With a hokey-cokey approach to the opening of bars and pubs during the 2020 festive season, Cumbria’s brewers had a hard task planning how much beer to bottle and barrel last year.

Then, when Cumbria was put into the toughest band of restrictions - tier four - on December 30, any form of New Year’s Eve night out people had been planning was abruptly cancelled with venues remaining closed until April.

However, there is a palpable sense of relief among the county’s brewers that the coming months are likely to be much more of a return to normal.

Matthew Sanderson, one of the founders and owners of Handsome Brewery, in Bowston, near Kendal, says the busiest period for brewers is in the run up to Christmas, with orders from pubs slowing as people tend to spend more time at home from Christmas Day to New Year.

"November has been busy getting ready for Christmas, but if we haven't sold it by December 12 or December 15 then it's not going out the door," he says.

Along with most breweries, Handsome was forced to refund many pubs for returned beer last year.

Matthew says ordering for this Christmas has not been quite as high as may be expected, due to concerns the UK may face more Covid-19 restrictions over winter.

He says a slowdown in production of beer last year has led to a surplus of hops, keeping prices at a reasonable level for now. However, the price of malted barley has grown as breweries around the world have geared up once more following a reduction in production by maltsters.

Despite the challenges of the last two years Handsome Brewery, which was founded five years ago, has opened a new bar in Kendal and is in the process of opening another opposite the University of Leeds.

The brewery has also invested £180,000 in brand new brewing equipment which will increase its capacity by 40 per cent.

“The main thing we’ll be doing in December when it’s quieter will be getting that brewery running and ready for the coming year,” says Matthew.

Ian Bradley, managing director of Coniston Brewery - whose family also runs the Black Bull pub in the village - says he is just relieved to see people back out enjoying a pint.

"It is nice to see everyone coming back because there are so many amazing little pubs around Cumbria, but they don't work without people and there's nothing worse than an empty pub, it’s just very disturbing,” he says.

"We've been pretty much flat out since the lockdown finished. We really had to shut down when the pubs closed but since then it's been very busy. Christmas is an important time for us because January is always quiet.

"We will shut down in January when it's very quiet and get all the jobs done that we can’t do when we're working.”

Sue Jefferson, who runs Keswick Brewery in the town’s aptly named Brewery Lane, says demand has been strong for most of this year and its new Fox Tap and beer garden has also proved popular throughout the year.

As well as preparing cask beer ready to sell to pubs over Christmas, the brewery has also been busily brewing and bottling its six per cent, dark ale Thirst Noel.

“We've been very busy throughout this year with our bottles and cans going to restaurants and bottle shops and small independent shops and there’s quite a few new retailers coming through as well so that’s quite positive,” says Sue.

Graeme Mitchell, who runs Tractor Shed brewing in Workington alongside wife Rachel, says he has much more confidence in the lead up to Christmas than last year.

"Last year we were being very careful,” he says.

“What we didn't want to do last year was build our stocks for Christmas but carry a lot of that through to January and February. This year we're approaching it much more confidently. All of our beers are going to be available. It's almost business as usual for us.”

The brewery sells its beers across Cumbria, but Graeme has his sights on expanding beyond the county.

"One of the things that I guess the last two years, lockdowns and uncertainty has forced us into thinking about is how do we grow our business," he says.

Accordingly the brewery has begun selling its beers via online wholesale drinks distributor EeBria.

"Wherever they are in the country pubs can go online and order from not just us but from hundreds, if not thousands, of other brewers and the kegs and the bottles are couriered down to them,” says Graeme.

It is also appealing to new markets by introducing regular limited edition beers, above and beyond the standard six it has been making since it started in 2013.

This has seen it push the boat out with new flavours such as a mango Berliner weisse or cloudy New England IPA available in cans and kegs.

"We wanted to experiment with some different flavours and have something a little bit more quirky,” says Graeme.

“We've got a small pilot brewery separate to the main brewery now, which allows us to do limited edition runs of beers.

"They might be the kind of thing that might be available from other breweries in other parts of the country, maybe in bigger metro areas with bigger student populations, but we're seeing these types of things increasingly become available in our own county.

“Ten years ago if you’d given someone a cloudy beer they’d have sent it back, now it’s quite accepted. It’s just helping us reach new people we might not have done before.”

The brewery is making two special edition beers for Christmas; an oaked brown ale using a combination of seven different malts and an extra special bitter made with heritage Chevalier malt and classic English hops.

Although the spot price of hops is low, Graeme - along with many other brewers - contracts to purchase hops in advance, as a way of incentivising growers to continue producing and guaranteeing future supplies.

"What you don't want is farmers to stop growing it because then suddenly, you haven't got anything. It gives us the confidence that we're going to get those hops that we want and it gives the farmers the confidence to actually plant them.”

He says the cost of transporting hops from countries such as New Zealand and the United States is likely to have a bigger impact than the price of the hops themselves, along with increased energy costs and the supply of CO2.

"We'll just have to wait until January or February, which is the usual time for brewers when they tend to look at what the costs are going to be going forward and whether they have to increase anything."

Away from the world of independent brewing, Jennings, in Cockermouth, owned by Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company, is also emerging from a tough couple of years.

“Christmas is usually our busiest time of the year and we’re working with our customers in all channels to make sure we have stock available,” says director of brewing Emma Gilleland.

“Of course, there is some uncertainty, but in general there is optimism within the on-trade particularly, about this Christmas, and we’re ready to support our customers.

“There is no doubt that no-one could have predicted what last year would have looked like. It is no secret that when pubs and bars closed, our volumes naturally dropped. Within this, our cask ale range at Jennings was particularly hard hit, as an on-trade only product, with unique constraints involved with creating and serving it within sell by dates. However, with more and more people starting to return to pubs and bars we are starting to see signs of sales recovering.”