“Liverpool in a pint” is the promise of Cains, the city’s venerable brewer – and those pints, like the city itself, come in many different flavours. From lagers to milds and bitters through a monthly rotation of seasonal beers, aficionados of Cains’ award-winning ales have been given plenty of choice by Sudarghara and Ajmail Dusanj, who bought the company in 2002.

The brothers’ story is one of the more unusual in the UK drinks industry and makes Cains stand out among its peer group of small family brewers. Sudarghara, 42, and Ajmail, 40, came to Liverpool and to brewing via a circuitous route – starting their entrepreneurial careers by expanding the family string of fish and chip shops in Kent, southern England, before taking over a drinks distributor in the Midlands. Before they bought Cains, Sudarghara admits, they did not even like ale: “We were lager and lime drinkers,” he says.