Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2010 | Page 91

LOCAL BUSINESS

February/March 2010

life

Heady times at Tip top standards
Yates’ brewery of Mrs Brown

“IT’S been a mad, mad
summer,” says brewer David
Yates. “We’d never have
predicted the way moving
would affect our business.”
Yates’ Brewery, one of the
Island’s prized micro-breweries,
had outgrown its old premises
and during the summer moved
to become a neighbour of
Colin Boswell’s Garlic Farm.
“Somehow the move seemed
to increase demand. Our
brewing figures were up by 50
per cent.”
The hot summer played a
part, but also being part of
the little world at the Garlic
Farm raised their profile, David
suspects. “Quite a few walkers
popped in. People always like
to see how beer is made.”
As well as being an endless
source of fascination to the
public, being a small, family
brewery means Yates’ can
react to demand swiftly. Even
in the mayhem of moving
they managed to create a new
beer, introduced for the winter
months, called Wight Old Ale,
a 6-per-cent real ale which
complements their even heftier

(7.6 per cent) Yule Be Sorry.
“We were asked to send
some Yule Be Sorry up to the
Great British Beer Festival in
Manchester – which we were
really chuffed about,” says
David.
David’s son, also David, runs
the wholesale side of Yates’s,
and he too has found demand
has followed their increased
capacity.
But now the Davids have
a problem. They are getting
so many inquiries from “the
North Island” (known to
others as The Mainland) that
they may have to build in a
weekly trip over there too.
Certainly, if anyone had said
about the move “You’ll