TWO business partners have shown a lot of bottle by launching a new venture that could help small breweries to sell their beer to new markets.

And Cumbria Contract Bottling Company has got off to a flying start by landing several customers after giving a presentation of its capabilities to an invited audience of brewers.

Nick Young and his brother-in-law, Chris Wilson, have joined forces to set up the county's first bottling plant, giving local brewers the chance to bottle their product and expand into new markets.

Micro breweries are a booming business, with 23 operating in Cumbria alone at the last count, but up until now they have been forced to go outside the county to get their beer bottled.

Representatives from most of the brewers attended a meeting organised by Distinctly Cumbrian, the organisation that supports and promotes the county's food, drink and craft producers, to showcase the new venture.

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