ust across the road from AWE Aldermastonis a modern, attractive industrial estate calledEaster Park. For the past yeal Unit 19 has

been home to Wild Weather Ales run by MikeTempest and his wife Karen.

Mike gave up a professional engineeringcareer at Thames Water to start Wild WeatherAles, a venture he had been planning for over 3years. "l love beer

- | LOVE BEER!" he claims

enthusiastically. The brewery name is derived fromMike's own surname. "We couldn't use 'TempestBrewing', because there is already an excellentbrewery with that narne in Kelso. Tempest meansWild Weathe[ so we chose that instead." Oneof the most striking things about the brewery isthe bright, cheerful logo and branding. This was

her to createthe logo andpump clipdesigns.

The WildWeatherbrewery is a 12-barrelplant, installed by Porter Brewing lnstallationsin late 2012. "The first beer we brewed was'Stormbringer', and it went really well," saysMike. "We literally proved out the brewing plantby making the finished beer. We sampled thevery first cask on the day after Boxing Day, andit was lovely!" 'Stormbringer' is a premium ale of4.5% ABV and was very well received in the localpubs and clubs around Tadley. For his secondbeer; Mike chose to produce something slightly

chocolate malt flavours I wanted to brew adark beer that was not a stout, a porter or a mild.Some people call it an Old Ale." At 3.9% ABVthis beer is becoming a popular session beer.Mike is also very excited about the latest additionto the Wild Weather portfolio: 'ShepherdsWarning' is a smooth, rich IPA with an ABV of5.6y", first introduced at the Egham Beer Festivalin November. Brewed with the American Citrahops, the flavours are complex and dynamic."When you get it out of the cask, it is rea llysplendid. lt starts off smooth and almost sweet,then you get more of the grapefruit, mango, andpeach flavours coming through, and as it subsideson the palate, it bitters off. ltt absolutely lovely!"

Mike is currently brewing B barrels a week,and the plan is to triple this rate over the nextyear. The plant is capable of delivering 36 barrelsa week without modification, or 48 barrels withthe addition of a fourth fermenter vessel. Mikeis proud that the brewery is run entirely fromGreen energy suppliers, and of course he usesonly natural ingredients. His barley comes fromWarminster Maltings, and the spent grain goesto feed a beef herd in Ashford Hill near Newbury.

Mike is meticulous with the new beer creationprocess. "l think very carefully about the recipes,the hops, and the malt profiles. Then, we'll brew 6barrels and test the results. Luckily, every beer hashit the spot so far." With six excellent beers nowin production, Mike is going to focus on qualityand growing the sales volume over the comingyear. There will probably be only one or two newbeers during 2014 a winter ale called 'Blizzard',and a beer called 'Raindancer' for which Mike iskeen to use the Nelson Sauvin hops from NewZea land.

Mike is very serious about the quality of hisbeers. "All microbreweries are not equal," hesays. "Most of them are good, but I believe whatwe make here is better than good and if you have

a superior product, then it will sell." He is veryclear about how to build a successful brewingbusiness. "You need to have an absolute focuson cleanliness and process repeatability. Herewe have very clear process stages, and we canreproduce the beers with a very high accuracyevery time." The brewery is spotless, and Mikemakes a point of cleaning his casks twice beforeracking a new brew. The brewery has a WestBerkshire 5* hygiene award.

At the end of the first trading year; Mike isvery positive about the future for Wild Weather."Our plan was to break even this year; and wehave done better than that. The public receptionof our beers has been excellent, from the veryfirst cask of 'stormbringer' delivered to the TadleyRugby Club onwards." This is a man who is reallyenjoying his job. "Talking to people about beeris so different to the corporate world. lt is ajoyful thing to do! The satisfaction of being in abar with someone drinking your beer; or readingsomeone tweet that they just had a nice pint ofWild Weather

- it's a brilliant feeling!"

Michael Hadson

created by award-winningartist Caroline Downey,from the Black Mountains inWales. Mike commissioned

less powerful, to cater for the rural pubtrade: 'Little Wind' was introducedat 4.2o/o ABV followed by the sessionbeer'Big Muddy' at 3.8%. Next came agolden summer ale'sundowner' at3.47o,and then 'Black Night'was introduced asthe Summer turned into Autumn.

"'Black Night'has been a massivehit," saysM ike. lt'sa slig htlyunusualbeer; darkbut notcompletelyoPaque,and with afine balanceof hop and