A historic Black Country brewer is aiming to expand its network of tap houses as it takes advantage of soaring demand for its award-winning ales.
Sadler鈥檚 Brewery, which can date its origins back to 1900, recently opened its new Brewhouse and Bar in Lye, Stourbridge, in a move more than doubling the size and scale of its operations and the brewer says it hopes to eventually have a network of five or six tap houses across the Black Country.
The new Sadler鈥檚 Brewhouse and Bar, located in a redeveloped industrial unit in Station Drive, complements the firm鈥檚 established brewery at the Windsor Castle pub in Stourbridge Road nearby but offers a far greater brewing capacity.
Its Windsor Castle brewery had a 3,000 pint brew while the new facility has a 9,000 pint brew and Sadler鈥檚 is now brewing five days a week.
Sadler鈥檚 was originally founded in 1900 by Nathaniel Sadler and his son Thomas later took it over. He brewed his last pint in 1927 but passed on his passion and knowledge of brewing to his son John and grandson Chris.
In 2004 after a 77-year gap the Sadler鈥檚 Brewery was reopened and Chris Sadler is now spearheading its revival.
Brewhouse operations director Tim Hodgkinson said: 鈥淭he Windsor Castle site is one we have traded from for 100 years - currently from 2004 onwards - but we had outgrown capacity.
鈥淭his became available just a stone鈥檚 throw away.鈥
The new Brewhouse and Bar, which represented a 拢500,000 investment, was opened by television presenter Eamonn Holmes at the end of March.
The Sky News and This Morning presenter, who has been an enthusiastic Sadler鈥檚 fan for some time, described the Brewhouse and Bar as 鈥渁n amazing facility鈥.
His association with the brewery originally came about through his son, a brewer of designer real ales, and Mr Holmes visited the new Lye site before it was developed.
Although the new brewery produces both bottled and cask bear, it is rapidly soaring demand for Sadler鈥檚 bottles beers that is driving rapid growth and bottled beer now accounts for 40 per cent of the brewery鈥檚 business.
Having originally signed a deal to supply Tesco Sadler鈥檚 bottled beers are now being sold in a wide range of supermarkets, including Aldi, Lidl, Waitrose and Sainsbury鈥檚.
They are also being sold at B&M Stores, Simply Fresh, Majestic and a host of smaller independent outlets.
鈥淭esco was the original contract and the others seemed to follow-on,鈥 said Mr Hodgkinson.
鈥淲e worked hard at developing our brand awareness. We went out and did tasting sessions.
鈥淏y doing that over the last two or three years we have done the hard work and are now in the situation where people are approaching us.鈥
Sadler鈥檚 is also now on Green King鈥檚 national list to supply its pubs with cask ale and is being courted by other pubcos keen to follow suit.
Demand is largely for its Worcester Sorcerer ale but its Peaky Blinder ale is also a fast-growing product.
鈥淲orcester Sorcerer is one of our best-selling ales,鈥 said Mr Hodgkinson. 鈥淏ut Wetherspoon in particular loved our Peaky Blinder ale, a 4.5 per cent black IPA.
鈥淥thers would love to have us on their list of cask products.鈥
The brewery, which has a range of 12 core ales along with monthly specials, has doubled its output over the last five years and is eyeing further growth. Currently it employs 30 staff and Mr Hodgkinson said it is looking to recruit further as it develops and progresses.
As regards future plans he said: 鈥淲e are looking at expanding in the pub world and would like to have five or six tap houses in the Black Country, that鈥檚 the next dimension for us.鈥
The brewer is also currently talking to Birmingham鈥檚 famed Peaky Blinder pub in Dale End, a bid to make its Peaky Blinder ale available there but its cask and keg beers are currently available widely in the city, including at JD Wetherspoon pubs, as well as Bitter 鈥榥 Twisted venues which include the Victoria, the Rose Villa Tavern and the Jeckyll & Hyde.
Mr Hodgkinson said they are also keen to attract beer enthusiasts to the Brewhouse & Bar, which is currently open from 12noon to midnight from Thursday to Saturday and from noon until 6pm on Sundays. It also hosts comedy and Black Country-themed nights on other days of the week, with organised tours on a Saturday and special beer nights being run in conjunction with Cotteridge Wines.
Beer lovers can sample 100 bottled craft bottled beers, six constantly changing craft keg beers and six cask ales.
Food is also available with most of the items having a Sadler鈥檚 beer slant, such as beef brisket soaked in Mud City stout served in a ciabatta topped with Hop Bomb cheddar or pulled pork in a Peaky Blinder and honey and ginger sauce.
Mr Hodgkinson said: 鈥淪nowhill is only 15 minutes away by train and we鈥檙e very close to Lye station.鈥
Another initiative has seen the brewery acquire the Black Country Belle - the famous Black Country beer bus.
It is currently being refitted and mechanically overhauled and Sadler鈥檚 plan to use it at a number of beer festivals over the summer including the Birmingham Beer Bash.
