Island Life Magazine Ltd June/July 2009 | Page 103

FOOD & DRINK

life

tasting table. “We won a bronze medal for it, which
was amazing considering we were so raw at it,” smiles
David.
Today Yates’ has six different beers, their names
reflecting either their origins or their strength. Holy
Joe was named after a 17th century religious character
who frequented Ventnor’s pubs to denounce the
demon drink: Yates’ Special Draft is David’s initials
backwards; and Yule Be Sorry is 7.6% ABV. Enough
said.
David had moved to the Island in 1979, having been
made redundant from his job on oil pipelines, and
a two-week summer job at Burt’s Brewery turned
into four years. It became an eight-year informal
apprenticeship, enabling him to land a job with
Hartridges when they began a micro-brewery in the
Comical Inn, in Sandown.
Meeting David now you can’t feel surprised by his
next move, to open up on his own. He approached his
friends at the St Lawrence Inn at the Undercliff with
an idea to set up a microbrewery there: it opened in
August 1998. Bottling Undercliff Experience was the
next stage: now all six of his beers are available in
bottles.
Meanwhile, as demand grew, David’s son, also
David, came on board. He brought his experience of
wholesaling to the company, so today Yates’ supplies
everything you need to set up a bar – except the nuts
and crisps. They put their success on the wholesale side
down to their quick response to orders – “and I think
they quite like us as people,” David ventures.
The brewery is moving to Colin Boswell’s Garlic Farm.
“We actually need to double our output,” he says. “It’s
a nightmare trying to keep up with the demand.”
Given that the credit crunch seems to have passed
them by, it’s a nightmare many businesses would envy.
Yates’ Brewery,
Unit 4, Langbridge Business Centre, Newchurch, IW
PO36 0NP. Tel [phone].
www.yates-brewery.co.uk

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