Pontypridd family launch Otley Brewing Company

A pub-running family in Pontypridd, South Wales, has launched a new brewery to distribute a range of real ales throughout the UK.

Nick Otley, along with cousin Charlie and nephew Matthew, became shareholders in the brewery when they partnered with original owners, Somerset company, Moor Beer. Trading under the name the Otley Brewing Company, they have now installed a 10-barrel plant in an industrial estate near Pontypridd, with Moor maintaining the distribution as far afield as Bristol and Birmingham.

The Otley Brewing Company is currently producing 10 barrels a week, but has a capacity to brew 60 to 70 barrels a week. Their 10 brands range from their flagship, four per cent beer, O1, to Otley Dark-o, a 3.8 per cent mild, to Old Freddie Walker, a 7.3 per cent strong beer.

Around 20 per cent of the brewery's produce is supplying the family's own three pubs, the Bunch of Grapes, the Otley Arms and the Rickards Arms, all within three miles of the brewery.

Establishing the brewery cost over £40,000, and the company has so far made back 20 per cent of the fee.

Nick said that the investment was well worth it. "With all our food in the pubs, we emphasize the fact that it's fresh and locally produced. We thought 'why can't we extend that to the beer?'"

The brewery building - which Nick describes as "just a shell" when they moved in - has been refurbished and will soon be opened for tours. The company also plans to increase distribution once they have become more established.