The Brewery produces on average 1,500 gallons of beer each week using malted barley milled on the premises, English hops, yeast and water. No sugars, colourings or additives are used except isinglass finings which settle the yeast sediment in the cask. Draught beers are filled into casks (racked) by our team and delivered to our customers in the brewery van. We also produce some ales for sale in bottles which have a longer shelf life and can be distributed nationwide.The first pint of Ballard's was brewed in 1980 in the old cow house on the family farm in Sussex. The brewery remained at the farm until 1985 when Ballards took over the old Railway Pub at Elsted, 2.5 miles from the original site, reopening after several months of closure as the Ballards Pub. The brewery was then installed in an outhouse behind the pub allowing increased production. When the pub was sold in 1988 the Brewery moved to new premises at the Old Sawmill in Nyewood 3 miles away. Since 1988 the brewery has continued to expand by purchasing additional neighbouring units at the Old Sawmill where it is still operating from to this day.The Brewery was founded by Mike Brown in July of 1980. He had spent the early part of his career as a solicitor and opened the brewery because of his passion for real ale and his desire to run his own business. He ran the brewery single handed for 6 months during which time he created the recipes for Ballards Best Bitter and Wassail which are still two of the best selling beers in the range.The Brewery Managing Director is Carola Brown Mike's wife. When the brewery opened in 1980 Carola was in charge of telesales until the move to the Ballards Pub when she became manager of the pub side of the business. When the pub was sold Mike went back to practising law. Carola then became Managing Director and has been running the company as one of Britain's few female brewers (Brewster's) ever since. Francis was 18 when he started at the Brewery in January of 1981 he has been working for the brewery full time ever since. He is now the Head Brewer in charge of production and the day to day running of the brewery. He holds a Certificate of Brewing Competence. The brewery deliveries are managed by Keith Vidler who has been with the brewery since 1990. Ben Brown, Carola and Mike's son is a new addition to the team he has recently joined the brewery as the development manager dealing with web sales and new customer relations.