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Blue Monkey Brewery is a 20 barrel microbrewery located on the border of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Originally founded in Ilkeston in 2008, the company doubled its capacity and moved to Giltbrook in 2010. It produces award-winning beers, including Ape Ale and Guerrilla Porter. Its outlets are The Organ Grinder Nottingham and The Organ Grinder Loughborough. == History == Blue Monkey Brewery was originally founded in the Manners Industrial Estate, Ilkeston on 8 October 2008 by John Hickling, with a capacity of ten barrels.〔 Prior to the brewery venture, Hickling worked in a IT for ten years, for HBOS banking and insurance company.〔 He was well-paid, and considered it a "job for life", but found it unsatisfying. He considered various alternative career paths, but the idea of running a brewery stuck with him, and when he reached 30 years of age, he decided to try it,〔 and quit his job to start the brewery.〔 He attended the specialist Brewlab faculty at the University of Sunderland for a course in brewing,〔 and then offered to work for free at breweries to gain experience.〔 He began working for Jarrow Brewery.〔 In 2008, Jarrow Brewery ceased beer production at the Robin Hood pub in Jarrow, South Tyneside, moving operations to the Maltings pub in South Shields.〔 The Robin Hood was retained as their corporate headquarters, storage and distribution.〔 Hickling purchased the brewing plant apparatus from Jarrow, to set up his own brewery in a unit in the Ilkeston industrial park.〔 He tried out 22 brews, before selecting one for the launch.〔 The first beer, Original, was the best-selling beer at a Nottingham beer festival, selling 1,224 pints in under three days.〔 It was a modest 3.6% ABV.〔 Initially, they brewed beer once per week.〔 Working 12-hour shifts, Hickling said that his new career was "a real contrast. I've found I've had jobs in the past which were nice, comfortable office jobs. There was a point last year where I was down on my hands and knees scrubbing a drain thinking 'hang on what have I done with my life'?"〔 However, the business grew quickly, with demand outstripping the supply capabilities.〔〔 Their first public appearance was at the 2008 Robin Hood Beer Festival in Nottingham. The following year, at the same festival, the company unveiled Guerilla Porter, exactly one year to the day after the company launch. It was declared the annual champion beer by the Midlands in the Society for Independent Brewers, after winning in the porters, strong milds, old ales and stouts categories.〔 Ape Ale was awarded a bronze medal in the strong bitters category.〔 The festival is sponsored by the Nottingham branch of CAMRA; Spyke Golding, the chairman, said of Guerilla "Unlike some stouts it's not overly heavy and it's not cloying."〔 By mid-2009, they had delivered beer to over 100 establishments. An extra fermenter was installed in 2009, raising production to around 9000 pints per week.〔 By the end of 2009, they were shipping 40,000 pints per month, and expanded production capacity to 20 barrels.〔 The company needed larger premises, and in 2010 it relocated to the Giltbrook Industrial Park, in Pentrich Road, just behind the Giltbrook Retail Park, a £70m shopping complex which opened in 2008.〔〔 〕 The site is capable of producing approximately 100,000 pints per month.〔 The new location is very close to the site of the former Kimberley Brewery, which was the last independent brewery in Nottinghamshire before its closure in 2006. Blue Monkey Brewery is a member of the Derbyshire Brewers' Collective. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blue Monkey Brewery」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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