GIFT boxed beers have proved a huge money-spinner for a part-time Huddersfield University student and dotcom entrepreneur.
Patrick Clarke, 39, still has another year to go on his Masters degree in electronic business.
But already the course has paid dividends, with his academic study helping to launch his on-line firm, beersinabox.com.
He said: "I always had a vision that I would start my own microbrewery when I retired.
"However the opportunity came while on the course."
Patrick worked for 20 years in the finance industry before being made redundant.
The firm showcased its products at the Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival in St George's Square.
He set up his business, Clarke's Organic Group, last year at his home in Sands Lane, Mirfield, where he lives with his partner and her three children.
The on-line section now sources specialist beers from microbreweries all around the country who can't afford to bottle their own beer.
The ales are bottled at Thornhill Hall Farm, near Dewsbury.
Patrick's company now employs five staff.
Customers logging on to the website can order their favourite tipples which are then posted out safely boxed up.
The company sells between 2,500 and 5,000 bottles of beer a week.
One third of the beers are organic, and the rest are real ales.
With monthly growth of 5%, annual turnover looks set to hit £500,000 by 2006.
Beers have a shorter life stored in a cask than kept in a bottle.
Casked beer can travel only short distances - under 100 miles - before it needs to be settled and drunk. But bottled beer can keep for about a year.
"Most of our customers are below Watford Gap or within the M25," said Patrick.
His firm offers 30 different beers on-line from 10 different microbreweries. There are more than 400 micro breweries around the country.
Patrick received help starting up his business from the support unit Huddersfield Business Generator, managed by the University of Huddersfield.
