Due to growing demand for craft bottled beer across the country and overseas, Battersea-based brewery Sambrook’s has teamed up with Ramsgate and Westerham breweries to launch their own bottling operation in Broadstairs, East Kent, coming online in June this year.
The joint venture will allow Sambrook’s Brewery to double its bottle production by the end of 2013, and widen its portfolio of beers, with new product releases planned for the summer and autumn.
To create the bottling plant, the breweries received funding from regional growth fund Grow For It in East Kent, Kent County Council’s new campaign to encourage businesses to invest in the area. The bottling plant will generate ten new jobs for the region. Duncan Sambrook, Sambrook’s Brewery founder, and Robert Wicks of Westerham Brewery attended the Grow For it launch at the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday 26th February 2013.
Duncan Sambrook, Sambrook’s Brewery founder, comments:
“We are excited at the prospect of having our own bottling facilities and see this as a fantastic step forward for Sambrook’s, allowing us to sell our bottled products outside of our core local markets.
“It is well known that the UK has experienced a huge growth in craft brewers across the country, but it’s less well known that bottling capacity for these brewers has not kept pace and there is real demand for quality bottling facilities to service the smaller producers needs. South East Bottling will not only be able to service our own needs, but other craft breweries around the UK.”
Sambrook’s, Ramsgate and Westerham would like to invite brewers from around the UK to utilise the bottling plant to increase access to the bottled beer market in the UK and overseas.
Images are available on request.