After a gap of almost forty years brewing has returned to Wirral with the opening of The Brimstage Brewery. The small brewery, run by real ale enthusiast Neil Young, currently produces two ales Trappers Hat and Rhode Island Red. The Trappers Hat Bitter, named after the local poaching tradition, scooped Beer of the Festival Award at the recent Birkenhead Beer Festival.
 | | The brewery is in an old dairy |
The brewery has been set up on the site of the dairy on Lord Leverhulme’s land in Brimstage. “This brewery is proving to be a success and I’m very proud of the place,” says owner Neil Young. Neil currently brews about 3000 pints a week which is served in local pubs. “The essence of all this is fresh beer,” says Neil. “I’ve got two distinct flavours of beer but there’s so much to offer out there in the world of hops.” “They come from all over the world now. There is American, Yugoslav and of course British. The difference in each hop is amazing and it really does flavour the beer.”
 | | Neil Young in his brewery |
Eight casks of beer have been ordered for the forthcoming Liverpool Beer Festival which is held in the crypt of the Metropolitan Cathedral. Amongst the local public houses that stock the beer are The Wheatsheaf in Raby and The Fox and Hounds in Barnston. Neil Young, who has even built his own bar at the brewery, says the smell from hops affects people differently, “I particularly get a liquorice taste. Lots of people get different smells and tastes for the malt, sometimes like treacle toffee.” | 
