Let’s drink
a toast to what’s brewing in Yorkshire

By day the 32-year-old works as a team leader for an insurance company but his time off is spent seeking out the brightest and best small-scale brewers in Yorkshire.

And the result of six months of solid research – not all of it supping – is Great Yorkshire Beer, a pint-sized guide to some of his favourite new breweries.

He got the idea for the book when he tried and failed to find a guide to Yorkshire’s newly-created breweries.

Although he put the idea on hold for a while, it popped up again when he led a pub crawl in Leeds city centre on behalf of the European Beer Bloggers’ Conference.

“I hosted the pub crawl and hearing and seeing people from around the UK and Europe enjoying my regular drinking spots was great.

“There were people from Italy, Spain and Sweden, raving about pubs in Leeds. That was the seed to do something – there is something really special here that deserves recognition.”

Whenever he had a spare moment Mr Linley headed off to speak to the men and women behind the new generation of micro-breweries.

He discovered that many had given up well-paid jobs to risk all in their new venture.

All of them are passionate about brewing and willing to experiment to create new tastes, rather than simply producing run-of-the-mill bitters.

Mr Linley finally chose 13 breweries, most based in West Yorkshire but with a sprinkling from East, South and North.

“The majority are in Leeds, Wakefield and Huddersfield but this is not due to anything other than the criteria I set; I wanted breweries under 10 years old and those that were pushing beer across the UK, Europe and, in some cases, across the rest of the world.

“Last week Ilkley Brewery got an export deal to the States and Wold Top Brewery at Hunmanby have exported to Italy. Summer Wine Brewery in Honley (Huddersfield) have appeared in a beer festival in Australia and Wharfebank Brewery (Pool-in-Wharfedale) is making beer for export to Spain.”

It seems that products bearing a Made in Yorkshire label, particularly beer, can have the edge over competitors.

“Summer Wine Brewery have said that there is a market for a particular beer that comes from Yorkshire. The phrases ‘Yorkshire beer’ and ‘Yorkshire ale’ carry a sort of weight.”

Mr Linley points to the expanding Summer Wine Brewery’s “experimental” ales as showing that real ale need not be predictable or dull.

In the book, he quotes Summer Wine’s James Farran saying: “Yorkshire beer isn’t brown and boring. It’s exciting and takes in all kinds of influences. In fact, we’ve had contact from all over the world and are selling in Europe now. The fact that we are from Yorkshire is really a boost.

“We are going to brew more boundary-pushing, exciting beers than ever before, especially when we get the new brewery.”

Now that the book is published Mr Linley can reflect on what he admits has been a labour of love.

“People think it’s lots of fun drinking beer but this (book) has been really hard work. And it’s not just about the beer, it’s about the risks taken by these guys and the sacrifices they have made. I hope the book goes some way to helping people understand that.”

Though reluctant to pick out a single beer or brewery for special praise, if pushed Mr Linley will admit to a soft spot for Rooster’s Brewing Co, of Knaresborough – “I’ve been in love with their beers since day one” – and for two breweries based in Huddersfield, Mallinsons and Magic Rock.

And for anyone asking about which pubs to visit, Mr Linley doesn’t disappoint, having been to more than his share.

He singles out The Grove on the edge of Huddersfield town centre for its “jaw-dropping range of beer, catering for every taste” and The Cross Keys in Water Lane, Leeds for its “balance between beers for younger and older people, a warm welcome and lovely building”.

In a foreword to the book, beer lover and Leeds MP Greg Mulholland says Yorkshire is now home to 123 breweries, making it the nation’s leading county for beer. Of those, 19 opened in the past year.

“Yorkshire’s new breweries and beers are now as diverse as Yorkshire itself. Great beer is being brewed all over the three ridings; from the great cities to the national parks; from the far north (Swaledale) to the deepest south (southern Sheffield); from the disputed west (Saddleworth) to the far east (the Yorkshire coast).”

Great Yorkshire Beer, published by Great Northern Books, is launched at The York Tap, 
York railway station, at 7pm tomorrow.