FOUR friends from Abbotts Ann hosted their first open day for the Test Valley’s latest microbrewery last month.

Test Brewing is a four-barrel microbrewery based in the Old Stables, behind The Greyhound pub, Broughton, which has begun supplying real ale to pubs and shops.

Jon Deacon, Tim Abram, Neil Palmer and Chris Brown pioneered the venture in October with no previous brewing experience, and hosted the mayor and mayoress of Test Valley for its first commercial brew open day on 9 December.

Mr Deacon said: “We will also be bottling our beer and have had great success pre-Christmas selling out over 1,000 bottles of Wallop Gold ale and our seasonal special Chocolate Stout, all in our first six weeks of trading.

“In fact we’ve been quite taken aback by the demand for our beer. It’s one thing people buying it once out of curiosity but quite another to have so much repeat business.”

The ales, named after tributaries of the River Test, are currently sold at The Greyhound in Broughton, The Fox in Tangley as well as The Eagle in Abbotts Ann, The Tipsy Pig in Romsey, the brewery itself and the Abbotts Ann village shop.

The entrepreneurs hope to expand their sales to village and farm shops, and to more pubs this year.