Background
William Bass was the son of William Bass and his wife Hannah Fish.
William Bass was the son of William Bass and his wife Hannah Fish.
By 1777, aged 60, he had saved some money, and, seeing the growing demand for Burton beer, he entered the brewing business. He bought a town house in the High Street, which contained a brewery and malthouse on adjoining land. Burton was already a thriving brewing town with several breweries exploiting the growing export beer trade via the Trent Navigation and Hull to the Baltic ports in Russia, mainly Saint St. Petersburg.
He established the Bass Brewery and catered mainly for the domestic market, but in 1784 he started to export ale directly to Russia.
Bass is buried in Burton-on-Trent.