(Image: Supplied)
Volunteers at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway have been getting hands-on with the brewing process to create a special ale for the heritage line's Beer and Music Festival.
Three volunteers—Philip Oliver, Andy Carter, and Andrew Foster—visited Amity Brew Co in Greengates to help brew the 'KWVR Standard 4 Pale,' a 4 per cent pale ale crafted especially for the four-day festival running from October 15 to 18.
Philip Oliver, a KWVR volunteer, said: "It was an early start but a fascinating opportunity to see how a modern brewery works and actually get involved in making a beer specifically for our own festival.
"We're perhaps more accustomed to heritage railway machinery than computer-controlled brewing equipment, but there was still enough manual work to keep us busy."
The volunteers assisted with loading different malts into the conveyor system and later helped dig out the spent grain—a task more in line with their hands-on experience from the railway.
Volunteers swap heritage trains for brewing tanks in Greengates (Image: Supplied)
Mr Oliver said: "Amity were incredibly generous with their time and talked us through the whole process.
"There was plenty of tea during the brewing and we did manage to sample a few of the finished products later in the day, purely in the interests of research of course.
"Now we just have to wait to taste the one we helped make."
KWVR volunteers during the brewing of the festival's special pale ale (Image: Supplied)
The new ale is made entirely from English ingredients, including Maris Otter malt and three hop varieties: Harlequin, Jester, and Olicana.
It is expected to deliver a mix of bready malt notes and flavours such as citrus, grapefruit, blackcurrant, mango, passionfruit, peach, and pineapple.
'KWVR Standard 4 Pale' will debut at the pop-up bar aboard the diesel train on Thursday, October 15.
Volunteers help create a bespoke brew for the railway's biggest celebration of the year (Image: Supplied)
From Friday to Sunday, it will also be available at the Amity Brew Co Bar at Ingrow, with plans under consideration to serve it at Oxenhope and at the railway’s Royal Oak pub in Haworth.
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Beer and Music Festival transforms the five-mile heritage line into a travelling celebration, with visitors able to enjoy beer and live music as they journey by train between Keighley, Ingrow, and Oxenhope.
More information and tickets are available at www.kwvr.co.uk.
The new KWVR Standard 4 Pale will make its debut at this month's festival (Image: Supplied)
Volunteers help create a bespoke brew for the railway's biggest celebration of the year (Image: Supplied)