Brewing up plans for first class ales in Teesdale

TEESDALE’S first brewery in many years is due to open this summer, thanks in part to a crowd-funding exercise.
McColl’s Brewery, based at Evenwood’s Randolph Industrial Estate, hopes to be delivering its first beers by the end of April.
The new venture is the realisation of a dream for former university researcher Danny McColl, of Middleton-in-Teesdale, who previously worked as head brewer for Tirril Brewery, in Appleby.
Mr McColl’s brewery will also be the dale’s first large scale operation since the Butterknowle Brewery closed.
Mr McColl developed his passion for beer production about 15 years ago. He said: “My first Christmas present from my wife – we had been together for only two months – was a home brewing kit.”
He went on to give up his job as an assistant researcher at Teesside University to join Tirril.
The process of establishing his own brewery began about two years ago after he completed an advanced brewing course through Brewlab, in Sunderland.
With help from Business Durham, Mr McColl found premises in Evenwood and moved in last November.
He received further business and financial advice from South Durham Enterprise Agency officer Marzia Aloisio.
It was Ms Aloisio’s suggestion that he needed market research and product testing before any investor would even look at his business plan. That sparked the idea of a crowd-funding appeal.
The brewer set a target of £700 which would be used to develop four beers at Brewlab and host two tasting sessions for funders. More than £1,000 was eventually achieved.
He said: “It flew past the target. Brewlab have a full spec lab and they have helped with everything from due diligence to full test brewing.”
The tasting sessions were equally successful.
“We got good critical feedback on the beer and the brand. We were blown away and that gave us a lot of confidence. The engagement was incredible," said Mr McColl.
The four beers include a golden ale at four per cent, a bitter at 4.4 per cent, a pale ale at 4.5 per cent and an IPA at five per cent.
The first of the brewing equipment is expected to begin arriving at the brewery early in March and Mr McColl hopes to be in production by late April.
The first beers are expected to come out in May. About 90 per cent will be casked, with about ten per cent destined to be bottled, he said.
The brewer hopes every pub in Teesdale will stock his beer and he has already had some positive feedback from the landlords of the Three Tuns, in Eggleston, the Strathmore Arms, in Holwick, and the Fox and Hounds, in Cotherstone.
He said: “We really want to cement ourselves as Teesdale, but we want ultimately to go all the way up and down the Tees. I just get excited that it is going to happen. We are so passionate about it”.
Once the brewery is properly established Mr McColl hopes to extend the range from the initial four core beers to include four dark ales ranging in strength from five per cent to ten per cent.
To ensure the viability of the business he hopes to sell 50 to 60 casks each week. This equates to about 2,000 litres of beer. However, once the £250,000 brewery is fully set up, it should have a weekly capacity of about 18,000l, or 500 casks, a week.