A brewery apprentice from Cornwall is set to have his beer showcased in more than 800 pubs across the UK later this month.
Joe Baker, 26, took up an apprenticeship at St Austell Brewery two years ago. As part of his apprenticeship, he designed his own beer – Average Joe! – a sweet, amber ale (4.5% ABV) which featured as part of the brewery’s Cask Club series around a year ago.
But Average Joe! has had a more than average reception, having been selected to feature as one of 30 real ales in Wetherspoon’s 12-day autumn ale festival which starts on October 11.
Average Joe! has “floral and berry flavours, complemented by malty and caramel and biscuity tones”. 140 barrels of the beer have been produced by Baker ahead of the festival, making it his biggest brew to date at an early stage in his career.
He said: “I came up with the recipe design at the start of my apprenticeship. There was a beer we had on at the time which had the Bramling Cross hop in it which I enjoyed, so I thought I’d make a sweet, sessionable beer I’d like to drink. It came out on Cask Club and went down really well.
“On finding out his beer will be sold in Wetherspoons up and down the country, I was really excited. When Average Joe! came out I was away so I didn’t get to have that much of it, so it’s nice to be able to have it again.”
