Acorn Brewery pumps £60,000 into new facilities

The Barnsley-based Acorn Brewery has a turnover of £1.2M, employs 12 people and supplies 400 local pubs and bars with real ale as well as Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrisons.

Sales at the firm had already increased by 12% in the past 12 months, resulting in the need to invest in three new beer conditioning tanks to boost real ale output by 15,000l.

30,000 pints of ale a week

The 12-year-old firm will produce 30,000 pints of real ale a week following the investment, according to owner Dave Hughes.

“The brewing industry has changed a lot since we started in the summer of 2003 and, particularly the past six years or so,” Hughes said.

“There are now many more independent breweries out there and it is much more important to have a clear stand-out identity at the pumps and on the supermarket shelf.

“Our three new conditioning tanks will mean an extra 15,000l of real ale can undergo the week-long conditioning process at any one time. This is when we monitor the beer’s development before we judge it to be perfectly full-bodied, flavoursome and ready to cask.”

The extra capacity would loosen-up the whole production process and allow the firm to brew more beer and meet increasing demand, he added.

Sales of British beer dropped

Meanwhile, sales of British beer dropped by 5.6% in the second quarter (Q2) of 2015, compared with the same period last year, according to the British Beer and Pub Association’s (BBPA’s) Beer Barometer.

BBPA chief executive Brigid Simmonds said: “While we may see a bounce back in Q3, these latest figures give no room for complacency, and show that more action is needed on beer duty.

“The chancellor has made a great start, with his three one penny cuts, but with inflation very low, and an industry still experiencing the impact of the 42% rise under the previous government’s escalator policy, there is no doubt that more action is needed to create a more sustainable future for Britain’s national drink.”