While they were busy sorting out the wheel, the cavemen missed a trick or two but in a cave in Swanscombe, darkest Kent, amazing discoveries have been made - and drunk. New Business, with some considerable user experience, checks out a cave dwelling brewer

What attracted you to micro brewing as a business?

I'm not sure it was a conscious decision to be honest. One minute I was brewing beer in my kitchen with my flatmate and the next I was standing in a cellar with my business partner, surrounded by stainless steel. I had spent a long time working for someone else and this seemed a good way to do something for myself and something I enjoy.

How did you end up brewing in a cave in the Kent Countryside?

My mother was running a bed and breakfast and took me to look at a pub in Swanscombe. The place was an absolute wreck but had a very nice, big, cave-like cellar. We both decided to invest, her in the pub letting rooms and me on the cellar and brewery.

What beers do you produce and for what reason?

We produce two pale ales using a lot of US hops for big fruity flavours which is what the market really seems to want at the moment and also a more traditional style English bitter, using East Kent Goldings, which are one of the UK's best known hops grown in Kent. We also produce a monthly special which is usually something a bit different. The last one was a Cacao and Ginger Stout and more recently an IPA with Shatkora fruit and Kaffir Lime leaves.  

In a nutshell what is the procedure for producing good beer?

The main thing is just to try and reproduce the same beer time in, time out.

What's the time from brew to glass?

Typically around three weeks. This will be a week and a half in the fermenting vessels and around the same in the cask to condition. The  cask conditioning is what really takes the space in our cold store. The beer has to be stored at 10-12°C to provide a consistent condition and prevent it from becoming too lively, or worse, completely flat.

What decides the strength?

The strength is dictated by the amount of fermentable sugars in the beer. Beer is basically a sugar solution until the yeast goes to work. There is a blend of sugars in the unfermented beer, from small simple chain sugars to larger, long chain sugars. The yeast generally only ferments the simpler sugars and turns them to alcohol. The more complex ones are left behind adding to flavour and mouthfeel.

Are you considering exporting?

We have just got back from a trip to Cologne where we exhibited some beer which was really well received, so we are hoping to start exporting later in the year once we have our bottling set up running. Europe is a big market for our style of beer, and places like Spain, Italy and Poland have really exciting local beer scenes.

Where do you see the brewery in say five years?

Realistically sometime in the next 18 months we hope to reach full capacity where we are and from there will need to attract funding to move to a larger facility with a larger brew kit. We would hope to be bottling, casking and kegging beer by then, for local and European markets.

 For the full story visit  The Cave Man Brewery