I've turned my hobby into a job

Feb 21 2008 By Catherine Hendrick

NICK Davis began brewing beer as a skint student. Now he is the toast of the Midlands after turning his love of real ale into a flourishing business with the help of his parents Jim and Katie.

Both Jim and Nick worked in the pub trade, Jim as a sales manager and Nick as a surveyor.

Nick eventually decided to team up with his parents and try to turn his hobby into a full-time job by setting up his own brewery in Cleobury Mortimer with great success.

Hobsons Mild was voted Britain's best beer last year and is currently being served up as a guest beer in the Houses of Parliament!

The small brewery near Kidderminster now produces four draft and four bottled beers using hops mainly grown on farms within a 10 mile radius.

Nick explains: "I have always been a fan of real ale and started brewing my own when I was a student.

"When I eventually decided to turn my hobby into a job, we tried to recreate the sort of beer we liked.

"It was very much people getting to find out about us by word of mouth when we started out.

"At the time I think people were looking for something a bit different. We were one of the first small independent breweries around and a lot of people are keen to support local products and companies.

"Since then we've gone from strength to strength."

Nick's traditional cask brews, which include Hobsons Best Bitter, Town Crier and Old Henry, are sold in freehouses, Oddbins and Co-ops within an hour of the brewery.

If you can't find them at your local, you should be able to buy bottles through the brewery's website in the coming months.