BAKE & ALEHOUSE

Established in 2004 by Robert Wicks, The Westerham Brewery Company are proud to bring brewing back to the historic town of Westerham. With a rich brewing heritage, Westerham can once again be proud of locally brewed, top quality real ales.

Producing exceptional real ales for the local market, they support the initiative to reduce food miles in the supply chain. Many 'national brands' are transported long distances and suffer from poor storage and handling.

Not only is the brewer quite local to the Bake & Alehouse (less than 80 miles and still in Kent) but they use locally sourced malt and hops which are chosen with skill and care - to produce ales with a distinct yet traditional flavour. Their local hard water, which percolates through the Lower Greensand Ridge to the south of Westerham, is excellent for brewing ales such as the IPA for which Westerham was once famous.

The Westerham Brewery Company indends to revive many of the much-loved flavours of the old Black Eagle Brewery, which closed in 1965 following the catastrophic consolidation by the 'Big Brewers' in the 1950s (the time when ale was dying and lager was trying to take over the world - which thankfully failed).

Westerham have recultured the yeast from the Black Eagle Brewery. Back in 1959, after the takeover by Taylor Walker, the Black Eagle Brewery deposited freeze dried samples of their yeasts with the National Collection of Yeast Cultures, no doubt sensing that it might be lost forever. Now, 50 years later, they have revived these yeast cultures. Combined with water from the same aquifer that served the old brewery, they hope to capture the essence of what made Westerham's ales so famous.


Importantly in the modern world, Westerham are proud that ethical and green issues are very important to them. To that end, they have embarked on the following initiatives: