A short history of George's Brewery Mark was originally introduced to real ale by his father, when he was drinking Holsten Pils lager. He cut his teeth on Abbot Ale and began brewing as a lad. In fact, he still retains the original brew kit which now partly resides at the brewery's address. Aged only 18, Mark loved brewing at home despite working full time at the Matchbox Factory. During his time at Matchbox, Mark made friends with Stevie Mann who went into full time brewing from straight from Matchbox. Steve brewed for Bruce's Brewery at several of the "Firkin" pubs. This guy was to be the link that took Mark to the brew kit that he now owns. The brew kit is indeed one of the old Firkin brew house's from the Ferret and Firkin. After 4.5 years at Matchbox he went into the construction industry where he worked as a bricklayer for some 26 years. Not being Polish enough Mark had to leave the constuction industry and chose a new career in brewing after a succesful albeit short (3 minute) career in the porn industry.. It was at the Great British beer festival in London that Mark met up with old friend Stevie Mann now working at the Ramsgate brewery; a mere 4 months later, as luck would have it, Steve called him and offered him a brew kit, the Ramsgate brewery under Eddie Gadd had gone from strength to strength and needed a bigger brew plant. On the spur of the moment Mark said yes, as he was building a prison at the time. What could be more of a contrast than that? After purchasing it in December 2009, he transported it to Essex where it was stored for a year-and-a-half while he looked for suitable location to house the brewery. Mark looked for premises for months contacting various council members for clues and leads. He received an email from a member of Wakering Parish Council who advised him to speak to a man name Pendril Bentall about a possible premises. He had an old pair of barns that needed help but that he wanted to keep so between them they decided that as the location was so beautiful, this should be the site of the new brewery. Pendril has supported Mark from the very beginning and continues to offer all manor of support for the business. After Mark decided that this was the place, he began the arduous task of preparing the site for commercial brewing. April 13th/14th Mark finally hung up the hard hat. The planning application was relatively straight forward as it was a change of use and refurbishment. It initially failed as Mark handled the planning application himself, but when it did take off, it was fraught with issues due to the location, it was in a flood-risk area and required a flood risk assessment. Bat surveys were required and it had no sewage. They designed a 5 stage treatment plant which meant removing 300 tons of clay from the site as they installed sump tanks, septic tanks and reed beds. Finally they obtained their licence to discharge from the Environment Agency. Additionally, Customs and Excise needed to be informed as to the business's nature. Planning permission finally went to the council committee in Rayleigh and was voted 19-for and 5-against. The application was approved. Little was done until this point, as the premises was currently shored up pending the committee vote. Mark mused that Rochford District Planning were extremely helpful and specifically wanted to name and thank Katie Rogers who backed it from the beginning as well as Shaun Scrutton the planning team leader. Permission granted, Mark then built the internals of the barn including, walls, plastic cladding, a mezzanine floor (with stairs), plumbing, a complete rewire, a sump tank (PH balancing tank), a septic tank, and reed beds. Pendril hired someone to work on the area to make the place workable with amenities like water supply, power supply, drains etc. Finally, the kit was installed. The sump tank is an interesting process: waste water is pumped into sump tank to balance the PH, either with acid or alkali. From there, liquid can be released by valve, into the septic tank, some 7 and ½ cubic metres. The liquid dwells there for 48 hours after which it is pumped into a reed bed; whatever is left is oxygenated and feed into a dry ditch. The reed beds will become populated by wildlife, this would be a good indication that everything is going well. Although the premises isn't residential, there are houses nearby. Mark decided to meet the locals and take a letter for the residents to read. The general feeling was of a huge brewery, i.e. the next Guiness plant etc. He allayed their fears and explained that, being a micro-brewery, it was really more of a large-scale hobby than a commercial plant. When asked what was the favourite part of this project, Mark said it was the first brew day and running around headless with his friend Eddie Gadd. As mentioned previously, the brew kit was originally from the Ferret and Firkin where Eddie had worked it. When the Bruce's Brewery chain closed Eddie bought the kit along with the" Dog Bolter" name. He took the kit to Ramsgate and started his own brewery. Eddie was originally an engineer by trade but proved an exceptional brewer. The brewery was fully installed and the on Wednesday 11th May, it finally kicked off with a beer called Freak Show. The logos: Georges brewery is to be a traditional, English, touch the hearts of an Englishman type beer. Hendrix and the Hop Monster is to represents the diverse nature of this beer. It is not a run-of-the-mill beer. In honour of Pendril Bentall, there will be a Pendril's Summer Sunshine; a golden ale of the traditional variety in recognition of all the support for the project in all ways. Mark hopes the beer will be ready for Cold Norton and at the same time, ready for the Station Arms Festival.