Have you enjoyed a pint or two in the Rat and Ratchet pub in Chapel Hill?
Chances are, the pint you enjoyed was brewed beneath your feet in the Rat Brewery!
The Ossett Brewery brand has been brewing and distributing real ale from the cellar of the pub for since 2011, producing an impressive 9,000 pints a week.
"What you see now has grown over the last three years, said Ossett Brewery's head brewer Paul Spencer. "We're now brewing six days a week, producing 1,500 pints a day."
Click below for a guide to brewing real ale by Rat Brewery's Robin Moss
The real ale is served in the Rat and Ratchet, and other Ossett Brewery pubs and at beer festivals across the country, with casks being delivered around a 100-mile radius of Huddersfield.
The brewery has won local and regional awards for its brews and even scooped a national accolade at the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) awards in March.
Paul, 41, has been brewing for Ossett Brewery since 2001 — and before that, he made his own beers at home.
"I was a home brewer when I was not legally old enough to do it!" he said.
"When I started drinking, the Rat and Ratchet was my local. In the late 1980s it was one of very few places selling a range of beers. It got me interested in real ale."
Rat Brewery head brewer Robin Moss, 31, began working at the brewery as an apprentice and now spends five days a week producing the brand's range of ales.
But the beer he makes the most of is White Rat — their most popular brew.
Half the beer produced each week is White Rat, but the brewery still can't meet demand for the ale.
"It's popularity has been fantastic," said Paul.
"We do six brews a week and still don't have enough."
Robin added: "We've doubled the amount we brew in three years and that still isn't enough to keep up with demand.
"It makes it something to be excited about."
Paul said real ales and craft beers were growing in popularity and becoming more fashionable, with real ale venues opening across London, Manchester and Leeds.
He said: "Huddersfield has got a reputation now as a craft beer centre. It started in the States — the US started making powerful beers and we're falling back on to that.
"And now we've got different hops coming in. They'd never considered describing a hop as flavourful but now its about the variety of hops and the flavours you get from them."
Robin added: "Real ale is more of a luxury drink now. People are choosing expensive craft beers instead of quaffing normal pints of bitter."
A firm member of Huddersfield's real ale brewing community, the Rat Brewery keeps an eye on the competition for new ideas and collaborates with other breweries to create new ales.
It's worked with the Raw Brewery in Chesterfield, Abbeydale Brewery in Sheffield, and Huddersfield's own Hand Drawn Monkey Brewing Co.
The brewery is also producing its first bottled beers — including Rat Against The Machine, a 7% American IPA (see review below).
Being surrounded by real ale all week would put off some drinkers — but Paul and Robin are still passionate about their products, sampling both their own beers as well as the ales of their competitors.
Paul said: "It's quality control when you drink your own brews, then there's analysis, which is drinking your competitors beers as well."
Robin said he's often asked if spending so much time brewing White Rat has put him off the popular beer.
He said: "I can more or less do it in my sleep — but I'm never going to complain about making a beer people like. People are still enthusiastic and tell us how great it is. It never becomes a chore when you're doing something you love."
Review: Rat Against The Machine (7%), Rat Brewery
Rat Brewery's first bottled American IPA is surprisingly light in colour, considering its intense hoppy flavour.
The 7% ale has a refreshing, drinkable quality, and while the initial taste belies its strength, there's a pleasant kick in the aftertaste.
In fact, it could be a little too easy-drinking for a 7% beer!
