Mauldons - The Black Adder Brewery

White smoke suddenly gushed from the chimney at Mauldons as we stepped from the brewhouse into the loading and delivery area. Steve Sims roared with laughter: "Well, this is Suffolk. We're a bit behind the times here."

But this wasn't late breaking news from the Vatican. Head brewer Stephen Birch had just finished the mash and the smoke was the signal that a new brew was under way.

Mauldons in Sudbury has changed a bit since my last visit. Back in the early 1990s it was a typical bits-and-pieces micro, with second-hand kit. It was founded by Peter Mauldon, a former head brewer with Manns and Watneys in London.

The brewery achieved national acclaim when it won the Champion Beer of Britain competition in 1991 with Black Adder. It's still the flagship beer - though not the biggest seller - and Steve Sims stresses the link by adding the tag "The Black Adder Brewery" to both the buildings and publicity material.

Steve and his wife Alison bought the company in 2000 when Peter Mauldon decided to hang up his mashing fork. The Sims both worked for Adnams in Southwold. Steve was the free trade sales manager while Alison was in the accounts department. They are Southwold born and bred, and Steve admits leaving town and brewery was a wrench. "We had to say goodbye to the company BMW in the drive, free BUPA health care and two holidays a year," he said. "But we'd always wanted to run our own business.

"I bumped into Peter Mauldon at the Norwich Beer Festival in 1999. He said he was thinking of retiring and if he couldn't sell the brewery he would close it."

The Sims were determined to expand the business and decided they needed a new site and new kit. They moved this year a short distance to a custom-built factory in Churchfield Road that had made lacquers and solvents.

"It was ideal," Steve said. "There were fire doors everywhere and it had a cooling system that was identical to a brewery's."

A specialist company, AB UK, installed the new brewing equipment, which was sourced from Canada. It is an impressive and smart new brewery.

The 30-barrel brew length has doubled production. It's quite unlike most British pick-and-mix micros. As Steve says, it has more in common with one of the breweries you see alongside motorways in Belgium, Germany or Italy, with gleaming stainless steel vessels standing proud behind large windows. In spite of the modernity, it's a traditional ale brewery based on mash tun, copper and fermenters, though the fermenters are enclosed and upright. Malt is supplied by Muntons of Stowmarket, with Maris Otter pale malt the staple grain. Crystal malt, roasted barley, black malt and even roasted rye in Peggotty's Porter are the other grains. Hops, used in whole flower form, include Bramling Cross, Fuggles, Goldings, Styrian Goldings, with the hedgerow variety First Gold in some seasonal beers. A newish American variety called Amarillo - which will have you hugging your pillow - is used in a mild called Micawber's.

Mention of beers called Peggotty's and Micawber's stresses a Dickens' connection with Sudbury. The town's most famous son is the painter Gainsborough, but Charles Dickens stayed and wrote The Pickwick Papers there. He rather unkindly dubbed the town "Eatanswill" and Mauldons lives up - or down - to the reputation with two other literary brews, Pickwick and Dickens.

The new brewery has meant a mighty investment by the Sims. Alison looks after the accounts and, with her hand on the financial tiller, the long-nurtured plans to buy a pub have been put on hold for a while. Churchfield Road came on stream in January and the official opening will take place towards the end of June. Steve remains keen to buy a pub or bar in Sudbury but there is virtually no free trade in the town. Suffolk is Greene King country and while Steve bears the giant regional no animosity - "Good luck to em" - its presence does restrict the ability of smaller producers to get into the free trade.

So he has to spread his wings. He delivers direct to pubs in eastern England while Beer Seller and East-West Ales give Mauldon's brands national distribution.

"The pubcos, love em or hate em, are the future," Steve said. "Pubs have guest pumps, consumers want choice and I want to be on the bars."

As well as the mainstream beers, Mauldons has a rolling programme of monthly seasonals, such as George's Best in April and a honey beer called May Bee last month. Steve is also keen to engage in brewery swaps. He deals with breweries as far away as Ossett in Yorkshire and Titanic in the Potteries. Charles Wells of Bedford had just taken a shedload of the 4.8% Suffolk Pride as a guest beer in its 250 pub estate, sold the lot and came back for a second delivery.

Shortly before he left Adnams, Steve was involved in a major re-branding exercise that created stylish new pump clips and press advertising. He has followed a similar course at Mauldons and the regular and seasonal brews have attractive shield-like clips and accompanying artwork.

The Mauldon's team is small and dedicated. Stephen Birch worked for Peter Mauldon and accepted the challenge of brewing with the new kit on a new site. Peter's son James also works at Churchfield Road.

The aim is make distinctive beers with a firm and distinctive hop character that will appeal to beer connoisseurs. The beers positively sing and zing with tangy hop fruit and resins. Black Adder, a roasty stout, is backed by such regulars as the tawny, malty-hoppy Suffolk Pride, the biscuity and full-flavoured 4.1% Peggotty's Porter, the golden and powerfully hopped Dickens (4%), and the two mainstay bitters, the floral and grassy Mauldons and maltier but snappily hopped Moletrap at 3.6% and 3.8% respectively.

The big surprise for Steve has been the success of Micawber's Mild, 3.5%. It was introduced as a one-off brew but won the overall championship at the Peterborough Beer Festival last year and now he can't brew enough of it to keep up with demand.

"I wanted a creamy and smooth mild but with a good hop finish," Steve said. Crystal and roasted barley appear alongside pale malt and the only hop is the American Amarillo. The beer has an enticing aroma of fresh tobacco, liquorice and dark fruit, with fruity hops coming through on the palate and finish. There is a powerful roasted malt note and a late burst of creamy coffee. Sales of beer are up 3.5% on last year and bottle-fermented versions of Black Adder, Suffolk Pride and Bah Humbug at Christmas are on sale in Waitrose and Asda in East Anglia.

"There's no decline in cask ale," Steve said with firm conviction. "The nationals have turned their backs on the sector. Fads like nitrokeg and alcopops will come and go but cask will always be there."

So in the company of the incomparable Sam Weller of The Pickwick Papers, lets raise a "double glass o' the inwariable" to Mauldons, flying the flag for good ale in its smart new brewery.