Broad Town Brewery has used the challenge of lockdown to start delivering booze to people’s doorsteps.
Jason Bayliffe moved to the village six years ago and last year he launched his own brewery.
It’s the first in the village in more than a century.
But the pair needed to think outside the barrel to help the business to thrive through lockdown.
Jason said: “We started the delivery back in April as soon as the country was badly hit with coronavirus. It was just a reaction thing initially but now we plan to continue it after the pandemic.
“We have been delivering in bottles almost the size of a litre and 500ml bottles.
“We have done more than 1,000 deliveries since we started it which is amazing. So we think this is the future of our business as it has tripled our turnover.”
Their ales are being brewed in the coach house of what was once the home of the Hart family, who ran Broad Town Brewery in the 19th Century.
Network Rail senior projects engineer Jason used his skills to build the brewery from scratch using parts that other firms had scrapped.
Unlike many businesses across the country lockdown hasn’t been detrimental for the brewery.
“It has been the making of the business financially and we get to communicate with our customers directly now,” Jason said.
“Now we are looking to expand by delivering to garden centres such as Three Trees Farm Shop and Cafe which is really interesting. Things are really looking up for the business.”
The brewery isn’t just expanding with deliveries, it’s also taking on a new brewer Nathan Beet from Wroughton.
And it has started to put out monthly beers. Raspberry Bloomer appeared this month and in September the pair will be putting out a ruby ale called Ruthless Ruby.
Jason explained: “The idea for these really come from beers I like, they’re mostly European style beers. They all have individual names depending on the flavour and so far they have gone down well which is excellent.”
Visit broadtownbrewery.company.site
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