Having successfully applied for a premises licence, Aycliffe’s brewery – The STEAM MACHINE – is now open to the public for on and off-sales several times a week. Nick Smith, one of the brewery’s founders said, “We’re making this into a social space where people can come and enjoy our hand-crafted beers right in the heart of our brewery. It’s the only place in the whole area where you can enjoy genuine craft keg. We’ll have many different beers for guests to sample.”
Their Brew Room is an alternative place to enjoy a quiet beer, and they plan to have the occasional live acoustic music performance too. “It was our soft launch last Friday and we enjoyed an impromptu live Irish session which our guests loved. Starting this Thursday though it’s the real thing. We invite all those interested in craft beers to come down, sit in our comfortable industrial setting, and enjoy a glass or two of our finest.”
STEAM MACHINE’S Brew Room will be open three times a week: Thursday 17:00 – 23:00, Friday 12:00 – 23:00, Saturday 12:00 – 23:00. As well as beer on site, customers can enjoy off-sales for home-consumption via US-style growler fills, and gift packs of bottles from their core range.
“Growlers come from the US – they are large reusable glass bottles that are very popular in the craft beer scene, and will allow customers to takeaway fresh kegged beer direct from the brewery, including our one-off Brew Room specials that won’t be available elsewhere.
Whilst growler-fills are common in the various bottle shops and breweries around the country, we believe we are the first to offer this service in County Durham.”
The Brew Room is located behind the Blue Bridge Centre (home to Newton Press). It’s a private industrial compound, so customers should phone 07415 75 99 45 for access.
