Phil Gillam: Macro love for microbreweries
When our sons were little they used to play with tiny plastic cars and lorries within a tiny plastic city. These were called Micro-Machines.
And that's why, to this day, I cannot think about microbreweries without imagining tiny little people brewing beer that goes into tiny little barrels and tiny little bottles.
The tiny little barrels then go to tiny little pubs, and the tiny little bottles are put on tiny little shelves in tiny little supermarkets.
The idea makes me smile.
Then, once I've got over this juvenile image, I start to think what a fantastic idea microbreweries are.
And we seem to have more than our fair share of them here in Shropshire.
Among them, based in the north of Shrewsbury, is Battlefield Brewery which specialises in the production of cask ales and craft lagers.
They've just overseen a multi-million pound makeover of the former cold store for Shrewsbury's cattle market, transforming it into one of the county's largest independent breweries.
As a vegetarian who loves beer, this pleases me no end!
They took over the 15,000 square foot site behind Tesco in Whitchurch Road back in 2012.
Without too much of a song and dance, work has been quietly going on there to create a complete brewing, bottling and packaging hub which will soon be open to visitors with its own shop, bar and restaurant.
I can't wait!
Another person who would have been pleased about this (had he still been with us) is Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, who famously said: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
Battlefield Brewery – now with seven members of staff – brews eight different beers, from light cask ales to darker bitters, to what is surely one of the very few craft lagers in the region.
Graham Boulger is the co-owner and managing director. He says: "Acquiring this site was the ideal way for us to start. I love the fact it used to be such a centrepiece of Shrewsbury life.
"There are remains of the old railway tracks from the 1940s and '50s for shipping the meat around the country.
"It is a fantastic location with all the space necessary to run the operation. We now have the capacity and capability to produce 500 barrels a week, which roughly amounts to 140,000 pints.
"Everything is done on site. We have a special laboratory and tasting room, as well as the main warehouse where the brewing vats, bottling and labelling facilities are situated."
He said the emphasis of the company is on producing beers that are "full and flavoursome and have plenty of body".
Funny, but when I first started going to pubs with our dad, there only ever seemed to be two types of beer on offer: bitter and mild.
Our dad would often ask for a pint of mixed which was (surprisingly enough) half bitter, half mild. He seemed to like this concoction best of all.
When I was 18 or 19, lager was just starting to come onto the market in a big way. Although, looking back, I think Skol was the only lager you could get to begin with. And everyone seemed to drink their lager with a dash of lime in those days.
Now – if you go to the right places – the choice of beers on offer is amazing.
And this is largely down to our friends at the microbreweries – bless their little tiny cotton socks!
