The Melwood Beer Company- A refreshing startup tale

by Startacus Admin

Startups, beer and inspirational stories...three of our very favourite things and to our delight we are seeing them being combined more and more as the public's thirst for traditionally brewed beers increases and countless craft breweries spring up all over the place...what’s not to love!

You may have seen our recent feature on the Meantime brewing company and the first ever UK crowdsourced beer and if that’s the sort of thing you like, then you’ll love the Melwood Beer company.

It is a microbrewery in Merseyside that opened its doors for business in March of this year and is already carving out quite a name for itself on the local circuit. It’s owned and operated by husband and wife team John and Julie Marsdon who are determined to stick to traditional, all natural brewing processes with one peculiar twist - their beloved brews are inspired by rock and roll. In less than a year of operation this enterprising team have turned their simple idea to mix their love of music and traditional beer into a very promising venture. So far they have created a wide range of brews with such original names as Citradelic, Deadhead, Lovelight and Mojo Rising.

An Unlikely Idea...

Set in the stunning surroundings of Knowsley Country estate in Merseyside this brewery’s location would hardly seem the most obvious place for the creation of rock and roll themed beers… but then Julie and John are hardly what you would call typical brewery owners. In fact just a few short months ago they weren’t - John was working as a self employed operating theatre technician with a dream of one day running his own microbrewery. As chance would have it, an old dairy (which coincidentally had also once housed a brewery) became available in their area and was so well suited to John’s idea that he and julie immediately set about securing it for use and kitting it out to brew his unique take on traditional craft beers.

After much hard work and dedication the Melwood Beer Company (a name is which reflects the Marsdons’ close proximity to the Liverpool training ground) was born.

Even at this early stage the brewery is doing an excellent trade, with their clips being given pride of place in pubs all over the Liverpool area and very encouraging signs coming from even more further afield. Whilst we applaud this enterprising husband and wife team for their entrepreneurial spirit, bravery and originality, what we really like about them is the passion which they have for the brewery and the joy they take from it.

“Step outside the brewery to see fields of sheep with pheasants and other game birds swooping overhead and running about the place. A short walk into the park sees all sorts of wildlife, a huge lake and indeed in the distance, animals such as rhinos and hippos in the nearby safari park”

Like starting any business, it certainly hasn’t been an easy task to create the Melwood Beer Company but this pair exude an aura of positivity and self determination which we find very inspiring - talking of their journey they say:

“It has been a long and winding road to be finally brewing commercially and we are sure there will be more twists and turns along the way. We may not always get things right but we will always do things with honesty and a smile on our face.”

Words that many an early stage startup can take solace in we think! We wish the best of luck to the Marsdons and their fantastic new brewery, we will be keeping a very close eye to see what this enterprising pair get up to next!

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• #microbrewery
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Published on: 18th November 2013