TWO beer enthusiasts have joined forces to bring brewing back to a North Yorkshire town.

Cameron Brown and Aron McMahon have set up Turning Point Brew Co in Kirkbymoorside.

The public can try the first beers at an official launch event at The Falcon Tap in Micklegate, York, from this Thursday to Saturday.

The Turning Point premises are on Kirkby Mills Industrial Estate, in a unit previously occupied by Moorside Brewery.

Respected brewer Keith Sheard, who had worked for 30 years for Bass Brewers Ltd in Tadcaster and Joseph Holt Brewery in Manchester, had set up Moorside in late 2014, but passed away a year later before he could fully realise his dream.

The site has its own freshwater well, guaranteeing consistency in the water, which makes it ideal for brewing, and the Turning Point founders said the welcome from other local businesses had been fantastic.

Mr McMahon said: “We had heard about Moorside and got in touch with Keith’s widow, Helen, who owns the site and we told her about our plans. We want to be a really well-run, professional brewery, producing modern beer for modern drinkers.”

The pair said they sought to emulate the success and professionalism of breweries such as Northern Monk in Leeds, Magic Rock in Huddersfield and Almasty in Newcastle.

Mr Brown said they weren’t “trying to take over the world” but wanted to gradually see their beers reaching drinkers across the UK.

Mr McMahon, 39, of Duggleby in the Yorkshire Wolds, had worked for Brass Castle Brewery in Malton then Half Moon Brewery at Ellerton, east of York.

Mr Brown, 23, who lives in the Bishopthorpe Road area in York, had worked at The Maltings in Tanner’s Moat for two years then spent another two years as licensee at The Falcon Tap, while also home-brewing. The pair met through their work, struck up a friendship, and discovered they had a shared enthusiasm and ambition.

Mr McMahon said: “It’s a turning point for our careers, and we hope when customers discover our beers at the bar it will be a nice turning point in their evening.”

Mr Brown said: “We want to be in the real beer drinkers’ bars that specialise in beer. We really want people to come along to the launch, to meet us and hear about how we got started – and to let us know what they think of the first beers. We’re very proud of what we’ve made so far.”The launch event is in the downstairs room at The Falcon Tap from 6pm on Thursday until last orders on Saturday, on a purpose-built, cash-only bar. Turning Point’s initial range is six cask beers and four keg beers. Those on sale at the launch event at The Falcon Tap will be Avalon (a pale ale), Disco King (an American-style pale ale), Lucid Dream (a cookie cream stout), Electric Eye (a red ale) and Cosmic Flux (a New England IPA). Two of the first beers will also be on sale at the Reading Beer Festival, April 27 to 30.