A box of beer from Hornes Brewery near Milton Keynes includes a note saying “COYI”. This is not a coded message from MI5 but stands for “Come on You Irons”.

Brewer Ryan Horne and I are both West Ham United supporters and are frequently called on to drown our sorrows with a pint of beer. The club is known to fans as the Irons from its crossed hammers logo, which dates from its origins as an East London factory team, Thames Ironworks.

Ryan has easy access to beer. He can step from his house in Bow Brickhill into the converted garage that forms his six-barrel brewery where he produces a range of cask and bottled beers, many with horns and goats in the title.

To stress the goat link, in a paddock behind the brewery you will find Dusty, Herbie and Sooty, three goats that contently munch on the soft, aromatic malted grains left over from brewing.

Ryan was a dedicated home brewer who took the big step, with his wife Colette, to brew commercially in 2015. They supplies pubs in the Milton Keynes, Bletchley and Stony Stratford area and occasionally further afield: they can sometimes be found in the Mermaid in St Albans.

There are regular events at the brewery on Station Road. Bow Brickhill survived the infamous Beeching cuts in the 1960s and still has a train station that can be reached from Bedford. Ryan and Colette stage an annual Oktoberfest and also have beer tastings sessions in the brewery and its adjacent beer garden.

Three regular beers are dedicated to the goats: Triple Goat Pale Ale (3.9%), IPA (5%) and Porter (4.6%). They are backed by seasonal beers and an addition to the range, a second Porter called Black Antler (4.8%).

This is inspired by the beer from the famous Bavarian brewing town of Bamberg, where malt is cured over fires using beechwood chips. The wood gives a delicious smoky note to the beers. Ryan’s Porter has woody and fruity notes alongside dark grain and bitter American hops.

Another new addition to the range is Arapawa (4.5%), which uses a New Zealand hop of that name, which is dedicated to a rare breed of Kiwi goat. The beer is packed with notes of orchard fruit and pine wood.

Ryan is passionate about making his beers with the finest natural ingredients. He uses the renowned Maris Otter malting barley grown in Norfolk and Suffolk. English hops include Admiral, Challenger, East Kent Goldings, First Gold and Fuggles. He adds some American hop varieties and his Porter has a potent blend of Goldings with Citra, Mosaic and Willamette from across the Pond.

The result is beers that boom with biscuit malt, roasted grain in the dark beers and hops that offer citrus and orchard fruits, pepper, spice and pine.

Watch out for events at the brewery. In the meantime the beers can be ordered online, with the Oktoberfest still available. I think this would cause some head scratching in Munich, home of the Oktoberfest, where all the beers from local breweries are lagers, not ales.

But I think the Bavarians would be impressed by the fact that Ryan obtains his yeast for the beer from Munich and is sufficiently well-versed in German beer lore to call it a Helles yeast – Helles meaning pale.

It’s used to produce both pale lagers and stronger Pils. Ryan adds a fruity note to his beer with Amarillo hops from the United States.

Keep an eye on the website www.hornesbrewery.co.uk for brewery events at 19B Station Road, Bow Brickhill, Bucks MK17 9JU. You can also monitor the football scores and note whether Ryan and I are cheering the Hammers or seeking solace in a glass of his ale.

Come on You Irons!