CWMBRAN-BASED award-winning brewery Brew Monster has set its sights on expansion in 2019, after the successful opening of its tap room at the end of last year.

Since opening in 2017, the business, which is based at Avondale Business Park, Cwmbran, has gone from strength to strength, expanding the range of beers and ales on offer.

In 2018, Brew Monster won the Beverage Industry Award category in the Cardiff Regional Awards, which recognises outstanding achievement by individuals and businesses.

Managing director Glenn White reflected on the growth.

“When we launched, we had four core beers that we focused on. These were mostly cast beers, but we have now started brewing a lot more keg beers as well.

“With craft beer drinkers, they tend to be very exploratory. They want to try new things and explore new flavours. It allows us to be more creative.”

In November, Brew Monster opened a tap room above the brewery. Mr White said that the company have enjoyed the opening of the tap room, and working directly with the public is something that they are more of.

“We’ve had a good reception so far, but we are expecting things to really kick on once the weather improves in the spring,” he said.

“It’s a bit more pressure when you are doing it all yourself – selling directly to the public. People are expecting the highest possible quality.

“It is really rewarding when people say they like the beer and you are able to talk to them about the beer and the process behind making it.

“It’s good getting the feedback back immediately. If someone doesn’t like the beer, we are able to gather the feedback and feed it back to the brewers.”

The company has set its sights on some lofty ambitions for 2019, as they look to expand both in Cwmbran and across south Wales.

“The dream next step would be to open a place in Cardiff, maybe at the Bay, ” said Mr White

“This would be as well as trying to establish the brewery here.

“When we opened the tap room, we just caught the end of the Autumn internationals. That was really popular, so we are looking forward to the Six Nations in February.

“There are still so many people in Cwmbran that don't know that we are here and are saying that there are no craft beers available in the area.

“We want to become more of an events location.

“We are looking to do more beer festivals and family days. We are going to look in to doing some 'join in with the brewing' events as a part of this.”

The brewery will start crowdfunding this month to help with the expansion.