THIS year we are toasting the 150th anniversary of The Bolton News — and we are inviting everyone to raise a glass filled with a beer brewed to celebrate the landmark year.

Scoop Ale will be launched at the Bolton Food and Drink Festival and is currently in its fermentation stage at the award-winning Bank Top Brewery in Astley Bridge.

And given it’s not every day an ale is created in honour of the town’s newspaper, we went behind the scenes to find out exactly what goes into creating a new beer — and whether it could even "scoop" an award.

In the first of a special series, we speak to Jennifer Burrows, who has created the recipe for this new traditional ale

Jennifer may officially be the finance director at Bank Top, but she loves brewing and has come up with the recipe for Scoop Ale.

She said: “As it is called Scoop, we are going for a nice quaffable session ale — something you can have a few pints of while chatting with your mates. We didn’t want anything ridiculously strong, just when you go out with your mates and have a couple scoops with, or few scoops after work and be able to go home have your tea. It is just a nice, easy drink.

“It is going to be a bit of tan colour, not a deep, dark brown. It’s a bit old school.”

Jennifer, who lives in Astley Bridge, has her own beer on tap at the moment as part of a special Waterside Series where the team of brewers were given the opportunity to produce their own beer and enjoy some friendly competition.

And her Doe Hey is proving popular at The Tap, in Astley Bridge, one of Bank Top Brewery’s pubs, and is being brewed for the second time to be sent to pubs.

Bank Top Brewery was founded in 1995 by John Feeney and located in the former mill village of Bank Top in the north of Bolton, in the picturesque grade two listed tennis pavilion.

It is now owned by Dave Sweeney, John’s first employee.

When it comes to devising a new recipe, Jennifer, who has been working at the business for 12 years said: “It depends who is doing it. I generally faff quite a bit. With the Waterside Series, a lot of the lads knew in their heads what they wanted to do.

“Mikey wanted to use New Zealand hops. It is a lot easier if you know you want to use a hop.

“Sometimes if you just come up with a beer it’s a case of just thinking, and sometimes it’s a case of what hops we have got in stock. Sometimes we buy things in on whim because they sound nice and those will often get used in specials, sometimes people might have a suggestion what colour they want, or if they like — American hops or New Zealand hops and we can accommodate that.

“With this one, it was a case of just to come up with a recipe.”

CHEERS: We go behind the scenes at brewery creating perfect pint for Bolton News' 150th anniversary

The right blend of hops is the secret to a good pint. Hop plants are climbing vines and the flower is used to flavour the beer. It is grown over the world, with some hops currently so popular they are very low in supply.

Over the past weeks, Jennifer has been thinking about which hops to blend for the The Bolton News anniversary beer — coming up with them just the day before, after changing and swapping ideas.

Scoop is made from a blend of Columbus, an American hop, and Herkules, a German hop, a contrast of spice and citrus aromas, according to descriptions.

“I like American hops. It’s purely selfish reasons but they are very popular. Again, it is one of those things if everyone liked the same thing we wouldn’t be an industry,” said Jennifer.

“It is said the aroma nicely complements the spiciness.

“I try and read up on websites and books, whatever I can and find out what works to give me a vague starting point. A lot of it we learn from experience. We might have done a beer seven years ago and will make a note of it and whether it needed tweaking. You can learn from and old recipe adapt it and improve it.

“It’s handy to find out from other sources what hops complement each other and we do research on the internet.”

She added: “Hops grown in different countries have different characteristics — American hops seem to be a lot more floral.”

Neil Turner, one of the sales managers, said: “The grains are easy, because that’s your colour and your ABV (alcohol by volume) and they are a standard pretty much, just variations on colour, whether you want it darker or lighter.

“The tricky bit is the hops, getting the hops together which come up with a pleasant taste.”

Jennifer said she still gets the same feelings of nervousness and excitement when it come to creating a new beer.

“Once it is brewed and drunk, then you can relax and enjoy it. I get quite nervous right up to the point someone is drinking it, but then it’s out of your hands anyway and there's nothing you can do.

“It is nerve racking because you don’t know what it is going to be like until it is out there. It is exciting, but as Dave points out, I can worry myself out of a paper bag!

“I still like it when someone pays you a compliment and says that is a nice pint.”

She added: “So far, the trickiest bit has been the artwork. The Bolton News sent some ideas over and we initially did some in house and we got our team in.

“We kept firing ideas backwards and forwards and Belmont Labels stepped in.

“If you do something bespoke for somebody, they can send a lot of ideas and sometimes there are too many things to fit on.

“If you are standing at a bar that is three deep, you want it to look something that catches your eye. That’s why all ours are uniform shape because you will always know it as ours.”