Member Article

North East brewery toasts SALSA success

A Gateshead brewery is toasting its success after achieving the SALSA plus Beer Standard with the help of Absolute Quality Consultancy & Training. The Great North Eastern Brewing Company Ltd, which was established in 2015, bottles and brews a range of traditional ales including the iconic Rivet Catcher, Swinging Gibbet and Red Ellen at its premises in Dunston located close to the old Federation Brewery.

The SALSA plus Beer Standard, which stands for Safe And Local Supplier Approval and encourages excellence in the brewing and bottling industry, has helped the brewery to demonstrate accountability and traceability to the companies they supply.

Manging Director, Paul Minnikin, said: “The SALSA plus Beer Standard is a real mark of quality for us and allows us to confidently provide our suppliers with our accredited, quality ales. It sets us in good stead to achieve our expansion plans for the future and, ultimately, become a large-scale brewery in the North East of England supplying customers across the nation. The next step is to extend the standard to cover our canned and bottled ales.”

The brewery, which also operates The Brewery Tap bar and shop, is expecting to double its turnover to around £500,000 and expand its workforce from 10 to 30 members of staff over the next few years.

Paul said: “We started to work with Absolute Quality Consultancy & Training a couple of years ago when they assisted us with becoming compliant with HACCP, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, a risk assessment methodology for ensuring food safety. Following this, they guided us through the complex challenge of achieving the SALSA plus Beer Standard and delivered training to all of our staff.”

Andrew Willson, Director of Training at Absolute Quality, said: “It’s been a real pleasure working with Paul and the team at The Great North Eastern Brewing Company. Helping them to achieve their vision by providing them with the support and training to successfully achieve the SALSA plus Beer Standard has ensured that they will open up national opportunities and be able to provide their ales to pub groups and retailers throughout the country.”

Paul concluded: “Andrew’s flexibility and dedication while working with our busy team in the brewery, along with the in-depth knowledge and understanding he has around meeting the stringent requirements of the SALSA plus Beer Standard is nothing short of remarkable.

“The system we have in place has distilled the way we are developing the business and the outcome is set to be marvellous – cheers!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jennifer Clair Robson .