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Isle of Wight
Kent
London
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Representatives to the South East

Robert Wicks – Westerham Brewery Co Ltd

Robert Wicks has been brewing beer since he was eight. In 2004 he left the banking industry to start commercial brewing. The Westerham Brewery will celebrate its fifth birthday in 2009 continuing to brew award winning beers with Kent hops. Robert is passionate about local ingredients and has worked very closely with the National Trust to replant organic hops at Scotney Castle in Lamberhurst.

Eddie Gadd, Ramsgate Brewery

Eddie Gadd  – Ramsgate Brewery

Eddie’s from Blackpool but he married an Essex girl, so they live in Kent. Politics cut short his career as a mining engineer and after a couple of years contracting as a tunnelling engineer he discovered Brewing Beer, the Firkin Way, and got hooked on it. A foreshortened (drop out) spell studying the Masters Degree in Malting and Brewing Science at Heriot-Watt followed redundancy and he went into a brew-pub joint venture. That ended after 4 years and Eddie hauled his plant up to a light industrial unit where business has flourished.

He’s isn’t as fat, hairy or old as most people seem to imagine. And if you ring him on 07967 660060 after about 4pm he can be friendly too. Or email eddie@ramsgatebrewery.co.uk .

Duncan Sambrook – Sambrooks Brewery Ltd

Duncan is relatively new to brewing, founding Sambrook’s Brewery in Battersea, London in June 2008 having previously been working in the city of London.   Duncan had his light bulb moment with a few friends at the Great British Beer Festival in 2006 and decided that the city of London was not all that everyone made out and that brewing beer was just as fun as drinking it.  Fast forward two years and having pulled David Welsh (ex MD of Ringwood Brewery) from retirement to help set up, Sambrook’s Brewery was founded in an industrial unit on the banks of the Thames.  

Other than beer, Duncan’s passion is rugby where he was a regular first team player for Rosslyn Park prior to finding that starting a new business left little time for much else.  Now he enjoys nothing better than watching his local side play while drinking his flagship Wandle Ale.

News articles from the South East Region:

• Bottle Wreck Porter Awarded Gold by CAMRA
• Chancellor Should Get Sensible Over Beer Duty – WJ King Head
• Weald of Kent Hop Awards recognises Best Hopped Ale
• Grand Designs Win Top Award For Local Brewery
• Hammerpot Brewery takes Gold Award for its Bottle Wreck Porter
• UK microbrewery WJ King launches QR Code campaign
• Miller Brands Miller to move on to Meantime
• SIBA South East Beer Competition 2011
• Bob Neill raises a glass to the Great British pub on a visit to Kent
• Meantime And The Nomad Summer Cinema