Blackjack Alcohol-Free Beers
One Blackjack beer in our directory: Electric Circus, a 0.5% pale, dry hopped with Mosaic and Citra.
Blackjack is an independent brewery in Manchester city centre, brewing since 2012, with its own pub and bars. Its alcohol-free beer is Electric Circus, a 0.5% pale dry hopped with Mosaic and Citra.
- Company: Blackjack Beers Limited, Manchester; it trades as Blackjack Brew Co
- Brewing since: 2012; set up by Rob Hamilton, formerly of Marble
- Owners: Jonathan Hartley and Richard Fowell, through a holding company; independent
- Pub and bars: The Smithfield Market Tavern on Swan Street, Station Hop in Levenshulme, and bars at Mackie Mayor and Altrincham Market
- Output: Over 42 beers a year, Creative Boom reported in 2024
- Alcohol-free: Electric Circus, a 0.5% pale in 440ml cans
- Where to buy: Dry Drinker and Blackjack’s own shop
Who are Blackjack?
Blackjack started brewing in 2012; the company was incorporated in February 2011, Companies House shows. Rob Hamilton, its head brewer at the time, “broke away from Marble Brewery to set up on his own”, the Manchester Beer & Cider Festival wrote in 2015, and Blackjack had “combined with Glassworks Distribution” to bring craft beer to Manchester pubs, with a core range of seven beers at the time. Hamilton was a director until November 2019, Companies House shows.
Today Blackjack is owned by Blackjack Beers (Holdings) Limited, whose owners are Jonathan Hartley, who holds more than half its shares, and Richard Fowell; both are directors, Companies House shows, and Pellicle named Jon Hartley as managing director in 2026. We found no drinks group involved, so we list it as independent.
The brewery and its pubs
Brewery History gives Blackjack’s address as 36 Gould Street, where Time Out reviewed its brew tap in 2014: it “has the look of a mechanic’s garage”. The brewery is “a stone’s throw away from Angel Meadow”, “a historical but forgotten part of Manchester”, Creative Boom wrote in 2024.
Its first pub, the Smithfield Tavern on Swan Street, opened in June 2015, Time Out reported, after a renovation The Skinny called “a real in-house job”. Its bar at Mackie Mayor, in the old Smithfield meat market that reopened in October 2017, was called Jack in the Box until 2025, CAMRA says, and the local CAMRA branch voted it Best Newcomer in 2018. Pellicle also listed Station Hop in Levenshulme and a bar at Altrincham Market in March 2026.
What Blackjack brews
Blackjack sorts its beers into ranges: The Pub Ale Series, Lager Pursuits, Angel Meadows (“Beers of the West Coast”, it says), The Future of Modern, and Caminada Imperial Stout. Its site gives no strengths. It makes “over 42 beers a year”, and its kit allows “at least two new beers per month”, Creative Boom reported in 2024, when the Manchester agency Ensemble rebranded it, steering the name away from gambling and towards the Jack, from the face card to folklore. We didn’t find where the name came from.
In 2017 it brewed a “breakfast” pale ale with the Co-op for Manchester Beer Week, using leftover fruit from the Co-op’s own-brand yoghurt production, and the bottles were sold in 39 North West Co-op stores, Taste of Manchester reported. Pellicle reported in March 2026 that writer Matthew Curtis named its Italian Pilsner, In Simpatico, one of his top ten beers of 2025. We found no competition medals for its beers; the awards we found are for its venues. We found none for its alcohol-free beer.
Blackjack’s alcohol-free beer
Electric Circus is Blackjack’s only alcohol-free beer, a 0.5% pale in 440ml cans. “Dry hopped with fruit-forward Mosaic and Citra, Electric Circus is full of attitude, without the booze!”, the brewer says; at 0.5% it does contain a little alcohol. Blackjack gives its allergens as “Gluten from Barley, Wheat and Oats” and says it’s vegan.
Blackjack doesn’t publish the full ingredients, how the beer is made or how it got its name, and we found no draught version. The Alcohol Free Co describes “lively citrus and tropical notes layered over a clean malt base” with a gentle bitterness, and calls it an IPA; Blackjack calls it a pale.
Blackjack’s own shop data shows its two Electric Circus listings were created on 17 November 2025. That’s when it was first listed there, not a confirmed launch date, and we didn’t find one. The brewer tags it as a special, and it isn’t on Blackjack’s “Our Beers” page.
How Electric Circus compares
Alcohol-free pale ales from UK breweries in our directory. Calories as published; checked 31 October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.
The Blackjack beer in our directory
Checked October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.
Where to buy Electric Circus
On 29 October 2026 Dry Drinker had six for £23.62 (an affiliate link). Blackjack’s own shop was cheaper, at £2.80 a can or £15.90 for six, and had the same prices on 31 October. The Alcohol Free Co had short-dated cans, best before 14 November 2026, at 30% off, so we haven’t linked it. Wise Bartender doesn’t list it. For more, see our guide to the best alcohol-free pale ale.
Facts checked against Blackjack’s own websites and shop, Companies House, Brewery History, Pellicle, the Manchester Beer & Cider Festival, Time Out, The Skinny, CAMRA, Creative Boom, Taste of Manchester, The Alcohol Free Co and Dry Drinker, 31 October 2026.
Blackjack Beers in Our Directory
Compare alcohol-free beers by calories and ABV
🥗 Calorie Calculator →Track every beer, discover your taste archetype, join the community.