A FORMER dry stone waller is on the verge of making a dream to open his own brewery come true.

Danny McColl, of Middleton-in-Teesdale, is hoping to start brewing his own beer after taking over a unit at the Randolph Industrial Estate, in Evenwood.

He hopes that Durham County Council will approve his planning application to change the unit’s use from electronics manufacturing to a brewery so that he can have his first brew ready to go by May.

Mr McColl, 35, who has invested more than £200,000 in the project with his wife, Gemma and a silent partner, said his passion for beer started about 15 years ago when Mrs McColl bought him his first home-brew kit.

"A long time ago, it was floating around in my head but without any experience or ever having run a business, it never came to anything," he said. "Then five years ago, I started working for a commercial brewer in Cumbria, Tirrill Brewery."

While at Tirrill’s, Mr McColl met Ollie Dootson, who he has now hired as head of sales.

The pair have worked round-the-clock to get the business up and running since they moved into the unit in November and plan to produce four traditional ales – Golden, Best Bitter, Pale and IPA.

Mr Dootson, 26, said: "We are going to start off with a traditional range of four main beers, which are quintessentially English, because we love old English ales and then we will start developing ideas into more complex brews."

If planning consent is given, Mr McColl hopes to brew about 100 casks a week or the equivalent to about 9,000 pints but said the unit had the capacity to develop the business more than six times over.

Mr McColl also has a degree in sports science and said it is the scientific aspect of brewing that has always interested him, which he hopes to share with college students in the future, as well as offering tours and team building exercise days for companies.

He has also applied for a limited alcohol licence so people can buy beer straight from the brewery or taste samples on tours.

"We want it as an open brewery where people can come in and see what we are doing rather than being behind closed doors," he added. "It’s been a life-time dream and fantastic to do it."

For more information, visit mccollsbrewery.co.uk.