Two Bradford beer afficionados have achieved their ambition by launching their own brewery today.

Russell Bisset, a global product manager, and co-founder, local government official and home brew enthusiast David Bishop, will unveil their first brew at the Sparrow Bier Cafe on North Parade in Bradford.

The Greengates-based Northern Monk Brew Co has been launched with advice and support from the Rising Stars programme backed by Bradford Council and Bradford Chamber of Commerce.

It will use an approach pioneered in Scandanavia, known as ‘cuckoo brewing’, where brewers borrow the facilities of a brewery to minimise overheads and boost cash flow during the early stages of the business.

The duo’s first craft ale is New World IPA, which uses a combination of US, Australian and British hops. Initially, Northern Monk beer will be stocked by select specialist bars and shops across the North of England but Mr Bisset and Mr Bishop have ambitions to go global as the business develops.

Mr Bishop will work on product development and manage the brewing process. He is an award-winning home brewer, blogger and beer writer, with success in brewing competitions with Saltaire Brewery, Ilkley Brewery, Copper Dragon Brewery and Roosters Brewing Co.

He has more than 2,000 Twitter followers and contacts throughout the UK beer industry.

Mr Bishop also has a postgraduate diploma in management studies and in-depth understanding of finance, marketing, human resources, strategic and operations management.

Mr Bisset said: “I wanted to start a brewery that was progressive, bold and dynamic but one that still paid homage and tribute to what I felt was the best of the British beer scene. The heritage, integrity, history, provenance and tradition of what is a quintessentially British drink.

“David shared this vision and with the help and support of some fantastic people this has started to become a reality.

“We had corporate knowledge and a very real passion and expertise for brewing beer, but we needed help to start up a small craft oriented business. Regular meetings with Rising Stars encouraged us to develop a more formal structure to our business plan and advised on areas such as accounts and legal issues. Now we have very forward thinking and secure plans, we can be ambitious and manage the growth we hope to achieve.”

Carolyn Coleman, business services manager at Rising Stars, said: “What attracted us to working with the Northern Monk Brew Co wasn’t just the pair’s vast knowledge of the quickly growing sector, but their acumen of international sales environments. What, at first, seems like a very ambitious plan is actually a very achievable short-term goal, especially with Russell and David’s skills and passion in place.”