DMC Brewery: Meet Morley couple behind UK's first 'ginger beer bar' set to open in Leeds city centre

DMC Brewery, an independent company run by Morley husband and wife Giuseppe ‘Gez’ Romano and Ele Romano, have spent the past three years brewing in Wakefield, but due to growing demand for their line of unique alcoholic products, are moving production to a bigger site under the arches on Railway Street in Leeds city centre.

Plans are now in place to open a tap room bar on the site, with more than £7,600 raised so far through Crowdfunding to help the cause. Gez says that those who pledge cash are guaranteed to receive more back in bar credit or merchandise, once open for business.

Gez, 41, said: “We have always wanted to open a tap room – it’s a scary leap but it’s exciting, and people are really excited for it. Some have told us they’ve been waiting for this. I had a look on the internet and I’ve found one bar in America, but I don’t there’s any like this in the UK.

“Things have been going really well, but we have exceeded the capacity we can do at Wakefield. We have got a lot of interest for European distribution because there’s nothing like what we do in Europe, but we need to be able to brew enough. It’s a natural progression and it’s reassuring to know there’s a market for it.”

Gez had been a head chef at a top Leeds restaurant until lockdown put him out of a job. As home brewers, the couple began to experiment with making ginger beer, unhappy with the lack of choice on supermarket shelves.

Starting in March 2021, DMC Brewery began ‘cuckoo brewing’ - enlisting the help of like-minded micro breweries to make small batches. They then moved onto their first premises on Balne Lane in Wakefield, experimenting with flavours including mediaeval tipples like mead and braggot.

Resident flavours now include lemongrass and lime leaf, orange with cinnamon and star anise, a 1700s-recipe ginger beer, and an ancho chilli and cacao nib. Seasonable brews include a barrel-aged ginger beer, and golden pear and chi spice.

It is thought there are only a handful other breweries that specialise like DMC – in Canada, the USA and Australia.

Before launching DMC, the couple studied the drink’s origins and found that ginger beer was first brewed in Yorkshire in the 1700s and was an alcoholic drink long before it became a popular soft drink. Starting life on the docks, barrels of ginger came in from the east and water and lemon were added.

It was in demand for around 150 years until prohibition hit America, and ginger beer was largely turned into a soft drink. By the time the booze ban ended, Coca Cola had cornered the market.

Gez said: “When we realised it started in Yorkshire, we had to do it, but we wanted to use only fresh ginger and organic ingredients, to make an historically-accurate beverage.”

Receiving the keys to the new double-arch unit next week, the couple will begin transferring all brewing equipment and are aiming to open the tap room by the end of September or start of October.