Cains has ceased brewing less than a year after its beer returned to Liverpool pubs.
The Liverpool brewery first opened in 1858, taking the name of its founder, Irish brewer Robert Cain. It has had many owners since its inception and was taken over by brothers Sudarghara and Ajmail Dusanj in 2002.
However, it closed as a brewery in June 2013 and made way for the Cains Brewery Village - a collection of retail, hospitality and creative businesses.
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Last year, St Helens business Mikhail Hotels & Leisure Group revived the brand as a brewer. In April 2022, the company announced plans to brew Cains beer, branded as 'Liverpool in a pint', on a site on Stanhope Street in the Baltic Triangle.
Mikhail, who operate Irish bar Punch Tarmeys, The Brewery Tap and ArCains in the Baltic, promised multi-million pound investment that would see the new facility spread across three floors, creating 40 jobs. Cains beer returned to Liverpool pubs last June.
However, production came to a halt last month due to a royalty dispute with the brand owner, as reported by The Business Desk. According to The Business Desk, legal teams are working on a dispute over a royalty clause, believed to be in relation to volumes of beer production.
As a result, two of the company’s three brewers have been let go.
A Mikhail spokesperson told The Business Desk: “We have stopped brewing, and the reason is because there is a royalty agreement in place.
“The royalty agreement has a definition, or a method of calculating what that royalty is. We disagree on the interpretation of that definition.”
The Mikhail spokesperson added: “We had a team of three brewers, two of which have left the business, directly as a result of this.
“They left last week (early March), but fortunately I believe they have got other jobs.
“They have been fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for more from the team of brewers. They got awards for the bitter within two or three months of brewing. They couldn’t have done any more in terms of the quality of the product.
“The most disappointing part is the impact on the staff.
“I feel sorry for those lads because they don’t deserve it. At this time with what’s going on in the world, with the cost of living crisis, it’s difficult for people.
“The team had worked tirelessly, volumes were increasing and the brand was starting to live again, the fact the brand has ceased again is no reflection on the team we had assembled, I can only thank them for their efforts.”
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