THWAITES UNWRAP THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS PRESENT: A NEW CRAFT BREWERY

20.12.2011

Thwaites head brewer Steve Fielding must have been very, very good this year because Father Christmas has brought him the present dreams are made of - a new craft brewery.

The finishing touches are now being made to the installation of the new, £200K 'craft brewery at Thwaites' Star Brewery in Blackburn and the first test brew is underway ready for Christmas.

With three fermenters, the new craft brewery aptly named 'Crafty Dan', will allow Thwaites to create up to three new beers a week and allow Steve and his team to trial new, experimental flavours, create one off brews to mark special events and brew highly flavoured beers popular with Thwaites' cask ale fans.

Steve described the excitement at the special Christmas delivery: "We're all thrilled with the new craft brewery and we can't wait for it to be up and running and for the first beers to be ready. We're brimming with recipe ideas and we can't wait to get started. It really is the most fantastic Christmas present of all."

And Thwaites Brewing Director and the man in charge of the development of new beers, Ian Bearpark, added his voice to the chorus of delight: "Crafty Dan will give us the chance to develop new, short run beers - as few as 25 to 30 barrels- which means we can really start to get creative and try out some of the great ideas the team has.

"Brewing is very much at the heart of Thwaites and we want to continue to innovate and produce great beers. The new 'Crafty Dan' brewery will allow us to continue our fine tradition."

The craft brewery will work alongside the main brewery with the best beers making it into larger scale production. Crafty Dan is being installed at the Star Brewery in the heart of Blackburn but will move with Thwaites when it relocates to a new brewery in the next few years.