West brewery Bath Ales is celebrating the 10millionth bottle of beer to roll off its production line since its state-of-the-art bottling plant was opened five years ago.
The independent brewer installed the line at its base at Walmley, near Bristol, in 2007 and has since bottled its own beers, including flagship brew Gem, as well as those made by another 25 breweries nationwide.
The plant fills around 65,000 (500ml and 330ml) bottles a week – nearly 3.5m a year – half with its own beer and the rest with beer supplied by the other breweries.
Bath Ales production director Craig Lewis said: “This dramatic expansion in production gives us more options and more flexibility and looking ahead we hope it gives us the opportunity to increase what we can offer to drinkers.”
A new packaging machine installed at the bottling plant as part of a major new investment plant will enable the brewery to handle a larger variety of pack size combinations. A pilot boutique brewery is also nearing completion.
The dedicated quality control team ensures that the quality of the incoming beer is of a high enough standard to be bottled and the increased activity has resulted in the appointment of a new apprentice at the bottling plant.
The brewery, employing a total of 200 people across the business, recently took delivery of two new fermenting vessels to increase its brewing capacity by almost 40%. It operates eight pubs in Bristol and Bath and recently opened outlets in Oxford and Cirencester.
Pictured: Bath Ales bottling plant team. Left to right, Dan Wylde, Paul Trayes, Matt Hoskins, Craig Lewis, production director (with the 10 millionth bottle), Mike Saddler and Neil Shortman
