Since the day family-owned St Austell brewed its first ale,

There are few breweries around the country that reflect the true colour and heritage of their own region quite likeSt Austell in Cornwall.

Traditionally-brewed Cornish ale, and pubs which reflect all the best of the south-west, sum up the unique role which St Austell has played in this part of Britain for the past 150 years.

The company brewed its first ale back in 1851 and since that day has remained faithful to its origins and true to its roots.

It says some of its pubs have remained largely unaltered for generations, while its beers ­ although there is nobody around now to vouch for it ­ taste as good today as they have always.

In a nutshell, family-ownedSt Austell has proudly withstood all the corporate wrecking thathas blighted the industry elsewhere.

But only 18 months ago, it received a sharp reminder that it was indeed in the 21st century and exposed to the cold winds of the modern world.

When Chancellor Gordon Brown announced a much-needed tax break for small beer producers, St Austell found it had some serious thinking to do.

Brewery output, perched perilously close to the duty relief cut-off point, posed a major quandary for brewery bosses keen to grow the company's business and enhance its image.

In short, St Austell had to decide whether to reduce production and take advantage of duty concessions or push ahead with ambitious expansion plans aimed at growing its flagship Tribute ale in the free trade and beyond its south-west heartland.

"Like many other brewers of our size, we were faced with some difficult decisions because our volumes were running at less than 2,000 barrels above the ceiling figure," recalls managing director James Staughton.

"We were producing 20,000 barrels a year against the dutysliding-scale point of 18,500, so there was little margin for error.

"Did we push ahead regardless, or lower our sights and take advantage of the duty cushion?

"It did cause us more than alittle anguish, but at the end of the day, the decision proved a simple one to make.

"We had already laid the foundation for a big sales drive into the free trade, the budgets were in place and everything was more or less ready to go.

"We decided we could not really go back and reverse everything, so we stuck to our guns and pushed ahead with our original plans."

Eighteen months on, Staughton says he has no regrets, as St Austell and its vanguard premium cask ale brand, Tribute, continue to capture new markets.

"Our national distribution agreement with Carlsberg-Tetley has helped us access major new business with the pub companies," he says.

"Tribute is now finding its way onto an increasing number of pubco guest-ale lists and is doing a great job in a very competitive sector.

"Most brewers promote a lead free-trade cask-ale brand to infiltrate national markets, so it was important that we had a beer which could offer a premium image, together with consistent quality.

"Tribute has provided us with exactly that and, although its main sales area is still, predominantly, in the south of the country, it has plenty of potential to spread its boundaries."

St Austell is investing up to £150,000 per year on brewery improvements and maintenance and an ongoing commitmentto quality.

The current brewing capacity of 35,000 barrels may take some achieving but, in the long term, there is plenty of scope for plant development to increase this figure should it ever be necessary.

Tribute, like all the other beers brewed at St Austell, is under the stewardship of head brewer Roger Ryman, a recruit from Maclays in Scotland.

It was Ryman's first beer launch for St Austell,the ale being derived from a "special" called Daylight Robbery, originally brewed to mark the total eclipse of the sun in 1999 ­ an event that saw thousands flock to the West Country to get the best view of the historic event.

"Daylight Robbery proved a tremendous success for us but it was only meant to be a special, brewed up for a specific event.

"It proved so popular, however, that we decided to adapt the recipe for a new permanent brand that was developed to lead our new national sales campaign," says Staughton.

Others in the St Austell range serve a predominantly local market, notably IPA, Tinners Ale, Dartmoor Best and Hicks Special Draught.

Cornwall and its surrounds may have spent a good few years, mid-century at least, living in the past.

But there is now much going on to boost the region's fortunes ­ not least the hugely-successful Eden Project, now attracting some 1.8 million tourist visitors per year.

Eden may be a futuristic element in some respects, but it has enabled local institutions like the St Austell Brewery to capitalise on a manna-from-heaven business opportunity.

But history remains the crucial bedrock for a family-owned company like St Austell, and one of its best-known beers, the aforesaid Hicks Special Draught, named after brewery founder, Walter Hicks, in a way sums up what the company is all about.

Staughton is the great, great grandson of Walter Hicks and for many around the West Country this speaks volumes about the company and the way it is mapping out its future.

The St Austell Brewery is a proud Cornish tradition and this link with its past indicates tomost prudent observers that the company will remain in the same family hands for quite some time yet.