Last updated at 21:00, Thursday, 15 September 2011

A Workington brewer who specialises in continental-style lager wants to open his own town brewery.

A LOT OF BOTTLE: Graeme Mitchell, who runs Mitchell Krause Brewing in Workington, has created recipes for three continental-style lagers and hopes to eventually open his own brewery

Graeme Mitchell, 44, of Calva Brow, has come up with three beers – a Czech-style Pilsner, an American Pale Ale and a Bavarian Hefe Weiss – which are at present produced elsewhere.

He has created the recipes through his company Mitchell Krause Brewing.

The Pilsner is produced by Hepworth & Co in Horsham, West Sussex, with his other two beers bottled at the Bitter End Brewery in Cockermouth and distributed by Embleton-based Gravevin.

Mr Mitchell, who has 16 years sales and marketing experience in the brewing industry, said: “The beer I am selling now is like an extended piece of market research.

“The next step is to open my own brewery if I can get the numbers to stack up.”

The last lager to be produced in the town was Slalom lager at the Workington Brewery on Ladies Walk. The business was closed in the 1980s and the brewery later converted into flats.

Mr Mitchell was born in Workington and spent his early years here. He worked with Whitbread/Interbrew and Calsberg and promoted Boddingtons beer around the USA before returning to Workington with his family.

His mother Jilly Mitchell (nee Krause) comes from the lager heartlands of Bavaria, and Mr Mitchell is backing next month’s German-style Oktoberfest in Workington where customers can buy his beers. He said: “Workington deserves its own brewery and its own beer festival.”

First published at 19:24, Thursday, 15 September 2011
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk