68 pubs. Mild ale was the principal product during the 1950s. From 1970 until 1992 the brewery ran a line for the production of keg beers. The company's XXXB beer was introduced on 1 February 1978. During the 1980s the company faced a difficult decision: half of the family wanted to sell up and half wanted to continue brewing. Chairman George Bateman, his wife Pat and their children Stuart and Jaclyn saved up enough money to buy out the family members who wanted to sell, and the company lived on. The pub business On his twenty-first birthday, Harry Bateman had been given a pub by his father; in the 1920s he began to expand upon that beginning, and bought a group of pubs generally thought to be worthless. This chain was expanded in 1927 by the purchase of the Vine Hotel in Skegness, and in 1935 by the building of the County Hotel in the same town. In 1957, when Batemans already owned a chain of seventy pubs, they bought another twenty-nine, mostly run-down pubs to the north of Boston, as well as some in the town itself. It took eight years to renovate and obtain licences for them (at the time, a pub could not have a licence unless it had at least two rooms). Batemans beers are now available from pubs throughout the UK, but especially within Lincolnshire and neighbouring counties. Batemans beers Cask source: Batemans produces three regular cask conditioned beers: Gold XB XXXB - First brewed by Ken Dixon on 1 February 1978 Bottled source: Combined Harvest (ABV = 4.7%) Dark Lord (ABV = 4.7%) Triple XB (XXXB) (ABV = 4.8%) Victory Ale (ABV = 6.0%) Mocha (ABV = 6.0%) Winner of the Sainsbury's Great British Beer Hunt 2012: "A fresh coffee and chocolate experience brewed with genuine arabica coffee, fine Belgian chocolate and locally grown roasted malt" Product information The labels on Triple XB, Victory and Dark Lord state they are approved by the Vegan Society. Bateman's also produces a hard green ginger wine for British supermarket Aldi. References External links Official Batemans Brewery Website batemans — Wainfleet's Home page (includes photo of the Batemans windmill) Video of Batemans Brewery Visitors Centre in action Batemans beers — The Oxford Bottled-Beer Database Breweries in England Companies based in Lincolnshire British companies established in 1874 Lincolnshire cuisine 1874 establishments in England Food and drink companies established in