Waxing lyrical about Sonnet 43

And, I’m glad to say that the good news keeps on coming, such is our love affair for all things hops.

In the dearth of noise around the Autumn Statement, I spotted a much needed antidote in the form of exciting news on one of our region’s newest and fastest growing microbreweries – Sonnet 43.

The County Durham-based microbrewery, named after the well-known verse by Elizabeth Barratt Browning, who was born and raised at nearby Coxhoe Hall, has announced its plans to expand next year after doubling its production in the last 12 months.

Now, I’m not suggesting that we sink a lot of pints in the North-East, but their production numbers are pretty impressive, when you consider that they brewed 512,346 pints in 2014, which is almost double the 264,644 pints produced the year before.

I have to admit that their range of five core beers, which includes two award-winning ales - American Pale Ale and Bourbon Milk Stout, are really, rather good, and, are becoming ever more available in lots of decent boozers across the North East and Yorkshire, including the venture’s own brew taps at Coxhoe, Hebburn and Chester-le-Street. Once the pubs have called last orders, you can even head home and get your fill from Sonnet 43’s website, which sells an impressive range of beer-themed merchandise, including bottles and kegs, t-shirts and even beer mats.

The pub chain, Mitchells and Butlers, have also given the craft brewery their stamp of approval, by recently including Sonnet’s range of beers on their recommended pub ‘buy’ list for the first time. Not a bad prospect for the Brew House, given that Mitchells and Butlers, who are one of the biggest names in the hospitality industry, has a network of 1,612 sites, including pubs, bars and restaurants, across the UK – and counting.

The list, which is valid until February 2015, will be distributed to all of the venues under Mitchells and Butlers, Nicholson’s and Castle, brands with a suggestion that they consider stocking Sonnet 43’s award-winning American Pale Ale. With around 400 Mitchells and Butlers in London alone, this could mean that Sonnet 43’s ales could soon be appearing behind bars in the capital for the very first time.

And that’s just for starters, according to Sonnet 43’s founder, North-East restaurateur, Mark Hird, who confidently says that this is just the latest stage in their plans to expand their reach nationwide and he hopes for more similar announcements in the near future.

The success of Sonnet 43 does seem to be bucking a general trend for brewery growth on a national scale. Just last week, pub retailer and brewer, Greene King, announced that their brand own-brewed volume was up by an encouraging 5.9 per cent in the last year, as the demand for cask ales and craft cider takes off. The Old Speckled Hen producers continued dividend increases and touted £773.6m takeover of the Spirit pubs group, indicate that it’s not only Sonnet 43 who are brewing up a storm.

Samantha Dolby

samantha.dolby@brewin.co.uk

Samantha Dolby is an Investment Manager at Brewin Dolphin and offers advice on a wide range of financial services to private clients, trusts, charities and pension funds.

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