Cheddar Ales, a microbrewery based in Cheddar village, has recently brewed its millionth pint.

“It’s a big milestone for us” says Head Brewer Jem Ham, “We’ve come a long way in a relatively short time, under some fairly challenging trading conditions.” Around this time three years ago the brewery was only a few months old and was producing around 3,000 pints a week. Since then it has battled increasing taxes, cheap supermarket booze, closing pubs and, along with everyone else, the recession. But despite these challenges, Cheddar Ales is thriving, having more than doubled its output since 2006 to around 8,000 pints a week. Its beers are now a regular fixture in many pubs in the county and it has a strong following among local beer drinkers, to whom Jem is very grateful, “We would like to thank everyone who has supported us through these early years, for their good taste, positivity and ongoing support.”

The quality of the brewery’s output has also often attracted attention from outside the area, and the brewery has become something of an awards-magnet, culminating last year in its first international prize – a gold medal for its bottled porter, Totty Pot. “It’s nice for us to receive such recognition,” says Jem, “but where these awards really help is in making people realise that produce from their local area can be world-class.” And it is still very much the local market that Cheddar Ales is interested in, with no plans to expand beyond Somerset at the moment. “We’ve sold a million pints in the area now, but that really is just a fraction of what we can achieve here. We’re happy to stay local, keep our standards high and wait for more people to discover us.”

One of the best ways to get to know more about Cheddar Ales is by visiting its annual beer festival, held at the brewery in June. It’s a great opportunity to meet the team and to have a look around the brewery itself. On offer will be a range of the brewery’s own beers, including its elusive special brews, and around 40 beers from other microbreweries around the UK. As you would expect from a brewery so focussed on quality, the team cherry-pick the most prized beers they can source, to provide a best of British showcase of real ale. “Last year was our first attempt at a beer festival and it went really well. We had almost a thousand people visit us over the weekend and they practically drank us dry. This year we’re looking to improve it further, with more entertainment, more fun for families and a wider range of drinks. It’ll be bigger, better and beerier than ever before, and hopefully should set us well on our way to brewing our next millionth pint”.