TWELVE years ago husband and wife team Linda and Jason Glasse began home-brewing because they had always liked real ale and decided to try their hand at it themselves.

It was love at first taste and from then on it was always a dream of theirs to brew their own ale on a commercial scale.

Now that dream has finally come true. The couple, who live in Powick, set up their own brewery - Blue Bear - in a 1,000 square foot building which used to be a potato store off Kempsey's Main Road in June, following 18 months of planning.

Mrs Glasse spoke of how in the early days of home-brewing they were making enough for themselves within the confines of their galley kitchen of their previous home in Stoke-on-Trent.

She added: "It was a lot cheaper, shall we say, for us to do it ourselves as we were a young couple on a tight budget.

"It was pretty strange because it was quite consuming and took over the whole kitchen, involving strange pieces of equipment.

"The smells got through the floorboards and our next door neighbours would ask what was going on!"

The Blue Bear Brewery officially made its first barrel after the couple used the equity from their house to start up the company and it now produces a total of five barrels a week - about 1,296 pints. Mrs Glasse said: "We had quite a bit of fun because it was a big learning curve going from home brewing to commercial.

"We had a bit of water overflowing down the hot liquor tank onto the floor so that was horrendous but we haven't made that mistake since!"

Taking its name from a bear in America which broke into a picnic truck and proceeded to drink the contents of a crate of beer, the brewery now supplies various pubs in the area, including Great Malvern Hotel, the Walter De Cantelupe in Kempsey, Salmon's Leap in Worcester and Three Kings Inn in Hanley Castle.

Mrs Glasse said: "It's a massive financial risk but because we're very passionate about it I think that comes through in what we do.

"It's a niche market and we never intend to provide competition to the big breweries, but there's been a resurgence in local food and drink and there is a market out there."

While Mr Glasse juggles his job as production manager with engineering company Luma Automation in Blackpole, Worcester, and the brewery. Mrs Glasse has given up her job as a chef to concentrate on the day-to-day running of their new company, dealing with the sales, marketing and deliveries.

Their initial brew - Roar Spirit - is a 4.2 per cent ale which is amber in colour and brewed to give a rounded flavour with a spicy blackcurrant aftertaste.

Wanderlust - a 3.8 per cent straw-coloured ale described as "refreshingly hoppy and with biscuit tones" was created about a month ago after the couple decided they needed to provide a lighter tipple for revellers to drink during the summer.

Mrs Glasse said: "The heatwave isn't really conducive to drinking real ale as people tend to want to go for lagers and ciders so that was when we decided to go for Wanderlust."

Taking on board environmental concerns, the couple recycle a proportion of the water used in the brewing process to clean their equipment and give the spent hops and malt to a local pig farmer for feed.

The next big event for the brewery will be its appearance at Worcester Beer Festival, which is held on the city's racecourse for four days from Thursday, August 17, where they will be serving both of their beers.

Mrs Glasse said: "We're really excited about it because there's meant to be thousands of people there so it's great exposure for us. We know there'll be a lot of interest as there always is for new breweries and it's kind of the pinnacle for us.

"It'll be great for us to take on board feedback because although we've been in brewing for 12 years on a small scale, it's great to hear what people have to say."

As for the future, Mrs Glasse said they explored making winter brews and venturing into bottling their ales themselves but said they were delighted with how the venture had taken off so far.

She added: "It's really hard work physically and we'll have weekends where we're working until 1am getting things ready, but at the end of the day if you're not prepared to put these hours in then people shouldn't do it and I think that's the same for any job.

"It's going really well and feels a great time for us so we're just going to give it 110 per cent."

More information on the company can be found at: www.bluebearbrewery.co.uk.