A love of bikes and beer leads to a decade of making amber gold for Blackheath brewery

The Black Country has a long-standing tradition of brewing and beer making.

Breweries have been a part of the region for centuries, providing the welcoming aroma of hops and yeast in the air across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton and many different types of beer loved by thousands.

In the wake of the news of the planned closure of Banks's Brewery in Wolverhampton, the Express & Star wants to support our local breweries and show that there are still many out there producing quality beers to be enjoyed in pubs from Aldridge down to Smethwick.

As part of our Backing Our Breweries campaign, we are going to look at what different breweries do, how they grew and built up their reputation, what their products are, how they continue to run in what are difficult financial times and what makes them special.

Fixed Wheel Brewery is a micro-brewery with big aspirations and a knack for creating easy drinking and full bodied beers which have won awards, such as the Blackheath Stout, which was the overall Gold winner of CAMRA’s West Midlands Regional Champion Beer of Britain 2018. 

Set up in 2014 by cycling and brewing enthusiasts Scott Povey and Sharon Bryant, the micro-brewery operates out of a unit at Long Lane Trading Estate in Blackheath, with Scott Povey saying the idea of the brewery had stemmed from a weekend at a major track cycling event in Belgium.

He said: "My background was as an auto electrician, which I did for about 20 years, but I've been racing BMX bikes and push bikes since I was a child, racing in time trials and being involved in a lot of cycling clubs.