Saltaire Ewen Gordon

West Yorkshire-based Saltaire Brewery has invested more than £1 million in a new brew kit, which has doubled brewing capacity to more than 100,000 pints per week.

The investment follows continued and growing demand for Saltaire beer, particularly from ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsburys and the Co-op, who have significantly increased distribution, both in terms of new lines listed and increased store availability.

The brewery has managed a seamless transition from the old kit to the new, with customers and consumers seeing no variation in taste or quality since the change in April.

Managing director, Ewen Gordon (pictured), said: “We’ve enjoyed year-on-year growth since the business was founded 12 years ago, and the rise in the popularity of craft beer has almost certainly played a significant part of that.

“The new brew kit will be instrumental in allowing us to grow more ambitiously over the next year. We’ve got our sights set on a number of other significant developments and additions to the business, which will also support our growth plans and enable us to get our beer out there to more and more people.

Saltaire Brewery is available in almost all major supermarkets, including Booths, Waitrose, Tesco, Morrisons, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Co-op and ASDA. To date, the brewery has developed more than 60 different beers, including the permanent favourites Saltaire Blonde and Cascade Pale Ale.

“It’s a really exciting period of growth for the business, and the investments we’ve made so far will only go to support the demand for our products on a national level.”

The brewery, which was founded in 2005 and stands next to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saltaire Village, has won five major beer awards in the past six months for some of its most successful beers.

Kala Black IPA was named best bark beer in the world at the International Brewing Awards, received silver in the black IPA category at the World Beer Awards, and silver in the premium strong beers category at the SIBA National Awards.

Triple Chocoholic stout was presented with a gold award in the speciality beer category in CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain competition. And SaltaireXS Imperial IPA was also presented with gold in the imperial / double IPA category at the World Beer Awards.