If you know of or are a business that goes above and beyond, or has a great story to tell, we want to hear from you, and celebrate our local traders and producers. You can let us know via our Q&A or email claire.pierce@newsquest.co.uk for more details.

MAGIC DRAGON BREWING, Plassey Holiday Park, Wrexham

If there is a positive to come out of the covid pandemic, it is people's thirst for locally made products.

And as we enter the countdown to Christmas, food and drink will inevitably top the list for many people.

Our Trader of the Week platform has showcased many over the last 18 months, and today's business is the latest to whet your appetite for local, quality produce.

Magic Dragon Brewing, based at Plassey Holiday Park, Retail Village & Golf Course, in Wrexham, has been running since 2017, although has been a micro brewery on the site since 1985.

The business is run by husband and wife team, Liz and Richard Lever, who does the brewing and recipes for the beer.

The Magic Dragon Brewing name is a blend of the Welsh dragon and the magic of the yeast that creates the beers.

Richard, 48, has always been in the industry one way or another, and was just four-years-old when his dad bought a pub to retire in to.

Liz said: "The pub went on the market after Richard's mum and dad passed away, and we were looking for a place to set up a wholesale business selling beer.

"Someone said the site at the Plassey was up for sale. It had a warehouse but it had the brewery as well.

"Richard had been dabbling with home brewing for a while, so we thought 'shall we have a brewery?'."

Full bottled beer range from Magic Dragon Brewing.

What followed was quite a learning curve. The previous owner showed them how the equipment works, and they did a few brews together. The couple also brought in a consultant to help develop some initial beer recipes.

Four years on, what's next? There's a Christmas beer planned, to run alongside their six core beers available in casks, mini kegs and bottles, and the busy parents of two children have in the last three months also bottled a dark mild.

Their beers are now a bone fide hit with drinkers across North Wales but the couple's brews are proving popular further afield, with nationwide sales of bottles too.

Liz said: "We traditionally brew real ale and craft lager. We supply local pubs, restaurants and hotels with cask/keg beers.

"We produce bottled beers to sell in our own shop and website and supply local shops, farm shops and delis."

Like most businesses, Magic Dragon Brewing felt the full force of the pandemic, especially during the first lockdown.

But the reduction in brewing did allow them to spend more time developing craft lager, producing two – Lockdown, a craft lager based on the old cream ale originally brewed by Welsh brewers in pre-prohibition America, and Lost Summer, an IPA made with American hops and Welsh water. The beer was a homage to the Californian beer you might be have been drinking on holiday if it weren't for the coronavirus outbreak.

The couple has plenty to be proud about, and I ask Liz, 42, about their most memorable moments.

She said: "The first time someone came up to us and told us that it was the nicest pint they'd had all year. And, of course, winning three Great Taste awards this year for three of our bottled beers!"

Anything else we should know?

Liz adds: "We can arrange brewery tours for groups and we have our own brewery tap on Charles Street in Wrexham. We can literally organise a p**s up in a brewery."

• Magic Dragon Brewing

01978 781675

Plassey Hoilday Park, Eyton, Wrexham LL13 0SP

www.magicdragonbrewing.co.uk