In August 2015, multiple award-winning brewer and publican duo Paddy O'Riordan and Ollie Bainbridge joined forces and launched a brand new brewing company in Exmouth. With the beer initially produced through “cuckoo” brewing (using spare capacity in an existing brewery), this was the first step to opening a six barrel brewery Crossed Anchors Brewing in The Grapevine's old stables in Exmouth town centre in mid-2016. Crossed Anchors Brewing launched their finely crafted first beers at The Grapevine's 2015 beer festival in Exmouth on August Bank Holiday weekend, with 1,000 people attending to experience the live music, good food and 50 beers and 20 ciders. Ollie Bainbridge, Publican of Exmouth's hugely popular “The Grapevine” says “After 18 years as a licensee, I had been searching for a way to put into production the stuff I have spent an entire career selling, and this new partnership is the both the culmination of years of planning and the start of something very exciting” Currently turning out amazing beers by cuckoo' brewing with an existing brewery nearby, the first beers are UK and US influenced ales. The beers are not exclusive to the Grapevine, and Paddy & Ollie have found that local publicans in East Devon and Exeter are embracing these high quality beers. Ollie says “The British beer industry is really buoyant at present, influenced by US craft breweries. The UK hasn't seen this many breweries since the turn of the 19th Century, but it does mean plenty of choice for publicans and drinkers alike.” Paddy said, “The company name derives from the two crossed anchors on the Exmouth coat of arms, linking us to our home town. We're very proud to live here, and hope the opening of a brewery in town becomes a real draw for visitors and a boost to Exmouth.” Ollie added “We're a community-based brewery, where our supporters and customers are involved in the direction of the brewery and feel a part of its development”. Paddy says of the beer itself “The launch of our beers at the August festival went brilliantly, with our beers selling 2:1 against some really outstanding national beers. And since then, during our first 6 months of trading we've sold in excess of 15,000 pints, so we must be doing something right!”