Barrels roll out at Horspath microbrewery (From Oxford Mail)

Barrels roll out at Horspath microbrewery

OXFORDSHIRE’S drinkers are days away from sampling the first batch of beer from the county’s newest brewery.

Ed Murray

Ed Murray has just produced his first tipple for the Shotover Brewing Company, having spent 10 weeks converting a 200-year-old stable in Horspath into a state-of-the-art micro-brewery.

Father-of-two Mr Murray, whose company proudly sports Oxford’s famous dreaming spires skyline as its logo, is hoping to restore some pride to local beer-making following the closure of the Morrells brewery in St Thomas Street in 1998.

So far just one company, The Old Bog, based at the Masons Arms in Headington, has sprung up to replace it.

Mr Murray’s brewery now has a production capacity of 2,000 litres a week.

Mr Murray said: “When we took possession of the stable it still had dividers in for the horses and the floor was just old bricks pressed into clay.

“It has been quite a transformation.”

The first brew, a 3.7 per cent pale ale called Prospect, is due to go on tap at The Queen’s Head, Horspath, and The Cricketer's Arms, Littleworth, near Wheatley, within 10 days.

Mr Murray, who used to be a management consultant, hopes to start production of his second beer – called Scholar – in the next two weeks.

He said: “I want to get our ale into some of the pubs in Oxford that sell free-trade beer because we’re an Oxford brewery.”

Mr Murray, an amateur brewer for 20 years, will run the company with his wife Pip.

If the business takes off, he hopes to be able to employ up to four people within three years.

He currently sources malt from the Cotswolds and hops from Worcestershire, but hopes to produce the beer using natural spring water from Shotover Hill next year.