Chapel Down-owned Curious Brewery is increasing its production with a new state-of-the-art brewing facility in Ashford, Kent, due to open at the end of the month.
The 50HL 5-vessel brewhouse will enable the team to more than quadruple its current total brewing volumes, producing approximately 80khl of beer, or more than 4.5m pints, per year.
The building, set in a 1.6 acre site, houses a total of 19 fermentation tanks, with a total capacity of 2,900hl, meaning that the brewery can hold almost 170,000 pints of beer at any one time.
Beer will be kegged and bottled on site, producing more than 4,000 bottles per hour in bespoke Curious bottles. Fresh, un-pasteurised beer will also be piped directly to the restaurant from Bright Beer tanks on-site.
The Curious Brewery has a bar, restaurant and gardens inspired by the Kent landscape, and will offer tours to visitors and local beer enthusiasts.
Chapel Down Group chief executive officer Frazer Thomson said: “This is the latest jewel-in-the-crown for Chapel Down.
“Opening the Curious Brewery is our biggest investment to date. This is the final foundation stone under our belief that we are Britain’s most exciting drinks company.
“The new brewery cements our position as an innovative, progressive dynamic maker of some of the finest beer in the country, if not the world. And the most exciting thing is, this is just the start.”
Head brewer Matt Anderson added: “Being involved in the building of a new brewery is any brewer’s dream, not least because we’ve been able to stipulate every detail of the brewing process.
“This means having things like a specially designed Brewhouse with an external calandria design that gives us increased control on the boiling process, allowing us to consistently brew beers of the highest quality.
“But the real fun starts here, and we can really begin our Brewing adventure, whilst welcoming all of our curious visitors.
“Our whole focus is on serving the changing expectations of modern premium and craft-beer drinkers. So, as well as brewing the core range of Curious Brew, Curious Session IPA, Curious Porter and Curious Apple, we’ll also be making regular limited editions, both with our team here, and occasionally with other like-minded brewers and customers who share our philosophy.”
The new brewery planned to open in March, but has been delayed until the end of May.
