Brewery with family history, green ambition and excellent beer right in the heart of Shropshire countryside

Breweries have been a part of the region for centuries, providing the welcoming aroma of hops and yeast in the air across the region and many different types of beer loved by thousands.

In the wake of the news of the planned closure of Banks's Brewery in Wolverhampton, the Express & Star wants to support our local breweries and show that there are still many out there producing quality beers to be enjoyed in pubs across the region.

As part of our Backing Our Breweries campaign, we are going to look at what different breweries do, how they grew and built up their reputation, what their products are, how they continue to run in what are difficult financial times and what makes them special.

What started as a family idea to brew a beer which represented the local community has become a beacon for sustainability and green energy, as well as a brewery well known across the local area as one with drinkable and tasty beer.

Hobsons Brewery sits on the edge of Cleobury Mortimer on the Shropshire and Wyre Forest border and has been a working and productive brewery since 1993, when Nick Davis and his parents Jim and Kate put together a plan for the brewery.

Mr Davis said the idea had been to produce a product where everything was locally sourced and was by the local people, for the local people.

He said: "The inspiration for wanting our own brewery was that I'm a trained surveyor and had done pubs and licensed premises, so I understood the pub side, so we talked about it as my dad and I had done home brewing and he had worked for Courage, so it's in the blood a little bit.

"We wanted to produce our own beer and do it purely from a point of trying to represent a locality, so we were trying to produce a product where the barley was grown locally and the hops were grown locally, so it's a simple footprint from knowing where it comes from.

"Barley is grown in certain places and while we didn't have it 30 years ago, we do now, and hops are grown in the Tern Valley, so only seven or eight miles away, so we're really in the heartland of brewing."

The process from the idea to brewing the first beer took about six months, with the name of the brewery coming from a play called Hobsons Choice which Mr Davis said just clicked for him.

He said that the very first beer was produced in Easter 1993, but was brewed again the next day and became the Best Bitter the brewery made its name on, while the brewery moved from the bottom of the town to the current location at Newhouse Farm in 1996.

Since then, the brewery has become known as having an ethos of being a local sustainable brewery, while also embracing green ways of generating power through wind power turbines, solar panels and recycling rainwater as part of the brewing process.

Mr Davis said the brewery was always going to be based in and around Cleobury Mortimer due to the sort of water available in the area, saying that it was part of the key components of the process.

One of the most notable and popular beers brewed by Hobsons is Town Crier, a beer regularly found in ale pubs across the region, with Mr Davis saying it was one of the originals from the move to the new brewery.

He said: "Town Crier was named after a town crier competition in Alcester as they wanted a beer for that event and we had just moved in here, so it's been on the taps for 28 years and is our best selling product.

"We regularly win awards for it and it's pretty much as it was when we first brewed it in 1996, maybe some nuanced changes as barley and hops can vary, but it's still got the core taste."

Town Crier is the most popular, but Hobsons have also been very proficient in making different types of beers, with six cask beers and four core keg beers, and also sells many of the favourites in bottles and polypins and mini-kegs.

Mr Davis said the philosophy of Hobsons was to produce locally sourced beers, utilize what's around the brewery and not waste anything, as well as continue to be innovate, such as with a new lager and some of the stouts on offer.

He also said that while the brewery was very popular in the local area and the on-site taproom was very popular, he did feel that the brewery could put itself out further afield at times.

He said: "I don't think we shout loud enough sometimes and we have to be mindful that the industry has changed massively, with a greater demand for paler products, with a greater volume than previously, while the loss of some major suppliers could impact us massively.

"However, this place is a massive part of my life and I've just loved every minute.

"It beats working and I just live it and love it."

Hobsons Brewery's most popular beers:

Town Crier 4.5%

A crisp golden ale with a hint of sweetness and subtle dry finish. A supremely consistent full flavoured golden ale.

Twisted Spire 3.4%

Vibrant blond beer with a light fizz and sweet floral aroma bringing bursts of refreshing flavour and crisp dry finish.