A couple of local people have objected to our planning application on the grounds of noise, smell and increased traffic.  Frankly, I can understand anybody having concerns about a new enterprise being developed close to their home.  A microbrewery is an unknown quantity to most people and it is perfectly understandable that they might expect noise, smells and general disturbance.  But a microbrewery is not Carlsberg.  We are craft brewers who are proud to work with our environment.  We work on a very small scale in an activity that is mostly silent.  We will brew initially on average once a week and, even at our peak, will only reach once a day, in vessels that our not much taller than us.  Throughout that brew, the beer slowly evolves through a process from the soaking of grains to a week-long fermentation.  During that process the only 'activity' is a one-hour boil of the malted liquor and hops.  The by-product of that one-hour process is primarily steam, with a slight odour from the hops which will be expelled across the fields away from any buildings.  I would never pretend that this steam is completely odourless, but it is both pleasant and almost indiscernible.  
None of the activities, even the cask filling which will take place inside the building, is going to generate excessive noise.  The building is part of a working farm which, until the 1960s, produced and dried hops in large Oast Houses.  All of the activities on the farm have produced noise and smells.  In contrast, a microbrewery is a place of very little activity and almost imperceptible smells – and even then for only a very short period of time.  In truth, it is unlikely that anybody would know that the microbrewery even existed if they had not been told.
I am part of the craft brewing movement because I love the process of slowly creating a beautiful product from locally farmed ingredients in a peaceful and creative environment.  All waste will be immediately taken to local farms to provide feed and fertilizer, where I expect to encounter smells and noises for the first time during my working week.  I would not be involved in craft brewing if I believed that I would be working in a noisy and environmentally destructive business that produced noxious odours.  In contrast, we are lovers of our environment and we will work as custodians to produce, peacefully and sustainably, a high quality product that will proudly demonstrate the rich brewing and hop-growing heritage of our County.  I expect that we will still be viewed with some suspicion, but I hope that I have been able to alay some of the fears of neighbours and to assure them that our shared environment will be in safe hands.

Progress seems to be very slow while we await the outcome of the Planning Application.  In reality things are moving ahead at quite a pace.  We are making arrangements with suppliers, purchasing casks and ingredients, and all of the little things that just have to get done.  Our designer is doing some great work and we will have our logo and other materials available soon.  Then this website will be completely revamped and the beer will start flowing.  If things seem slow, then it is simply because everything is happening by phone and the web.  But if this is the lull before the storm, then bring on the rain!

Inevitably, we need to submit further information for the planning application, but no rejection letter just yet and it is still looking good!  As we make progress I can start to give a little more information away.  The site is a large storage shed and cold store that was previously used for apples from the orchard that runs alongside.  If all goes to plan then we will also be taking on the 22 acres of apple orchard so as to make traditional farm cider - no Magpies / Weakbow here...  And with the trees filling up with juicy, plump fruit then it won't be too long before we need to start picking and pressing.
At the same time, we have been making some progress with contingency plans to enable us to produce beer before the plant has been installed.  This has taken a very exciting turn this week and we are hopeful that we may be ready with our first beers in early October.  No guarantees just yet but watch this space...

Got the news this week that we need to submit a planning application for change of use.  The buildings are presently used for farm storage and we are in a conservation area so it all requires extra work.  It sounds like it should be OK, but there is nothing guaranteed with planning applications. 
It could have been worse but there is no reason why it should be a problem.  Microbreweries are relatively quiet and smell-free operations.  The site is a farm which will have often produced much worse than anything we could conjure up even if we never washed our socks and started our own steel band on the brewery plant vessels.  If it wasn’t for the planning application nobody would ever know we were there.  Well at the moment we are not – but I’ve just submitted the application and I'll be counting the days...

Today I went to check out the progress in my local hop fields and was pleased to see the early signs of the cones that will one day give us so much pleasure.  With the barley harvest in full flow nearby, it was a perfect day to reflect on how the wheels are already turning in the Garden of England to produce next year's beers.  Meanwhile, we are hoping for some encouraging news this week on how soon we can start to play our own part.  Turn to Our Ingredients to experience the scenes for yourself.

We crossed a major hurdle last week and our favourite site is now looking very likely.  No celebrations just yet as we now need to move to the next stage with the local Council.  Nothing is definite until it is definite, and the only thing definite at the moment is that we are definitely in the fingers crossed stage of proceedings.  But if we can keep going as we have been then it shouldn't be too long before we can move in.  It is time to keep up the optimism and hope that everything turns out fine, but until we have a response from the Council everything is in limbo.  Fingers crossed...

Work continues apace to tie the knot with one of our favoured sites.  While one is in a remarkable location enveloped in miles of unadultarated Garden of England, with considerable potential for expansion, the other has a few more practical advantages including a cold store.  Both sites have some disadvantages so nothing is ever perfect, but there is nothing that would be insummountable with either site.  While one has a couple of lovely neighbours and a perfect guard dog whose bark is far worse than his bite, the other has voles and butterflies for neighbours and a security system that would be the envy of the Bank of England.  We love them both andwill be sad to lose either.  But one has to go - I think the answer is only days away...

I seem to have spent most of the last year wandering around farms, industrial units and other sites.  I've hopped through hop fields and studied stud farms and had some very attractive discussions at one of Kent's leading attractions.  But every site has always let us down in one way or another.  That's what makes our latest visits at the weekend even more remarkable.  Not only did we find a site that seems to check all of the boxes for the very first time, but then we went and found another one.  Two near perfect sites in one day - it almost made the defeat against Germany seem bearable!
Both sites really are superb in many ways.  It is going to be a very difficult decision to make, so it really depends on how our discussions go in the next few days.  There have been times that I have thought we would never reach this point.  But to now have a choice of great sites is more than we could have ever expected.  Now it really is getting exciting...

What a difference a week makes - it now looks like we may need to reject both of those sites, including our much loved provider of beer-faced bribery!  Both sites had so much going for them, but the deeper you dig the more you uncover.  One of them still might work, but it will need a lot of thought.  It is so good in many ways, that it would be very sad to say goodbye - or at least au revoir.  At the same time, we have three new sites that are looking good and we are making further visits this week. 
There are so many aspects to consider in a site, including overall size, height, water supply and waste facilities, electrics, condition of building, location, security, accessibility - especially for delivery vehicles, options for outside cask-washing facilities etc, etc.  Then we need to be sure that the site will get through all of the planning application and environmental health requirements - but we are nowhere near that yet.  Until that time we just need to find the magic site that says it all - and if they plie us with great beer in the process then so be it, we can take it!