The first locally brewed ale company held its official launch with a night of ale, pizza and ice cream.

Rudi Keyser, 38, originally from South Africa but now lives in Aldenham, has always been interested in making things and two years ago he asked his wife for a course in ale making.

After the course, Mr Keyser decided to set up his own ale company, the first in Hertsmere, and Watling St Beer, based on a local farm in Radlett, began.

Mr Keyser said: “If you asked me three years ago if I would have a pint of ale I would say no. I preferred cold lager.

“After the course, I decided to start home brewing ale in my shed and from there is grew.

“Last year, I moved a barn on a local farm and I have been brewing here ever since.”

The ale-maker now has a new, much bigger brewery which allows him to scale up production and spend more time on sales than before.

Each brew run will account for 1600L or 40 casks.

The process of brewing takes at least three hours from start to finish.

According to Mr Keyser the actual brewing process takes two hours but the cleaning of the tanks can take up to an hour, before and after each brew run.

“We are already selling in pubs around the borough and we have put in an application for a licence for these premises so we hope to sell from here as well.”

On Monday evening, Mr Keyser held the official launch of his company in the brewery shed.

Guests from across the borough visited the evening including potential pub owners, Hertfordshire County Cllr Seamus Quilty and MP for Hertsmere Oliver Dowden.

Mr Dowden gave a speech commending the work of Mr Keyser and asked the visiting pub owners to get involved in another local enterprise.

New research from the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) shows that four out five brewers are predicted an increase in turnover for 2016.

The results of the research project shows that Britain’s beer drinkers are increasingly aware of the provenance of beer, with 53 per cent of consumers believing it is important that beer is brewed in the UK and 46 per cent believing craft beer is ‘made by small brewers rather than large corporations.’

Mike Benner, SIBA’s managing director, said: “More and more drinkers are discovering the huge range of fantastic beer brewed by Britain’s independent craft brewers.”