A family-run brewery has shown its bottle by bringing a taste of Bront country to beer drinkers' homes.

The Goose Eye Brewery at Ingrow Bridge, in South Street, Keighley, has produced its first bottled beer with a version of its ever-popular Bronte Bitter. The ale - which is drunk in pubs the length and breadth of the country - has now been put into 500ml bottles.

Father and son Jack and David Atkinson run the small brewery together. They say bottling the beer is an important new step for them.

"It is getting harder and harder to sell cask bitters at the moment and bottled beers are really starting to take off in supermarkets and pubs, so we thought we'd have a go," says Jack. "It has only been launched a week and we are pleased with the outcome so far with a few local outlets stocking it.

"We are also getting a lot of encouraging signs from Sainsbury's so we are hoping to sell through them as well. Although the bottled version is carbonated, our aim is to keep it like draught beer and it still tastes very much like a draught ale."

Described as a full-bodied traditional ale with a delicate hoppy aroma, the bottled version of Bronte Bitter has also increased in strength from four to 4.5 per cent. The tipple, which retails at between £1.55 and £1.70, is currently being sold in the Wuthering Heights Inn at Stanbury, the Elm Tree at Embsay and The Lord Rodney in Church Street, Keighley, as well as branches of Southams and Orchard stores. The bottles will also be sold to travellers on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

Jack, 53, worked as a milkman and butcher before starting the mini brewery up in 1991, with son David, 29, giving up his job as a lift engineer to become partner in the firm. Jack says 95 per cent of the company's trade is still made by selling the beer to pubs which have weekly guest-ale slots.

The brewery has attended beer festivals across the country and drawn praise for its range of ales including Goose Eye Bitter and Northern Liberty Festival Ale. And with the festive season approaching, Jack and David are busy preparing to distribute their new Christmas tipple, the appropriately named Cock Eyed Goose.

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