AN award-winning brewery is making sure real ale fans don’t go thirsty after pubs had to close during the coronavirus pandemic.

Maldon’s Mighty Oak Brewery is safely distributing cask ale to locals after it was left with more than 28,000 pints when the Government ordered pubs to shut.

Director Gill Crawford has been using social media to get the news out that the brewery is delivering to people’s homes and organising pre-paid card payments to keep within government safety guidelines.

Gill said: “We have been contacted by so many people who wanted to let us know how much they love our beers and that they would not want to see Might Oak Brewery stop trading.

“The pub trade accounts for 90 per cent of business at the brewery, but that was lost overnight as pubs closed up.

“It was very upsetting to have to put six of our team on furlough, though all of us were in agreement that this step was necessary to keep everyone safe and to enable the brewery to continue in some small way during the pandemic.”

Collections at the brewery are still available, with customers picking up beer from a table outside the office.

Support businesses like this with our #BackingEssexBusiness campaign.