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Wrexham Lager’s name and brewery have been revived, and the story is a rather fascinating one. The revival began in 2011, when the Roberts family brought thehistoric brand back to life after its original brewery closed in 2000 and production ceasedentirely in 2002. Thehistoric Wrexham Lager namewas rescued, the brewery rebuilt, and production restarted using originalrecipes. But what about the history of the original Wrexham Lager Brewery, andits pioneering beer?Wrexham Lager isn’t just a local beer; it’s a piece ofBritish brewing history. It wasfounded in 1881, by German immigrants Ivan Levinstein and Otto Isler, and was Britain’s first lager brewery.In the beginning, the pair attempted traditional cold‑fermentation techniques,using ice banks, but early batches suffered because temperatures couldn’t bekept low enough. Then a chance partnership with German engineer Robert Graesser, introduced mechanical refrigeration,solving the temperature problem and enabling consistent lager production.
Graesser was a German‑bornindustrialist living in North Wales in the late 19th century.He owned a chemical works in Acrefair,Denbighshire, and was known for his engineering expertise —particularly mechanical refrigeration,which was cutting‑edge technology at the time. His background made him uniquelypositioned to solve the technical problems that plagued early lager brewing inBritain. He was not one of the original founders, but without him,Wrexham Lager would almost certainly have disappeared in the 1880's. Graesser met Levinstein by chance, reportedly ona train from Liverpool, and realised his industrial refrigeration systemcould fix the problems being experienced by Levinstein and Isler

Graesser’s innovations enabledWrexham Lager to be brewed properly for the first time and led to Wrexham Lagerbecoming the first commercially successful lager brewery in Britain. Helater took a major share in the company in exchange for the technologyand gained full ownership after the original company collapsed in1886–1892. At the time Wrexham was home to aroundnineteen breweries, but the Ace of Clubs brand, with its distinctive symbolbecame the most famous, and was recognised far beyond Wales. The beer wasexported across the British Empire and was reportedly the only lager served on the Titanic.There are accounts of Wrexham Lager being consumedby British troops overseas, including during the Siege of Khartoum(1884–85). These stories highlight how the beer travelled with soldiers acrossimperial postings.
The brand's exports decreased during World War II, leadingto its purchase by Ind Coope, and later Carlsberg-Tetley, after a series of convolutedmergers and takeovers. In 2000, the original brewery was closed by Carlsberg – abrewery that definitely doesn’t brew the best beer in the world! Then in 2011, formerMP Martyn Jones,once a microbiologist at the brewery, acquired the rights to the brand, forjust £1, a sum that shows how little the Danes regarded the heritage of WrexhamLager. The brand itself was revived by the Roberts family, using a recipe fromthe Wrexham archives.Local businessmen Mark andVaughan Roberts rebuilt the brewery, using older recipes andoriginal ingredients to recreate the classic lager. As part of this exercise, theyconsulted former Wrexham brewing staff and used archival brewing notes to ensureauthenticity. The revival restored abrand with deep cultural ties to Wrexham AFC,local pubs, and Welsh brewing heritage. The revived brewery is located in Bangor-on-Dee, near Wrexham,and not at the original Central Road site, which was demolished and replaced bya retail park. However, the originalbrewhouse survives as a Grade II listed building.
Wrexham Lager is historicallysignificant because it is:
Britain’s first lager brewery
A pioneering user of mechanicalrefrigeration
A major Victorian exportbrand
A cultural symbol of Wrexhamand Welsh brewing heritage
A rare example of a historicbeer brand successfully revived after total closure.

The other week I picked up a4-pack of Wrexham Lager cans, at our local branch of Home Bargains. Regrettably,despite all the history, the pedigree and the kudos associated with the relaunchedbrand, I found the beer lacking in bitterness, and at just 4.0% ABV, the beerwas rather weak for my tastes. However, seeing as the revivedbrand is based on a recipe that is over half a century old, it might well be thatWrexham Lager 2026 is very much the authentic taste, of the cold-fermentedbeers that were being brewed in the UK, at the end of the last century, so do give thebeer a try and let me know what you think.
Finally, although AI played a rolein the research for this post, the narrative is very much my own!
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