Eight local breweries make it into Good Beer Guide

The annual publication, set up by the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA), is now in its 45th year, and includes 33 new Yorkshire breweries and 85 new pubs.

Among the local breweries to be included in the 2018 guide - released this week - are Ainsty Ales, Bilbrough Top Brewery, Brew York, Breworks, Little Black Dog Brewing, Northallerton Brewery, Eyes Brewing and Isaac Poad & Sons.

Wayne Smith from Brew York in Walmgate, said the company’s inclusion in the latest guide would be another boost to the business and would increase visitors to the area.

He said: “We’ve got quite a good relationship with York CAMRA and got some attention when our Tap House was named one of the pubs of the season. We’re really pleased.

“A lot of people, even local York residents, still don’t know much about our brewery and Tap Room, so it’s really good to get in a national publication like this. A lot of people visit the city and use the guide to choosewhich bars to go to so we should see a bigger footfall to the brewery and Tap Room from people finding out more about us. We’re already busy anyway, but expecting to see a lot more people in the next few months.”

Roger Protz, the book’s editor, said he was pleased to see “a continued growth in local brewing”, and the rise in local breweries appears to be continuing.

He said: “The first edition of the Good Beer Guide published 45 years ago was a call to arms for beer lovers at a time when the brewing industry was in dire trouble and the market flooded with tasteless, fizzy beer.How the beer world has changed. In spite of closures, a growing number of pubs clamber to offer the best-possible range of real ales and we are still seeing remarkable growth in the brewing sector.”

Two breweries from East Yorkshire have also been included in the Good Beer Guide - Rawcliffe Brewery and Gene Pool Brewing - and a North Yorkshire pub the George And Dragon in Hudswell - was named as one of the country’s top 16.