A BEER lover says he's saving thousands of pounds a year now he's skipping the pub and brewing his own booze – which he says taste better anyway.
Kim Blackburn, 65, says his home-brewed beer works out at 43p a pint – where he used to spend £4.20 at the pub.
It was that figure that inspired him to take up brewing at home, with the hope of saving cash and making great booze.
And it's paid off – Kim thinks he's saving £2,000 a year.
About four years ago the South Wales man spent £70 on equipment and started creating his own beers and ciders.
He now makes up to 40 pints of a beer for just £17 every three weeks, meaning each pint costs around 43p – a far cry from the £130 a week he used to spend.
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Kim, who is currently brewing Scottish heavy bitter and stout, said: "I just do it for my own pleasure.
"I'm finding that I enjoy my beer more than the pub's now – I think my stout is absolutely marvellous, if I do say so myself.
"I can control the sugar amount, I can make what I want and I can play around with it.
"I drink about two pints a day, forty across 3 weeks, which works out at just over 40p per pint. I reckon I'm saving over £2,000 a year."
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Home brewing equipment can often be quite expensive, but the retiree says you can do it on a budget.
Kim said: "My set-up is a combination of new and second-hand stuff. I bought a lot of it off Facebook Marketplace for next to nothing.
"I've got 80 plastic bottles that cost me no more than £15, as well as some fermenting vessels and demijohns (glass jar) for the same price."
Kim says he spends around £15-£20 per batch, which usually lasts him up to three weeks, and said: "I use beer kits and tins to brew my alcohol.
"I've got my Scottish bitter and a stout, but I'm about to start a festival cider.
"I brew weekly so I always have one barrel of beer on the go, sometimes two."
A beer kit contains a liquid malt extract which is then added to water and yeast before the fermentation process begins, eventually resulting in a bottle of beer.
Kim's wife Arethia, 82, who is not a big beer drinker, often tastes his latest creations and says they are "usually good".
His wider family have told him that they "can't believe it's homemade".
He added: "My only fuss is making a good beer as cheap as possible.
"By keeping it simple you can still make good beer with excellent flavour."
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And, Kim is not alone in his money-saving scheme.
Earlier this month a Glasgow home-brewer revealed he saved about £3,000 a month by staying home and enjoying his own beers.
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