Ruth Enderby
Head brewer and co-founder
Twelve years brewing, four of them in Bamberg. Writes every recipe and still shovels out the mash tun on a Tuesday morning.
About the brewery
Two people, one shed,and a very long hose.
Ruth and Marcus started Ironbridge Brewing Co. in 2014 in a unit that flooded twice in the first winter. Eleven years later there are nine of us, a proper cold store, and the same house yeast we pitched into the first brew.
Why we do it this way
Fresh beer beats clever beer.
We could brew twice as much and sell it twice as far. Instead we brew 30 barrels a week, sell most of it inside sixty miles, and can the rest to order so it reaches you weeks old rather than months old.
That is the whole strategy. It rules out supermarkets, which is fine, and it means the beer you drink in Shrewsbury tastes like the beer we drink standing next to the tank.
12years brewing
9people, all salaried
60 mifurthest cask account
The kit
Thirty barrels, and every valve within reach.
A direct-fired thirty barrel brewhouse, six fermenters, two conditioning tanks and a small in-line canning seamer. Nothing is automated, which is slower and, on the days it matters, better.
- Water treated from scratch for each beer, not filtered and hoped for
- Our own house yeast, repitched up to eight generations then retired
- Dissolved oxygen tested on every canning run and written on the batch sheet
- Spent grain goes to a farm at Sutton Maddock, five miles away
Brew day
What happens between barley and can.
Step 01
Mash
Shropshire-grown Maris Otter, milled on site the morning we brew. Sixty six degrees for an hour, and no adjuncts we cannot spell.
Step 02
Boil
Ninety minutes in a direct-fired copper. Bittering hops at the start, aroma hops in the whirlpool once it drops to eighty degrees.
Step 03
Ferment
Our own house yeast, pitched warm and crashed cold. Five days for the lighter beers, fourteen for the stout, however long it takes.
Step 04
Pack
Canned on a small in-line seamer at under two parts per million of oxygen, then date stamped on the base. Nothing leaves here pasteurised.
Who you will meet
Nine of us. These three you will talk to.
Marcus Oyelaran
Co-founder, sales and the van
Sells to every account inside sixty miles and delivers most of them himself. Knows which cellar has the awkward stairs.
Priya Sandhu
Taproom manager
Runs the tap, the events diary and the tours. Will tell you honestly if the beer you asked for is not drinking well tonight.
SIBA memberCask Marque accreditedAWRS XQAW00000123456Small Producer Relief
Questions
The things people email us about.
How long do the cans keep?
The pale ales and the IPA are at their best within four months of the date on the base. The stout and the red rye will happily go a year. We only ship cans that were filled in the last six weeks.
Do you deliver outside the UK?
Not at the moment. Excise and courier rules for beer make it more trouble than it is worth for a brewery our size. Mainland UK and Northern Ireland only.
Can I collect instead of paying delivery?
Yes. Order online, choose collection at the checkout, and it will be behind the taproom bar within two hours during opening hours, or on the next opening day if you order while we are shut.
Are the beers vegan?
All of them except Ironmaster Stout, which uses lactose. Everything else is fined with a vegan-friendly clarifier and labelled as such on the can.
Do you supply pubs and restaurants?
We do. Nine gallon casks and thirty litre kegs, delivered on our own van inside sixty miles of Telford. Email the trade address and Marcus will send the current list and prices.