From Garden Shed To Burgeoning Brewery For East Sussex Entrepreneurs

It began in a garden shed but just a few years on and an East Sussex Brewery has come a long way, this month celebrating its fifth birthday.

Three Acre Brewery takes its name from the field that three school friends used to play in.

Today it’s the home of their business as they struggle to keep up with demand and supply bars as far away as Sweden with their much sought after craft ales.

Humble beginnings

Co-founder Chester Broad recalls:

“Back in October 2019 the world was a very different place.

"Our first beers (Farmhouse Ale, Session Pale, Best Bitter) were brewed specially for a beer festival at our local pub, the Blackboys Inn.

"They sold out in record time and the next day we were back brewing far more, to roll out to our first Sussex pubs.” 

But the brewery’s beginning goes back even further.

Fellow co-founder Peter Mayhew recalls how the trio developed a minor obsession with home brewing:

“Our self-stated aim was to create the ultimate session IPA. Having watched far too much Top Gear, we asked ourselves: 'how hard can it be?'”

Peter’s garden shed became the launchpad.

Its rudimentary home-brew kit consisted of a converted cold box, 28-litre kettle and plastic fermentation vessel, which were put through their paces.

Dozens of brews later, the trio released their now-fabled No.8 IPA, and what started as a hobby snowballed into a business idea.

 Global sales

An astonishing 700,000 pints of beer later, having created over 35 different craft ales and with the original team of three growing to nine, the brewery finds its ales in demand as it regularly supplies over 1,000 UK venues.

Nestling in the countryside between ancient forests and rolling hills, not far from Heathfield, the brewery has maintained a continued expansion programme, boosted by equity from friends and supporters.

Booming future

Having invested in new plant to expand brewery capacity from the initial 1,300-litres to 24,000-litres, plans for Three Acre’s future include a taproom, ideally in Uckfield, and further expansion as money can be raised from supporters.