INSPIRED in Japan; influenced in California; and brewed with ingredients from three continents. It's fair to say North Yorkshire's newest beers have a decidedly international pedigree.

Helmsley Brewing Company may be only six weeks old, but it is the culmination of 20 years of globe-trotting by founder and brewer Kyle Boote and an enthusiasm dating back to his childhood.

He began making beer when he was nine, helping his much older brother with some experimental home-brewing, and he now aiming to make it as a professional, putting Helmsley on the world map in the process.

Hipa, one of his first three ales, is a superb debut beer that commands instant respect. It's a bold, fruity IPA that uses a splendid cocktail of hops: galaxy from Australia, cascade and centennial from the US and East Kent Goldings from England.

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Above: The Brewery Tap

Kyle says the beer was influenced by some he encountered on a fact-finding visit to the renowned Sierra Nevada Brewery in California, and it's a beer he's rightly proud of.

It has been on the bar this week at The Old Ebor on the corner of Nunnery Lane and Drake Street in York, but if you miss it there then try the Maltings, York Tap, Volunteer Arms, Pivní and The Whippet, all of which have stocked the Helmsley beers already, or have expressed interest in doing so.

Kyle and his wife Becky, who shares much of the workload in the brewhouse, have also produced Howardian Gold, a pale ale, and Yorkshire Legend, a bitter brewed with five types of malt. All recipes have been developed with Yorkshire-based beer sommelier Alex Barlow of All Beer.

The first ales have proved popular locally, meaning Kyle and Becky have had to almost treble their output to meet demand ahead of Christmas, brewing two or three times a week instead of once.

The brewery is fairly compact, a five-barrel plant in Bridge Street in Helmsley, with a small tap room and shop on the side but Kyle has big ambitions, far beyond rural North Yorkshire.

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"We want to cater for Ryedale and be a local supplier, but we also want to build a portfolio of respected beers - grown-up craft beers," says Kyle. "Ultimately I want to export, not just for financial reasons but as a mark of success."

Kyle, who is in his mid-40s, began his working life as an accountant at KPMG in the early 90s, then taught at Withernsea High School on the Yorkshire coast, then taught overseas in Budapest, Malaysia, Qatar, Dubai and Holland. But it was on a trip to Japan that he set his sights on brewing.

"I lived in the Middle East in the mid-noughties and decided in 2012 to do something a bit different, and to start my own business," he says.

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"I've had a continuing interest in beer throughout my adult life, and on a trip to Japan I visited a department store and they had a "beers of the world" section - but no English beers. I thought: England is very good at making beer and we are really good at drinking it, but are we so good at exporting it? 

"Great Yorkshire Brewery at Cropton are doing really well on that front now, but in time I would like to export as well. We want to build a brand that has a slight premium aspect to it.

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SHORTS

  • The Woolpack in Fawcett Street has a beer festival, which began on Thursday and runs until Sunday. There will be up to 16 beers on rotation. Breweries will include Shardlow, Red Squirrel, Vale of Glamorgan and Moor. There will also be food and live music.
  • Treboom Brewery at Shipton-by-Beninbrough has a Christmas open day from 11am to 5pm today [Saturday 11 December], including beer tastings, brewery tours, cheese, chutneys mince pies, gifts and more.