Three Counties Brewery, in Newgate, only started brewing three months ago and is still perfecting its recipe, but it already has a commitment from a London football club to sell its ales.
The start-up brewery has so far had mixed success with its first two brews and hopes to have the process perfected in time for an official opening in November.
It is already on sale at the Old Well Inn, on The Bank.
George Gledhill, a director of the brewery, said: “The first brew came out absolutely perfect and it is maturing perfectly in the cask. But when we came to bottle it, it goes flat. There is something that is wrong but we don’t know what is going wrong in the process.”
He said they did not want to add carbon dioxide to the mix, nor did they want to add sugar to ensure it keeps its head.
The director added that a second brew had not been as successful as the first and this may have something to do with a fermenter which catches the sun at certain times of the day causing a slight fluctuation in temperature.
A third brew was started this month, which he hoped would be more successful.
Despite the setbacks, Mr Gledhill said a market for the beer has already been developed with orders coming in from all over the country. He would not, however, reveal which Championship club had expressed an interest.
The brewery draws its name from the water of the River Tees, which sources if water in Yorkshire, Cumbria and Durham.
Currently the brewers are producing only one variety of beer. It is the first commercial brewery selling beers to pubs to open in Barnard Castle for decades.
Mr Gledhill said: “At the moment we are only doing on beer, a premium ale.
“We keep it to traditional English beer.
“We don’t put fruit in it or anything. We want to brew old English beer. We don’t want it to be clinical. We want to make a good beer that is renowned.” In the future they hope to brew a stronger a stronger 4.2 per cent beer and later a dark bitter.
Making the brew even more distinctively Teesdale is that, in the near future, even the hops used might be grown in Teesdale.
Mr Gledhill has planted two varieties of hops, fuggle and bramling cross – at the brewery site which have taken quite well.
He said: “Fuggle is a traditional English hop but they said it would never grow up here. This will be ready to harvest in September.”
Later he plans to plant 100 of each variety on land he owns in Whorlton.
The brewery plans to expand to have a capacity of 20,000 litres. The new equipment is to be based at a farm in the Eden Valley.
Those interested in tasting Three Counties Breweries ale can visit the Old Well Inn.
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