Innovative Yorkshire brewery Brew York is about to mark six years in business with a very special public event at its new production brewery.
Brew York owners Wayne Smith and Lee Grabham
Brewing commenced at the £2 million state-of-the-art production facility a year ago and the company continues to invest in a significant growth strategy to increase production capacity towards 5 million pints a year.
The 65,000 sq ft complex at Handley Park in Osbaldwick — just ten minutes up the road from the original site at Walmgate — will play host to Brew York’s biggest celebration to date.
Now — for the first time and to celebrate six years of trading — the site will open to the public on 8th and 9th April for a special beer festival spread across the vast indoor and outdoor floorspace.
Leading breweries from across the UK will be pouring at the event, including Buxton, Thornbridge, Siren, Vault City, and Full Circle. There will also be street food, music, and special entertainment for all the family. Brew York’s resident kitchen partner, Yuzu Street Food, will be one of the food vendors, serving their its popular Asian-inspired menu.
The festival entertainment will include the Brew York monthly YouTube Live Tasting during the Friday evening session, which guests can get involved with for free. There are limited tickets available.
Co-owner and head brewer, Lee Grabham, said: “After the rollercoaster of the last two years, we are really looking forward to showing people the Osbaldwick site in person.
“We’ve missed having our loyal and supportive customers in our venues, and we now want to share with them our positivity, ambition, and the innovation we are so excited about.
“It also feels amazing to be able to host several of our great brewery friends at the brewery for the event. We’re just really looking forward to opening the doors and having a long overdue celebration!”
Output doubled
The new Osbaldwick site has enabled Brew York to address escalating demand, both domestically and internationally. As part of the expansion, several new jobs were created, increasing employment to 70 across the business, and the team invested in new kit and technology to improve efficiency, quality and consistency.
This included creating a large cold store, and obtaining a grain silo and mill alongside a reverse osmosis machine, which strips all mineral content from the water to create a ‘blank canvas’ for brewing. This further improves general quality and enables the production of new styles of beer such as pilsner, which would not otherwise be possible using York’s mains water supply.
The Osbaldwick investment quickly enabled output to double from 880,000 pints a year at the Walmgate Brewhouse to current levels of 1.7 million pints. With two new 200 hectolitre external fermentation vessels set to be installed outside next month, the total production capacity at the site is an estimated 5 million pints a year.
The original Brewhouse site at Walmgate also remains in full operation as a smaller-scale brewing facility.
Co-founder and managing director Wayne Smith said: “We’ve pushed on with plans despite the challenges of recent times, and I’m incredibly proud of what the team has achieved.
“The new site really is a sight to behold for anyone who has an interest in beer, brewing, and general production, and it will be a really proud day for us on 8th April when we finally get to share it with more of the people who matter so much to us and to the next chapter in Brew York’s story.”
• For tickets and more info visit brewyork.co.uk/sixth-birthday-brewery-bash (limited tickets are available).
