was a keg beer at 4.5 % abv . it was launched in 2006 in cardiff as a competitor to strong lagers such as stella artois . in march 2007 the recipe was radically altered from the original used in the january launch after slow market growth and poor in house response . it was discontinued in 2011 . 6 the rev. james is a 4.5 % abv dark best bitter carried over from the buckley s range after the two breweries merged . brains black is a 4.1 % abv stout launched on st david s day 2010 . 7 buckley s brand edit brains bought the llanelli based crown buckley in 1998 . it continues to brew three buckley s beers all at its cardiff brewery buckley s bitter buckley s ipa and reverend james best bitter . hancock s brand edit hancocks hb is a 3.6 % session bitter first brewed by hancock s brewery . formerly wales biggest brewer the brewery was founded by william hancock father of frank froude and william hancock and bought by bass in 1968 . brains bought hancock s in 1999 but initially bass kept the rights to the brands . 8 production later came back to cardiff . 9 seasonal beers edit seasonal beers include st david s ale which is brewed to celebrate st david s day and is available in february and march . taff end is available in june and july and celebrates sponsorship of the glamorgan county cricket club . brains bread of heaven named after a traditional welsh rugby anthem was launched in 2005 in commemoration of the sponsorship and is mostly sold during the six nations championship and autumn internationals . hen wlad fy nhadau land of my fathers was launched in 2006 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the welsh national anthem . it is a golden ale brewed with welsh honey . marketing edit railway bridge over penarth road cardiff one of several painted with brains advertising slogans brains sponsored a number of railway bridges over roads in cardiff to have its advertising slogans painted on them . they include it s brains you want in clare road and leckwith road and people who know beer ... have brains in penarth road . brains was the shirt sponsor for the welsh rugby union team from 2004 until 2010 . as french law forbids alcohol sponsorship logos from appearing on rugby jerseys when the team played in france the branding was changed . in 2005 brains was replaced with brawn 10 in 2007 it was changed to brawn again and in 2009 it was replaced with try essai a pun on the invitation to try sa . 11 the old brewery quarter edit main article old brewery quarter in 2003 brains vacant old brewery was redeveloped into the 85 000 sq ft 7 900 m2 old brewery quarter . it is a mixed development of 55 000 sq ft 5 100 m2 of leisure space around an open air piazza in the heart of cardiff s growing city centre together with 42 long leasehold loft style apartments and penthouses . the development has attracted a range of bar and restaurant operators including chiquito la tasca lava lounge nando s pancake house starbucks thai edge and sa brain s own flagship venue the yard bar and kitchen . references edit the beginning . sa brain . welsh rugby . sa brain . sa brain & co ltd . the directory of uk real ale brewers . quaffale . 24 april 2011 . glover brian 2007 . brains 125 years . breedon books . isbn 1 859836062 . page needed chris kelsey 4 october 2011 . sa brains buys coffee 1 chain . wales online . retrieved 10 january 2015 . gaskell simon 18 february 2011 . brains to discontinue premium lager 45 . south wales echo . retrieved 1 march 2011 . wilcox andrew . brains black welsh stout guinness beware in the welsh valleys . blog . evans jeff . putting the ales into wales regional focus . tastingbeers.com . retrieved 15 august 2012 . william hancock s & co ltd . the directory of uk real ale brewers . quaffale . 24 april 2011 . rugby stars swap brains for brawn . bbc news . 21 february 2005 . retrieved 15 august 2012 . henry graham 26 june 2010 . business business news brains rugby sponsor deal ends . south wales echo . retrieved 15 august 2012 . external links edit official website v t e economy and industry of cardiff company and organisation headquarters 118 118 admiral group bbc cymru wales brains brewery coffee 1 clark s pies cube interactive iqe itv wales julian hodge bank media wales peacocks peski records placid casual principality building society see monkey do monkey s4c the barcud derwen group advanced transport systems veritair wjec wales social partners unit welsh national opera company and organisation major locations atradius asda stores british airways engineering british gas british telecom deloitte eversheds hbos ing direct j. sainsbury plc legal & general lloyds tsb nhs wales tesco stores ltd. the aa swalec zurich financial services major public sector employers cardiff and vale university health board cardiff bus cardiff council cardiff university coleg glan hafren department of trade and industry hm revenue and customs national assembly for wales commission university of glamorgan university of wales institute cardiff welsh assembly government retail shopping st. david s queens arcade capitol centre howells the hayes castle quarter central market victorian arcades retail parks cardiff bay retail park capital retail park hospitality hotels angel st david s hotel & spa copthorne marriott hilton royal restaurant quarters red dragon centre eastside mermaid quay regeneration and development cardiff bay cardiff international sports village cardiff international pool cardiff bay development corporation st. david s 2 leckwith development tourism wales millennium centre st fagans national history museum national museum cardiff castle cardiff story castell coch cardiff bay visitor centre insole court senedd techniquest major events cardiff big weekend 1958 commonwealth games fa cup heineken cup 2012 olympics rugby world cup 1991 1999 2007 2015 national eisteddfod six nations the ashes tsunami relief cardiff urdd eisteddfod wales rally gb sparks in the park round table fireworks michael forever the tribute concert 19th and 20th centuries bank of wales cardiff docks coal exchange glamorganshire canal south wales coalfield taff vale railway tiger bay retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title brains brewery & oldid 742554478 categories breweries in walescompanies based in cardiffcompanies established in 1882food and drink companies of waleswelsh brandshidden categories wikipedia articles needing page number citations from january 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages cymraegfran ais svenska edit links this page was last modified on 4 october 2016 at 11 20 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view