Partner Article

Wearside firm brews up international success

A Wearside firm specialising in providing training and analytical services for the brewing industry is toasting its overseas success.

Brewlab Ltd, established in 1986, operates from the University of Sunderland providing training courses for anyone from first-time brewers to experienced professionals.

A record number of students, some from as far afield as Australia, Japan, Italy and the USA, have attended Brewlab at the university this year with all courses full.

One of the key elements of the company’s new export strategy was to develop and “internationalise” its website - www.brewlab.co.uk - to enable it to take full advantage of the international opportunities.

To do this the firm received help from UK Trade and Investment’s Virtual Export Manager (VEM) programme.

Dr Keith Thomas, one of the Directors at Brewlab, said: “The VEM scheme was invaluable in helping us to realise our potential. It is an ideal tool for small businesses like ours to gain cost effective access to regional expertise.

“Such is the growing international reputation of Brewlab that in April this year a new course was created in collaboration with the national Institute of Brewing and Distilling entitled “Fundamentals of Brewing”. This was held at the University of Durham and was attended by 20 students from across the UK and Ireland bringing new visitors to the region.”

The company also offers an analysis service covering both chemical and microbiological assessments, including accurate analysis of alcohol levels. This allows the firm’s clients to determine the correct payment of duty as well as determining chemical characteristics and specific flavour components.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .