Black Sheep Brewery is celebrating Cask Ale Week by launching its very own micro brewery to increase the potential for testing and producing new brews, as well as delivering exciting one-off specialist brews.
Based at the brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire, the new five barrel brew plant complements Black Sheep’s existing main brewhouse which has a minimum brew run of 50 barrels.
Alan Dunn, Head Brewer commented: “Up to now we have been limited in our ability to develop new beers as a 50 barrel run is a lot, so the new plant really allows us to flex our creative muscles!”
Black Sheep has invested £50,000 in the equipment, which was supplied by AB UK. It has been sited in the original brewhouse, and is a five barrel replica of the larger brewery, ensuring any successful beers can be upscaled.
Alan Dunn, Head Brewer at Black Sheep, said: “It was important that the processes we implement in our existing plant could be replicated when testing new brews, and this played an important role in the development of the micro brewery. This means we have a unique – and I believe the world’s smallest – five barrel Yorkshire Square fermenter, and we are able to simply scale up the process to put a test brew into full production.”
Jo Theakston, Sales and Marketing Director at Black Sheep said: “The micro brewery will use the same Yorkshire Square fermenting system which has made Black Sheep one of the most popular breweries in the UK, and we will be experimenting with a variety of new hops and styles.
”It creates a massive opportunity for us and we will be using it initially to develop some new beers for next year, so watch this space!
“As part of our launch in Cask Ale week we are releasing ‘Brew #1’ from the micro plant into our local Yorkshire free trade. It’s a 4.8%abv, star bright White Ale brewed using heaps of Cascade hops along with orange and coriander. It is very moreish and we are keen to get feedback from our customers as to what they think!”
ENDS
MEDIA CONTACT: Marie Carter / Paul White on 01325 363 436.
Photo caption: Jo Theakston, Sales and Marketing Director at Black Sheep
A HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOGRAPH TO ACCOMPANY THIS NEWS RELEASE CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM: http://www.
Notes to Editors:
The Black Sheep Brewery in Masham made its first beer in 1992 after being built up by Paul Theakston, whose family had brewed in the area for six generations.
In a world of ever increasing bland, mass-produced beer Paul saw an opportunity to return to what his family had done best since 1827, making real beer in the time-honoured fashion.
An old maltings building, once part of Lightfoot’s Brewery became the Brewery’s home. This landmark building, which stands high over the banks of the Ure, had fallen in to disrepair as years of neglect as a semi-redundant grainstore had taken its toll. Paul assembled a small team around him to fight the rats and build a traditional country brewery.
The Black Sheep Brewery name derived from Masham’s association with sheep, but ‘Sheep Brewery’ didn’t quite sound right, so with a little creativity from Paul’s wife the Black Sheep Brewery was born, a name that sat well with the area, spoke volumes about the maverick attitude to the multi-nationals seeking to dominate the brewing industry and captured the essence of the family struggle that led to our birth.
Black Sheep Ale at 4.4% ABV, now in an eco-friendly lightweight bottle, continues to maintain its presence among the top ten premium bottled ale brands, and is available nationwide from virtually all the major supermarket retailers. It is a classic premium bitter and as with all Black Sheep beers, full of character derived from the best possible brewing materials, plenty of time and patience in the brewing and our very special Yorkshire Square fermenters.