Curious Brewery - Taproom & Restaurant

It seems I’ve been pipped at the post in my rush to bring the story of my visit to Curious Brewing to readers of this blog. The person who beat me to it, with his own account of a visit to this impressive brewing set-up, is none other than master brewer and fellow beer blogger, Ed Wray. Ed’s visit was a professional one, as a member of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling, whilst mine was purely one of pleasure that came at the end of a visit to my old hometown of Ashford.

I wrote about that particular excursion last week but left no hint that the day ended with son Matthew and I calling in at Curious Brewing. However, as the company’s state-of-the-art brewery and hospitality centre, are just across the tracks from Ashford’s International station, it would have been rude for us not to have called in.

The Curious Brewery was established in 2011, as an off shoot of Tenterden-based, Chapel Down Winery. At first, the beers were all contract-brewed), by Hepworth & Co in Horsham, but it was always Chapel Down’s intention to switch the production of these products to an “in-house” operation. To achieve this aim, a crowd-funding campaign was launched, which raised around £1.5 million.

After acquiring a 1.6-acre site, directly opposite Ashford International station, work began on the construction of a state-of-the-art brewing facility, which opened in May 2019.  A total of £6 million was spent on the 50HL 5-vessel brew-house, complete with 19 fermentation tanks, giving a total capacity of 2,900hl. 

 

The new plant is versatile, and adaptable, as it allows the brewing of smaller batch sizes, to ensure improved freshness and quality, and will also enable the launch of an exclusive small batch series. It also looks very impressive, being all shiny and new. Three core brews are produced, at present – an award-winning lager, a session IPA, plus a rather nice, porter, and these are also supplemented by seasonal and occasional brews. I even noticed a  handpump for a caskGreen-Hop Ale, hidden away at the back of the bar.

I first became aware of the company, and its “curiously-branded” products after spotting some of their bottles on sale at Waitrose. This must have been seven or eight years ago, and since learning of their expansion plans, a couple of years later, I had been following developments with interest. Following the opening of the Ashford plant, a visit had been on my “must do” list, and I was just drawing up some plans, when along came Covid!

Like many businesses, Curious were badly affected by the pandemic, with the various lock-downs hitting its sale to pubs, particularly hard. It was perhaps no surprise then when in February 2021, Chapel Down put the brewery business into administration. It was subsequently sold to Risk Capital Partners, who not only stressed there would be no redundancies, but also vowed to rebuild the business.

 So, with this in mind, Matthew and I turned up, as couple of  Fridays ago, to see for ourselves and enjoy a pint or two, before catching the train home. The designers of the Curious Brewing certainly set out to make a bold statement, as the frontage of the brewery sets out to grab your attention and shake you to your core. The stylish restaurant and tap room are on the first floor, with an exterior window looking out towards the station, and an interior one looking out at the brewing kit.

The restaurant was busy that afternoon, with plenty of customers enjoying the beer and the food. Matthew went for a pint of Curious Pilsner, whilst I got stuck into a pint of Curious Porter. Both were very good. I can thoroughly recommend visiting Curious Brewing, and if time allows, perhaps taking in a tour of the brewery as well. I also wish the new owners every success for the future.