A SALTAIRE micro-brewery is putting itself further on the map after starting to sell one of its beers in a supermarket nationwide.

Salt Beer Factory, based in Bingley Road, is selling its The Hop! beer in 200 Asda stores across the country as part of an exclusive new deal.

The five per cent pale ale is available in cans on the supermarket shelves at stores, including in Shipley.

It is part of Salt's single hop mosaic series and is named after one of then previous names of the pub, which re-opened for outdoor drinking earlier this month after lockdown restrictions were eased.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus:

Nadir Zairi, Salt Beer Factory managing director, says the Asda deal will give the pub a further boost.

He said: "It's massively exciting.

"To have it in 200 Asda stores is really big. It's nothing to be sniffed at.

"When the pubs shut for lockdown, we thought we needed a diverse mix of sales between pubs and supermarkets. We had monthly discussions with Asda.

"The name of the beer is a nod back to the heritage of the site.

As a Bradford-born brewery, we are building that national reputation and recognition

"A large part of what we do is telling the story of our homeland.

"The thing about craft beers is rotation and variation. It gives a chance to change things and keep them fresh.

"The Hop is not on sale in the pub at the moment, as we wanted to concentrate on the Asda launch. We want to build a partnership with Asda.

"We wanted to make a beer that tastes good and can educate people about craft beers too."

It is Salt Beer Factory's latest tie-in with a supermarket after it was previously chosen for a Tesco initiative which highlights innovative young brands.

Launched in 2017, the Tesco Incubator Programme is designed to assist carefully selected entrepreneurial brands "that have the potential to offer something different and exciting for Tesco customers".

SALT is only the fourth selected brewery and follows Brewdog, Thornbridge and Camden.

The Asda association is the latest boost for Salt Beer Factory after it beat off stiff competition from across Europe and Canada to claim the brewery of the year prize at the London Beer Competition.

The site also picked up another string of prizes in the awards. These were first place gold medals in Ikat DDH DIPA - Best UK Beer; Ikat DDH DIPA - Strong American ale category; Alpaca DDH IPA - IPA category and Citra NEIPA JNR - in the Pale American ale category

Salt also secured a second place silver medal for its Calico - GF beer category. Apart from Citra, the other medal-winning beers tap into the village's textiles heritage, such as Alpacas and Ikat, which is a weaving technique.

Salt's 20-hectolitre plant, complete with a modern taproom, is in the Grade II-listed former Edwardian tramshed in Saltaire.

It is hoped Salts's indoor bar and dining area and its taproom will reopen to the public on May 17, when the next stage of the roadmap is scheduled to take place.

The site has also used its enforced closure over the last few months to make a few changes.

It has made a 150 per cent increase in the capacity for its taproom and work has also taken place in the upstairs dining area.

The £1.7 million micro-brewery opened up in October 2018.