Over 300 beers to choose from at Hopsters beer shop on St Nicholas Street, Ipswich from October 17 onwards.

Beer lovers of Ipswich rejoice, because a brand new bottle shop is set to open in the heart of the town this October.

Ed Barnes and Steve Long are primed to fling open the doors to Hopsters on October 17, where more than 300 local and craft beers will adorn the shelves, presenting all kinds of possibilities to fans of a proper brew.

“The shop came about because we kept seeing bottle shops elsewhere and I’d come home with armfuls of beer, thinking, why can’t I buy these in Ipswich?” says Ed. “A lot of our friends are real ale fanatics. We all went to a beer festival together and brought back loads of beer and had our own festival. It was great and it really pushed us in the right direction.”

The idea for Hopsters was conceived a year ago, with the pals waiting for the right property to pop up. When premises on St Nicholas Street (known for its independent traders) became available, they leapt at the opportunity – and started beer tasting!

“It’s part of the job I’m afraid,” Ed Laughs. “We’ve been trying a few. To begin with we want to stock around the 300 mark and we expect that to go up over time. It’s a case of getting as many beers in as we can. The public will do us a massive favour by saying what they like. We’ve been asking on Facebook what we should stock and using it as a guideline. It’s a real suck it and see thing.

“We’re concentrating a lot on local beers and craft beers. So Beavertown and Magic Rock, Nethergates – all kinds of decent breweries. The key is changing them. We’re not going to have the same stock all the time. It’ll be a quick turnover. What we have one week we might not have the next, but we’ll have something as good.

“My wife’s really got into it. She never liked real ales, but craft ales have opened the door to beer for a lot of women. This is more open and you find an equal interest in craft beer. She can’t wait for me to open the shop!”

In the New Year, Hopsters will open for themed tasting events too – so watch this space.

Go to Hopsters Ipswich on Facebook or @hopstersipswich on Twitter to tell the guys what your favourite beers are.