On a farm in the Wirral village of Brimstage Adam Williams and his team work to create the "perfect pint".
Brimstage Brewery was founded by Neil Young in 2006. Brewing from the dairy of an old farm, the team of seven full-time employees make a range of beers but they are best known for session ale Trapper's Hat.
The 3.8% beer inspired the founding of the brewery 16 years ago. Now, as it faces challenges from the cost of living crisis, Brimstage Berwery's goal remains the same, as it declares on its website "to brew the perfect pint for our customers".
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Taking a break from brewing and processing orders in the run up to Christmas, head brewer Adam told the ECHO that the ethos which inspired the creation of Trapper's Hat is what drives the business today.
Adam, 45, from Spital, said: "Neil wanted a beer that he could sit in his local pub, which was the Wheatsheaf in Raby, and have few pints. He didn’t want to make a strong beer that people would only have one pint of.
"He wanted a beer lower than 4% that you could drink as a session - that you could drink four or five of and still be fine. That was the aim when he set it up - all he wanted to do was to sell his beer to local pubs and drink it.
"We’ve brewed 16, getting on 17, beers now but the ethos is still the same. Our slogan now is ‘Real Local Character’ and we’re just trying to stay focused on supporting our community.
"We do make a lager. We do make some new craft beers. We make a session IPA. But generally we just try to make beer with the best ingredients.
As well as its flagship ale, Brimstage currently makes a light ale, a red ale, an amber bitter, an oatmeal stout, a lager, an IPA, a pale ale and a session IPA. Though it offers that range, Adam said that around 95% of their beer brewed is Trapper's Hat.
The beer is a three-time finalist in CAMRA's Champion Beer of Britain and Adam believes the quality of ingredients is key. However, like every business, the brewery is facing additional pressures to do so as it battles through the cost of living crisis.
Adam said: " With the financial pressures coming on us now we could change the malt we use. We could change the hops to try and make things cheaper. We’ve always tried to use the best equipment and the best ingredients to try to make beer to be sold around Wirral, Liverpool, Cheshire, North Wales - especially in independent pubs."
He continued: "It’s pretty steady this year, I know everyone is a bit worried about what next year is going to bring. Our malt prices have gone up by about 20 to 30%. Someone said the other day that with gas, energy and everything, our costs will be about 80% more expensive to make the same amount of beer.
"It will be hard but we’ve never been a cheap brewery. We’re not trying to flog buy one get one frees, or trying to undercut rivals, we’ve always stuck to our guns and maintained quality. We’re just going to carry on doing that and hopefully the pubs keep buying our beer and customers keep going to the pubs.
"That’s the next challenge. There is always a challenge ahead. But we had people queuing at the door to pick up their beer for Christmas gifts and people passing by. We try and support publicans. Breweries need somewhere to sell their beer. Selling directly to customers helps but people want to go to the pub. It’s a huge communal thing and we support the pubs as much as we can."
Despite the difficulties posed by inflation, Adam is looking forward to 2023. The brewery has long wanted to build a tap room on site and they hope to see movement on that in the next 12 months. However, the priority is preserving quality, staying true to their principles and brewing beer that people like drinking.
Adam said: "We’d like to see growth, we haven’t got massive plans - we’re not an aggressive brewery that wants to grow and grow and we’ve also got the challenges of all the costs, so we need to tackle those. We just want to keep doing what we’re doing. We just try to make the best beer that we can.
"If you do that, you’re friendly and you’ve got the right contacts, I think it puts you in a good place. People know who we are, we’re not some massive conglomerate, we’re friendly.
"The next year will be challenging, but we’d like to grow, we’d like to open our own tap room space. We’d also like to brew a few more specials and charity partnerships. It's nice to do something a bit more different, especially if it helps local charities or community groups.
"If our operating prices go up and then we put our beer prices up, then pubs won’t buy our beer. We get pressures at both ends really - it’s a tough trading environment - but it would be great to grow and thrive.
"We’ve been in the Champion Beer of Britain final a few times. It would be nice to get back in there. But mainly, we just want to make good beer and for people to say ‘oh, that’s a cracking pint you make’ when they see us. That’s what we care about really".
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