A Brighton craft brewer has opened its own free house after taking over the site of a closed pub owned by Enterprise Inns.
Landlord Rhys Davies threw open the doors of Brighton Bierhaus last Tuesday (06 April) which prides itself on a rare selection of alcohol and a great buzz.
Brighton Bierhaus is on the corner of Edward St and George Street in Kemptown.
Rhys said: “We are opening our very own, extraordinary tap!”
He hopes that the new developments on Circus Street and deeper into East Brighton will guarantee business for years to come.
However, the pub is proudly independent and embedded in the community of Brighton and Hove.
Rhys said: “We are all local people, there are not that many free houses or independent pubs left in Brighton. So we’re really happy to bring one struggling pub back for the community to enjoy.”
As well as their own brews, Brighton Bierhaus pours their favourite beers from across Europe and the United States. You can read a list of the beers on offer here.
The Wine too is on tap, and is delivered in key kegs, which Rhys said has revolutionised the way the beer industry works but are now proving a hit in the wine world. One keg contains 40 bottles of wine.
He explained: “All the money saved on packaging and transport is invested in the quality of the wine. It’s sourced by O.W. Loeb of London, so we get really good wine cheaper because you don’t have to buy it in bottles.”
Brighton Bier is a craft brewery supplying beer to wholesalers across the UK and as far afield as Singapore, Japan, France and Italy.
Brighton Bier was founded in 2012 by head brewer Gary Sillence where he brewed the Kemptown Brewery beer at the Hand in Hand, Upper St. James’s street, and on the spare capacity ‘cuckoo’ brewed Brighton Bier.
In 2014 Brighton Bier merged with local wholesale business ‘withsoul’ owned by Stephen Whitehurst and Ollie Fisher. At the start of 2015 the new brewery was built at their base on the Belltower Industrial Estate on Roedean Road. It takes seven to twelve days to brew the beer, on their 2500L capacity brew house.
Previously Brighton Bierhaus was a tied pub called the Jury’s Out and owned by Enterprise Inns. CopseMill Properties had the foresight to buy the freehold because they wanted the venue to remain a pub and a community hub. Brighton Bierhaus is the only listed building on Edward Street where there were once 27 pubs and ‘beer houses’ and has been a pub since it was established as the Thurlow Arms in 1824.
An edited version of this article was published by Brighton and Hove News and can be read here.