Members of Parliament can toast the continued success of the real ale revolution with a pint of ale brewed in Yorkshire.
This week Ossett Brewery’s Yorkshire Blonde beer is guest ale of the week in the Strangers’ Bar in the House of Commons.
Wakefield MP Mary Creagh asked for the beer to be hosted there after she toured Ossett Brewery and met chairman Bob Lawson.
Ms Creagh said: “I’m delighted MPs will have the chance to try one of the country’s best beers.
“A young brewery, Ossett has gone from strength to strength and cemented its place at the front of the real ale revolution which is gripping Britain.”
The number of breweries in the UK has risen to its highest level for more than 70 years.
The country now boasts around 1,000 craft and micro breweries – twice as many as a decade ago – according to the Campaign for Real Ale.
It’s a trend recognised by rural regeneration company Pennine Propsects, which has just launched a new website to champion the breweries in the South Pennines, an area which runs from Ilkley to Holmfirth.
Hereforthebeer.co.uk is part a celebration of the county’s entrepreneurial spirit. The team behind it hopes it will also encourage visitors to stay in the region for longer and spend more.
For firms like the Salamander Brewing Company in a former Bradford pie factory, it’s also a way of raising their own profile.
The brewery is one of 38 featured on the website.
It sits alongside profiles of Ilkley Brewery almost 100 years after the town’s original brewery shut, and Halifax Steam, housed in a Hipperholme Portakabin.
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