To the rear of the packaging hall at the Eagle brewery in Bedford is one of the largest cask racking systems I’ve ever seen. As it happens, it’s also a machine with a bit of history. It was once the property of the Strangeway’s brewery – once the home of Boddington’s – and was acquired by Charles Wells before the Manchester brewery was demolished in 2007.

Today, however, it sits in silence, while the larger keg-packaging line opposite busily clunks and whirrs away with two bright yellow robot arms pirouetting like it's the crescendo of Swan Lake as they stack kegs onto pallets. Cask beer hasn’t been produced at the Eagle brewery since 2022, when it was acquired by Barcelona’s Damm brewery. Since then, the focus has been on the production of its flagship product, Estrella Damm lager, plus other products in its concise portfolio such as Kirin Ichiban, and other regional Spanish lagers like Mallorca’s Rosa Blanca. It also acts as a distributor for other breweries, with partners including the Leeds-based independent, Northern Monk.

As I’m given a tour of the impressive brewing campus, it’s immediately obvious how much investment Damm has put into the site over the past four years. Once an old, and very traditional family brewery, there’s an obvious emphasis on both cleanliness and efficiency. As we’re taken from the brewing hall to the bottling plant and back round to a smart tasting room everything feels well-integrated as though it’s humming together like a well-oiled machine.

An absolutely vast amount of beer is produced here, with its twin brewhouses capable of producing 160 barrels – that’s 46,080 pints – up to 14 times a day. What is a surprise to hear, however, is that this is still some 200,000 barrels a year short of what it produced in 2012, its peak year, when almost a million barrels were sold. The simple reason for this is because cask beer is not currently part of Damm’s brewing schedule. As a lager-only brewery, it’s also a peak it might not hit again in the immediate future, simply because of the longer conditioning time required by lager, as opposed to cask beer, which by nature has a faster turnover. The fast nature of cask production is what would likely once again tip it over that massive threshold. 

While there are no immediate, or indeed, public plans to bring the production of cask beer back to the Eagle brewery, one of Damm’s most interesting recent developments was the acquisition of the Morland Old Speckled Hen family of brands from current owner Greene King in May 2026. It comes as the Barcelona brewery celebrates its 150th year and its flagship lager, the recipe of which it claims hasn’t changed in the century-and-a-half since it was first introduced.

“With the acquisition of Old Speckled Hen, Damm’s number one aim is to preserve the heritage of the Old Speckled Hen family as steward of the brand,” said Damm UK’s MD Luke White. “It complements the current portfolio range by adding an ale category to Damm’s offering but it also reconnects the Damm Eagle brewery to its historic British beer and ale production roots. The company is excited to have a cask ale category which it believes demonstrates the craftsmanship of brewing in its finest form.”

Despite the acquisition of this legacy cask beer brand, production will remain at Greene King’s site in Bury St. Edmunds for the foreseeable future. White tells me Damm is committed to continuing the production of Old Speckled Hen in cask but also maintaining production of packaged beers which sit in the so-called premium bottled ale (pba) category. Greene King has discussed elsewhere how it plans to move away from the category, but at Damm White maintains it remains an important part of the offering to them.

“Premium bottled ale is still an important part of the category,” he said. “Being nationally available, it can help introduce new drinkers to the category by reaching consumers outside of the traditional pub setting where ales are served.”

The biggest question remains as to whether or not Damm will eventually move production of the Old Speckled Hen range, which also includes Old Golden Hen, and a 0.5 per cent alcohol version, to Bedford. Most recently the Eagle brewery was producing legacy cask beers like Young’s Original. It would certainly be a monumental story were the production of cask to return. Damm, however, remains tight-lipped about its plans.

“At this time, Damm cannot go into further detail other than to confirm that it plans to continue the legacy of cask production of Old Speckled Hen,” White said. “When there is more to share, Damm will of course make further announcements. After all, the Damm Eagle brewery roots are British beer and ale production, and this acquisition allows Damm to create many more jobs for the local economy and in the brewing sector.”

Whatever your feelings about Damm, or indeed Old Speckled Hen, one positive to be taken for this is the faith of a large multinational in a very traditional beer brand. With the long legacy of its own flagship, Estrella, so key to its identity, perhaps the Morland brands will feel right at home among the Damm flock. Let’s just hope that the Eagle doesn’t see the Hen as easy prey

and take such a legacy for granted.