The beginning of a national lockdown might seem like a crazy time to invest in a craft brewery, but that is exactly what the team behind Sibling Distillery (makers of the Sibling Gin range) have done.
Having grown up with their parents running a real ale microbrewery the young team have always had an interest in being involved in the family business, but the lockdown, along with interest from other investors, prompted them to put their money where their mouth was!
Along with two other investors, they have bought the business from their parents, re-branded and re-installed a state of the art, steam powered brewery. This allows them to brew craft IPAs, lagers and ales using the natural spring water from the Coxhorne Farm in Cheltenham where they are now based.
Battledown Brewing Co has hit the ground running with it’s new canned range of California Spring Lager (the name of the spring which the water comes from), Tipster Session IPA and London Road IPA. Sales of cans and mini-kegs from their website have increased 10 fold and in the short trial before the second lockdown, sales of their kegs to on-trade had increased dramatically.
With their new head brewer Bert Roelants they have five limited editions planned for this year with exciting developments and new beers coming thick and fast.
Things haven’t changed entirely though, the ‘Heritage Range’ of old favourites is still there, with their Original, Pale Ale and West Coast IPA still available in bottles and cask, whilst both ranges are available in mini-kegs from their website and brewery shop.
Felix Elliott-Berry says “Buying into the brewery had always been a plan for us and the first lockdown last year gave us the perfect chance to close everything down, strip out the old brewery and completely re-design the way we operate. My dad still runs the day to day of the brewery, but now it has become much more of a family operation with us all putting our ideas forward and recruiting a young brewer who has the same ambitions as us; now we just can’t wait for the industry to open back up and get our new beers out there on a larger scale!”
