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Jo Barnes meets the two men behind what could be one of the best kept secrets in the Vale and finds out why they want to change all that

Hands up who knows that the Vale of Glamorgan has its very own brewery supplying free houses around the area with all manner of real ales?

Don't worry if you've not come across the Vale of Glamorgan brews, but if real ale is your tipple, try to look out for the label when popping out for a sup.

The brewery is the brainchild of Dave Walbeof and Ian Teagle. Neither of them looks like your archetypal real ale drinker - there's not a cableknit jumper or a pair of sandals in sight - but they really know their stuff.

Dave and Ian are chemical engineers working at Dow Corning in Barry.

"Being chemical engineers has helped because we probably understand the science behind the brewing process more than the average layman," says Dave.

They branched out into their brewing venture about four years ago.

"We were at a function a few years ago and had a couple of pints too many and hatched a plot to set up our own brewery," says Dave.

"We both felt we wanting to achieve something in our lives. We'd both been pretty successful in our careers but felt that if we didn't try the brewery idea we'd never do it.

"We both enjoy real ale and I've been brewing since my early 20s - home brew, of course but with grain using the same process as here but on a much smaller scale," he says.

The original idea was hatched in 2004 and Dave and Ian then spent about a year researching what was involved, finding premises and attending a brewing course at Sunderland University.

"We looked for premises all over the Vale before deciding on where we are now in Barry," says Dave.

They also looked at second-hand brewing equipment but eventually decided to get what they needed made specially for VoG Brewery to their own specifications.

VoG is a 10 barrell brewery, which means they can brew 40 nine gallon casks in every brew. The brewing process takes about five days. Friday day is brewing day, when Dave and Ian start the process off in the hot liquer tank. The raw ingredients of the beer go through various stages before being left for four days in ther fermenter when all the sugar turns to alcolhol. Once this has happened, it is then moved to the conditioning tanks in the cold room at the brewery where it is left at 10-11 degrees centigrade, which extends its shelf life.

One of the most important parts of the whole brewing process is in the ingredients.

"We get our grains from Warminster Maltings which is one of only two 'floor maltings' left in the country. The level of the malting denotes the flavour of the that grain which is a very important part of the brewing process. We get our hops from a company in Herefordshire," says Dave.

The company wants to be as local as it can so it can cut down the carbon footprint on its beer.

"Once we have finished with the grain here it goes to a farmer down the road in Sully for his livestock. We try not to waste anything," he adds.

"The first barrells rolled off in July 2005," says Dave. "That was our No 1 best bitter. It was available at the Vale of Glamorgan pub in Cowbridge which has a great reputation and we wanted to put our beer in an outlet which would look after it really well."

Since then the two, who are both active members of the local Campaign for Real Ale branch, have brewed all kinds of beer including golden pale ales, wheat beers and even smoked beers.

"The outlets are always looking for something different for their drinkers," says Ian, "So we try to keep up with them by regularly providing something different."

The two brewers are now looking to increase the profile of the brewery in the Vale and are also looking into bottling some of their beers to be sold in local shops. The beers are also available in 10 and 20 litre bags in boxes'.

"There aren't a lot of free houses in the Vale," says Dave. "We brew a house beer for the Mochyn Du pub in Cardiff and also have beer available at the Sully Inn. We also provide guest beers for 30 or 40 different outlets across the area."

Okay, so what is it about real ale?

"People like it because of the range of flavours," says Dave. "The range of malts and hops and the infinite number of recipes out there can produce any number of different beers. You could take half a dozen of the lagers available out there and, while there maybe very subtle difference, they are largely the same. The real ale drinker tends to be quite a sophisticated drinker.

"It is still mainly a man thing but more women are drinking more real ales, especially the golden ales. People drink with their eyes which is why women seem more attracted to the golden ales," he says.

Dave and Ian said one of the most difficult parts of the job at the brewery was coming up with names for each of their beers.

"We want to name them after things to do with the Vale and would love to hear from anyone with any ideas," says Ian.

For more info about the brewery and how to get hold of the beers, or if you want to put forward some ideas for names, please visit www.vogbrewery.co.uk

11:53am Wednesday 7th May 2008

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