Camerons has installed a new nanobrewery and bar area within its main brewery site to develop a range of new beers, using the skills of various staff across the brewer’s workforce.
The brewery, which has the capacity for 70-litre runs, has been named Tooth & Claw Brewing, and currently has 30 members of staff involved.
Made up of passionate craft beer fans and brewing experts, the team has creative freedom to produce a selection of new beers.
Using the small pilot brewery, the aim is to brew more than 40 different gyles a year. A selection of the very best will be scaled up in 16 hectolitre brews and sold as limited edition runs across bottle shops and pubs, predominately in the North East.
For the logo, the team used the North East coastline as inspiration. The shape of the lion’s head, which faces east, is based on the outline of the coast from where the brewery, in Hartlepool, County Durham, is located.
Chris Deakin, director of brewing operations at Camerons, said: “One of the first things I noticed on joining Camerons was the commitment and passion of the people, with plenty of enthusiastic craft beer aficionados to boot, so I decided to give them a place to create.
“We installed a 70-litre nano brewery, put together by the team here, using kit from Ss Brewtech. From there, the development team was born, with volunteers from different areas of the main brewery involved with creating new beers. Within the space of a few weeks we’ve created a brewery and some awesome new beers.
“I’ve always worked on the basis that you give people the opportunity, the freedom to decide, autonomy and belief, and great stuff happens.”
The first two beers that have gone into production are Gyle #002 Peach Cream Pale, which was developed by lab technician Matthew Coates, and Gyle #004 Breakfast Stout, which was created by development brewer Simon Whittington. Both beers will have been packaged in keg and bottle and will be sold across the Head of Steam pub group and also independent bottle shops across the North East.
Reece Hugill (left) of Donzoko Brewery, brewing a mixed fermentation rhubarb table sour with Camerons’ development brewer, Simon Whittington
Matthew said: “Having this investment from Camerons is great. I have been a keen home-brewer for a long time, as have many of our team, and I joined the brewing industry to really deepen my knowledge of this hobby. To be given this opportunity to brew with creative freedom and to develop our beers for sale is fantastic.
“I have seen my release for sale in local bottle shops and across the country in The Head of Steam pubs, which is a real dream come true. We are expanding our knowledge every day and have resolved to release only the brews that we are 100% sure that both ourselves, and the customers will love.”
Breakfast Stout brewer, Simon, added: “Having complete control about what we brew has made this the best part about the new facility at Camerons. We are not constrained in any way, so it gives us the freedom to brew the beers we really enjoy drinking.”
Simon also has worked alongside fellow Hartlepool brewer Donzoko to develop Gyle #011, a 2.8% ABV mixed fermentation rhubarb table sour. Only two kegs were produced from the trial brew and this collaboration beer has recently gone on sale at The Head of Steam Leeds.
Simon said: “There are a lot of really talented brewers in the North East, and working together yields some great results. It made perfect sense for our first beer to be with Reece, who is a fellow brewer from Hartlepool. I’m looking forward to working with others from the UK and creating more tasty beer.”
As well as collaborations with fellow brewers, the Tooth & Claw team are looking to invite local businesses, trade journalists and bloggers to the brewery to have a go at creating their very own beers and gain an understanding of the brewing process.
