Behind the Scenes at Ilkley Brewery

I love my non-job. This week I got to have a look around Ilkley Brewery. They are really exited because after just 2 years of being in business they have  moved into new, bigger premises to cope with the growing demand for their award winning beer. The official launch was on Friday, but I got shown around a couple of days before the big party by Stewart Ross one of the brewery directors.

When I say shown around, I just mean shown. Ilkley is classed a Micro Brewery and it really is micro, housed in a small industrial unit, the whole brewing operation takes place in one room. They have a capacity of what is technically known as 20 Barrels, which to you and me means they can produce just under 17000 pints a week.

I asked Stewart a few questions as he showed me the brewing equipment and explained to me the process of brewing beer.

The first stage is ‘mashing in’ where the grain is boiled in water to extract the sugars to make what is known as ‘wort’.  The wort is then transferred to the copper where the hops are added.

How do you pick the hops that you use?

‘We go to the hop importers and literally go around the hundreds of varieties of hops, smell them and decide which ones we like.’

‘There are two types of hop, bittering hops that you put in at the start and aroma hops are put in at the end. This process takes around six hours.’

‘English hops are generally grown in Kent but we never really use them. We use a combination of hops from New Zealand and America that give more interesting and aromatic flavours.’

The hopped wort is then moved to the fermentation tanks where the yeast is added. Fermentation takes around 5 days and this is where the beer gets its alcohol content. The finished beer is then put into bottles or barrels and is kept in a cold store until it is sent out to be sold in shops and pubs.

So how did you get into brewing in the first place?
‘Both myself and Chris have a background in commercial property. Really I got into this as I organised the Ilkley beer festival and we thought ‘lets have a go at brewing some beer!’ We signed up to the unit and bought all the kit and then went on a 3 day brewing course!’

And how have you found it?

‘Pretty good, I think we have had quite a lot of luck but also we have worked hard at building the brand. Mary Jane has won a lot of awards and accounts for a large proportion of our sales. It has carried the brewery forwards and now people try out our other beers because they have enjoyed the Mary Jane.’

I asked Stewart what makes real ale different from mass produced beers.

‘Basically it’s due to the ingredients, we use the best quality malts and we choose hops that give distinctive flavours rather than the bland flavours of mass produced beers.

Or product is also purer. Big breweries use poorer ingredients which means that the end up having to use additives to get the flavours.’

And the proof is in the tasting. I had a try of the Mary Jane. It has a fresh, crisp, citrus flavour, really refreshing and easy to drink. The depth of flavour means that something like Mary Jane is so much more interesting to drink that a mass produced larger- all the care and attention that goes into the brewing process pays off as it really is noticeable in the end product.

I love the fact that there are locally brewed beers like this available to us here in Leeds. I think its also good to know that by buying local, the profits stay local and mean businesses like this are able to expand. Ilkley Brewery currently employs 7 people and the expansion has resulted in part time staff  getting more hours- great to hear when so many people are sadly loosing their jobs elsewhere.

As Stewart said to me ‘if you are going to spend £2-£3 on a pint, it may as well be something worth drinking’

Cheers to that!

Look out for Ilkley Brewery beers in local pubs, independent off licences, Asda and Booths stores.