Meet the brewer – Chris Ives (Ilkley Brewery)

It’s that time of the week again where it’s time to meet a new brewer, this time It is Chris from Ilkley Brewery in Yorkshire, they make some cracking (and award winning) beers so if you see them anywhere, give them a go. So over to Chris..

What is your brewery capacity?
Currently 16 BBL (64 firkins) per week but from march will double to 32 BBL (128 firkins) per week

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall on the pull

What is different about your brewery?
We aim to make traditional beers but with a modern twist using high quantities of hops from all over the world and as we produce on a relatively small scale can be very creative with our beer designs

How long have you been brewing for?
The first batch was made in May 2009 so not long

How did you get into brewing?
We ran the Ilkley Beer Festival so beer was in the blood so to speak. Both directors are keen beer lovers and wanted to see if we could produce beers as good as the other microbreweries that produce our favourite beers.

What beers do you brew regularly?
Ilkley Gold 3.9%, Ilkley Best 4.0% and are award winning Mary Jane 3.5%

What special/seasonal beers do you brew?
Currently Ilkley Black, a rich and satisfying Dark Mild at 3.7% and Lotus IPA which is a strong traditional India Pale Ale at 5.6%

Where do you think the future of brewing lies?
In hand crafted high quality beers and ales produced with passion by microbreweries

What is you proudest moment in brewing?
Winning the SIBA gold medal for Mary Jane – we were overwhelmed to have got such an award after only 6 months brewing.

What was last beer you drank?
Mary Jane in Bar Tat, Ilkley last night

What is your favourite hop?
Amarillo – loads of grapefruit and citrus

What is your brewing ambition?
produce great beers and hopefully one day win the Great British Beer Festival

Do you have a Brewing hero/inspiration?
Not really, we take our inspiration from all the great beers produced up and down the country

Which beer do you wish you had brewed?
Jaipur by Thornbridge

Favourite hobby outside of brewing?
Cycling both on and off road

Anything else you want to tell us?
No except thanks to everyone who has supported us in the first 6 months and I hope you keep drinking and enjoying our beers.

Find out more about Ilkley brewery on their website here or follow them on twitter here

PS In case you were wondering why the pic is of a certain celebrity chef and small holder then it would seem he is a fan of the brewery and enjoyed pulling a pint or two at a food festival