Salopian Brewery

Salopian Brewery first brewed in Shrewsbury in 1995, when founder Martin Barry established the brewery at the former Onions Dairy on the outskirts of the town. The original brewhouse was a small and rudimentary two-barrel system, but its limited scale gave the brewery considerable freedom to experiment. Those early eclectic beers helped establish an approach to brewing that would eventually develop into Salopian's more experimental Black Range.

An important early change came in 1998 when Wilf Nelson joined the brewery, bringing what Salopian describes as much-needed stability and vision. Further opportunity arrived with the introduction of Progressive Beer Duty in 2002, which reduced the duty burden on smaller breweries. Salopian used the additional breathing room to invest gradually in better brewing equipment and increase production while continuing to develop both traditional and more unusual cask ales.

Innovation remained central as the British beer market changed. Salopian enthusiastically adopted the New World hops arriving in the UK during the 1990s, using their distinctive flavours alongside more traditional brewing influences. The later growth of modern craft beer provided further inspiration, encouraging the brewery to experiment with techniques, ingredients and collaborations and helping develop the beers that make up its Black Range.

Alongside that experimentation, Salopian built its business around a dependable core range. Six core beers are designed around what the brewery considers the foundations of good brewing: flavour, drinkability, consistency and reliability for the pubs serving them. That combination of consistency and experimentation helped Salopian expand well beyond Shropshire, with its beers becoming available across the UK and further afield while collecting recognition in local, national and international competitions.

In 2014, Salopian made its biggest physical move, leaving its earlier Shrewsbury home for a purpose-built brewery in the village of Hadnall. The larger site allowed production to grow to more than 150 barrels a week and became home to both the brewery's public taproom and bottle shop. Packaging capabilities also expanded, with a canning line commissioned in 2021 to work alongside the existing bottling operation.

Cask beer remains at the heart of Salopian despite that expansion into other formats. Its traditional cask production is now complemented by keg beer, bottles and cans, allowing both the established core range and more experimental releases to reach a wider audience without moving away from the brewery's longstanding relationship with pubs and cask ale.

Visitors can experience Salopian directly at the Hadnall brewery through its taproom and bottle shop. The taproom normally opens on the first Friday and Saturday of each month, serving beers from the Core, Seasonal and Black ranges alongside other drinks and food from changing pop-up kitchens. Together with the bottle shop, it provides a public-facing side to a brewery that has grown substantially from the two-barrel system on which Martin Barry began brewing in 1995.