CASKMASTER
Jacob is too young to drink but has barrel of laughs brewing beer
A BOY too young to drink in a bar has brewed a range of top beers.
Now Jacob Murphy can’t wait to turn 18 to down the first official pint of his own ale.
Beer company directors were so impressed with the 17-year-old’s clever concoctions that they offered him an apprenticeship, making him one of the youngest brewers in the country.
Jacob, who has worked part-time for his new bosses since he was 15, became hooked on making beer at 10.
He said: “We visited the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and I loved all the smells and seeing all the barrels. It just got me into it.”
Jacob contacted firms near his home in Quinton, Birmingham, and was offered a part-time role by Fixed Wheel Brewery, in Blackheath.
He now works alongside two other brewers and is crafting an India pale ale for his birthday. He said: “I opted for it over a stout as it’s approaching summer.
“It would be quite nice for the first official pint that I drink to be my own beer. “It’s going to be really cool on my birthday. We’ve got more than a 100 people coming.
“Turning 18 will also have advantages for my career, because at the moment I’m too young to sample beers when I attend brewing events.
“All of my friends went to college but none of them are doing anything similar to what I’m doing in the brewery. “I can’t wait to come up with some more ales.
“It’s been a rollercoaster career already and I’ve barely even started. “Hearing someone come up to the bar and order a beer that I’ve made is really gratifying, just knowing that people like something that I’m doing.”