Cheers, cheers! The microbrewery in the heart of the community

Little did he know it was the start of a journey into the world of real ale that would one day lead him to opening his own micro-brewery.

He launched AJ’s Ales with wife Charlotte in 2014 and since then it’s gone from strength-to-strength, offering a range of regular and guest ales that have been well received by drinkers around the region.

Father of four Andy, aged 36, spent eight years learning the trade at Highgate before it closed its doors for good in 2010.

He then moved on to Blue Bear Brewery in Worcester where his duties included responsibility for the day to day brewing giving him further opportunity to hone his skills.

But it was a spell working with a good friend at the Worcestershire Brewing Company that gave him a taste for developing new recipes as well as the confidence to branch out on his own.

“I realised it was something I wanted to do myself. I hadn’t been sure before but working here made me really passionate about traditional real ales,” says Andy.

AJ’s Ales brewery is based on Ashmore Industrial Estate in Long Acre Street, Walsall, where the couple also run a tap room, which they open to the public on the last Saturday of every month.

Andy said it had been tough trying to build a business from scratch and it took a while for them to find their feet.

“The first 18 months were very hard and we nearly threw the towel in but we got through it and we’ve had lots of support from family and friends and word about our ales has spread.

“We get a lot of people at our open days. To start with it was mostly locals but we’re getting people visiting from outside the area as well,” says Andy.

Team work is key to making the business work so Charlotte, 34, is in charge of sales and marketing and Andy is responsible for the brewing and the delivering the ales.

Over the past five years, he has created more than 20 different ales including his bestseller – S.P.A 4.2% which is a smooth pale ale brewed with Australian hops that a peach aroma and tropical fruity flavour.

Andy uses a four-barrel brewing system and a normal brewing day will see him produce 144 gallons of beer – enough to fill 1,152 pint glasses.

On the day of Weekend’s visit he was brewing his January guest ale – Stuff the January Sales, Drink Some AJ’s Ales, which he describes as a 4.5% sweet and fruity golden ale, using American hops.

There are four main stages to the brewing process and four key ingredients – water, barley, hops and yeast.

It starts with mashing – the process that extracts all the fermentable sugars from the barley. Hot water is mixed with different types of barley to create sugar known as wort and this is then boiled with hops to give flavour and aroma to the beer.

Once it has cooled, yeast is added to the vessel to start the fermentation process by feeding off the sugars to create alcohol.

After being in vessel for five to seven days all of the ales are then transferred into nine gallon stainless steel casks. Still containing live yeast and fermentable sugars, the beer slowly goes through the secondary fermentation process.

Before a beer is served the cask will be stillaged up to 24 hours, then vented and tapped before being left for a further 24 to 48 hours to settle.

“A good real ale will be between 4 and 4.5% and be nice and citrusy. I love hoppy pale ale,” says Andy.

He prides himself on only using the finest ingredients in all of his ales which also include the popular Stuck In The Mud which won the ale of the festival title at the 2016 Walsall Beer Festival.

As well as a range of regular brews, he also creates guest ales for special occasions such as his Let’s Get Kane’d pale ale for the 2018 World Cup, black I.P.A The Devil Made Me Brew It for Halloween and his Christmas pale ale Stuck Up The Chimney.

“I enjoy trying new recipes. After I did the first 10 or 12, I said I wasn’t going to do anymore but I keep having new ideas and trying new hops.

“I come up with the names myself or I will ask the kids. I enjoy doing that and designing the beer pump clips. And I like being my own gaffer too,” says Andy.

As well as serving them on tap at his brewery, he also sells his ales in bottles – which are bottled by Dudley-based Holden’s Bottling Company – and mini-kegs.

They are also served in more than 20 branches of Wetherspoons and may be spotted in The Bloxwich Showman, The Moon Under Water in Wolverhampton and The Chequers Inn in Stourbridge to name a few.

The couple is hoping to continue to grow the business in the future and are applying for a licence so they can open their tap room every week or fortnight to meet demand.

Over Christmas it was open for three days which proved a hit with punters who enjoyed a festive tipple.

“We want to continue getting the word out about our ales. A lot of people try them and keep coming back for more. We’ve got some very loyal customers,” says Andy.

*The next tap room open day is Saturday, January 25. See www.facebook.com/ajsalesbrewery