From the brewhouse to the bar, we look at the award-winning Codsall brewery based inside its own pub

Breweries have been a part of the region for centuries, providing the welcoming aroma of hops and yeast in the air across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton 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 from Aldridge down to Smethwick.

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.

It's not often that a pub can actually tell people directly where the beer came from, with most bringing in kegs of beer from across the local area and further afield.

However, in the case of the Firs in Codsall, it has beer which is very much home-brewed, coming from its own micro-brewery fresh and ready to be drunk since the Brewery at the Firs was established in 2017.

The brewery is based at the back of the club on Station Road, with Kevin McElduff from the club running the brewery and seeing the process from mash tun to handpull.

He spoke about why the brewery had been set up, saying it was about helping the club to win more awards, and how the beer being brewed in-house made it special.

He said: "We established the brewery in 2017 in order to help the club win more awards and it's been very successful as the Firs has been the West Midlands regional club of the year three times, Staffordshire club two years in a row and Wolverhampton club eight years in a row and the brewery makes a massive contribution to that.

"We're very small and we only brew for the Firs and, occasionally, for local beer festivals, so that means that people will come here and it will be unique as the only place in the world where you can get our beer is in Codsall.

"We were fortunate to win a CAMRA award for our Rosetta Stone Mild in May, so not only does the pub win awards, but so does our beer, and I think we might hold a World Record as well in terms of being local as the beer only travels around six yards from the cellar to the pub."

Mr McElduff said the brewery brewed once a month over two nights, with the brewery described as a Half-Barrel plant of 18 gallons and said the idea of the brewery was to create something that you could only drink in the Firs.

He said the love of brewing had been around for more than 40 years and said the beer brewed at the Firs had a unique heritage and history to it.

He said: "We brew English beer and that means that we're not using new world or American hops, so you won't find citrus or peaches or mangoes in our beer as we brew the type of beer that your day or grandad might have drunk.

"That means premium bitters from mild to speciality bitters, plus our Christmas beer White Christmas, which has ginger and oranges and cardamom and cinnamon in it, which is a nice and light beer.

"We're very much focussed on the English brewing tradition."

The brewery has been going strong since it first began brewing in 2017, surviving the Covid-19 pandemic by bottling and selling its beers at the door, while it is also a not-for-profit enterprise with the pub as it provides the beer at a low-rate and the pub gives it accommodation, electricity and water.

Mr McElduff said the brewery brewed the sort of beer he would want to drink, as well as being well-regarded by people in the know, and said he had a lot of satisfaction at the quality of the beer which came from his brewery.

He said: "There's nothing more enjoyable to me than someone tasting my beer and telling me it's good.

"My partner at the brewery David Johnson and I are very proud of that fact that people travel from across the country to drink our beer and if we hear them say that it's good, then that's good enough for us."

The Brewery at the Firs most popular beers:

Wooden Top 4.2%

A mouth-filling combination of malt with Targets and Goldings hops to create a beer with a full taste and refreshing aroma.

Rosetta Stone 4.6%

An award-winning strong and dark ale with malty and chocolate notes and a light, hoppy bitterness.