New ales to savour at revamped Brownhills brewery
Tours will be launched at a revamped brewery in Brownhills next month – and bosses have announced plans to expand the range of beers on offer.
The Backyard Brewhouse at the Gatehouse Trading Estate recently quadrupled its beer production after completing a £250,000 expansion.
Bosses are now preparing to bring out a new beer in the near future, followed by three more in the next two years as staff experiment with different ingredients.
Director Austen Morgan said: "We were looking at starting the tours towards the end of the month, but we are putting that off for about a month.
"We will take group bookings and I will lead the tours. They will be able to see the brewery and the process in an informal way. There will be tasters available. I'm hoping it will raise our profile.
"We are going to be producing two new beers this year and there may be a third around Christmas. They will be new IPAs.
"There's going to be a total of four new beers over the next two years. The recipe will stay the same but we will be changing the hop.
"It will be available in pubs only."
The brewery has recently undergone a transformation, including the installation of new equipment and delivery van.
The investment has been funded by a private backer and has already created two new sales jobs, with the potential for more.
Mr Morgan said there would also be capacity at the site to increase production by 15 to 20 per cent in the future to cope with potential demand.
The expansion has meant the brewery in Lichfield Road has gone from brewing 15 barrels a week to 60.
The firm was first established by two brewers from Highgate Brewery five years ago.
Among the beers it produces are Backyard Blonde, Premium, IPA, Bitter and The Hoard, a beer inspired by the Staffordshire Hoard.
