New taproom launched at Sunderland's Brewlab

Brewlab is well established in the brewing industry, attracting people from across the world to its base at Sunderland Enterprise Park with its specialist brewing training courses equipping people with the skills and knowledge, from tasting through to accounting, needed to open their own microbrewery.

Many former students have gone on to run successful breweries, including Vaux, S43, Tiny Rebel, Barcelona Beer Company, Wylam Brewery and Beavertown Brewery.

The commercial arm of the business already supplies beers direct to pubs, but now people will be able to sample the drinks at the micro brewery itself with the launch of the Brewlab Brews taproom.

It will be open a couple of times a month, mostly to coincide with SAFC home games, featuring six different beers each session in a wide range of styles including IPAs, stouts and porters.

The first taproom event takes place on Friday, August 4 from 2pm to 8pm with four cask brews and two on keg, as well as bottled beer including an alcoholic kombucha.

There’s a range of seating inside, as well as outside and the taproom is dog-friendly. There’s also plenty of free parking.

Richard Hunt, course coordinator at Brewlab, said: “We’ll be brewing regular stuff, as well as one-off beers, for the taproom as well as to local trade under the Brewlab Brews brand.

"People can expect the high quality Brewlab has become known for, as well as experimental stuff. Our students are from all over the world and the do some really unique beers.

"The taproom will be a great experience for them, as they will get to see the whole process, from brewing to seeing the public taste it. We’ve already had a great reaction to the announcement of the taproom. Sunderland has some great breweries, like Vaux, Blockyard and North Pier and there’s definitely an enthusiasm for locally-made beer.”

As well as the taproom, members of the public can also have a go at making their own beers with one-day brewing sessions, for groups of friends or colleagues who are looking for a fun team building event.

After a day’s session, your own beers can be collected or delivered after a fortnight, with a session producing 20-30 500ml bottles.

The micro brewery, which has a 3.5 litre barrel kit, can produce 550 litres of beer per brew, with its history dating back to 1997, when its director Keith Thomas, a Sunderland University lecturer specialising in microbiology, set up a microbrewery within Brewlab at the university before it moved to its current base at the business park.

The microbrewery had also previously been a base for Darwin Brewery, which outgrew the premises and moved on.

Richard added: “The explosion of the craft beer scene means our courses have proved really popular. The brewing process itself is actually quite accessible, it’s getting the quality and consistency right that’s the difficult part. Our courses very much marry the art of brewing with the technology.”