From brewing in their parents’ garden shed to ditching graduate schemes and creating alcoholic sorbets at the family home, these young entrepreneurs have all made a splash in the Sussex drinks industry
THE LOW-ALCOHOL PIONEERS
Rob, 26, and James Smith, 24, of Arrowtown, Hellingly
Brothers Rob and James Smith are shaking up the drinks industry with their carbon neutral hard seltzers that support wildlife conservation initiatives around the globe.
Based in Hellingly, Rob, 26, and James, 24, set up Arrowtown in December 2020 after Rob returned from travelling in New Zealand where he tried a hard seltzer – an alcoholic highball made with water and fruit or fruit flavourings.
‘It was light and easy to drink, so I wondered why it wasn’t really a thing back in the UK,’ says Rob.
The young brothers began researching and discovered that the hard seltzer category, which is forecast to reach £600 million by 2025, was already a billion-dollar industry in the US, but had only just begun to emerge in Britain.
The brothers had just graduated and had no experience within the alcohol category, but they didn’t let that put them off.
‘We were both due to start graduate schemes in London, but pulled out a few months prior to starting in order to launch Arrowtown, much to the dismay of our parents,’ admits Rob.
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After 12 months of trials, they launched their seltzers, which are 5% ABV, contain just 35 calories per 100ml and cost £2.33 per 330ml can.
They also partnered with African wildlife conservation charity Tusk Trust, and Sea Shepherd, which works to protect and conserve the world’s oceans and marine wildlife, to give their brand social purpose.
‘We liked the idea that consumers could make a genuine difference by doing something as simple as changing their drink, hence our slogan; “do your bit with every sip,’ Rob explains.
Arrowtown, named after the New Zealand village where Rob first tried a hard seltzer, is now available across the country. But, Rob admits, it was initially a struggle to get people to take him and his brother seriously because of their age.
‘Thankfully, we persevered even when we faced tough challenges,’ he adds. ‘And the local Sussex community has been fundamental to helping us establish ourselves in the market.
THE GARDEN SHED BREWERS
Chester Broad, Jamie Newton, Peter Mayhew, all 26, Three Acre, Blue Boys
As children, growing up just outside Uckfield, school friends Chester Broad, Jamie Newton, Peter Mayhew were inseparable, spending their time playing cricket, building treehouses and, as teenagers, homebrewing in one of their parent’s garden sheds.
Despite all heading off to different universities, when they returned home, they would gather in that same shed, and continue experimenting with their homebrewed creations, inspired by the traditional cask ales, such as Harvey’s Sussex Best Bitter.
‘We’re proud to say that we don’t think we ever brewed anything undrinkable but, as our homebrewed beers improved, we struck gold with our no.8 IPA,’ explains Chester. ‘It’s a smooth blend of tropical, mango-ey hops, atop a more traditional, malty base of grain. When we tasted it, we knew we were onto something, and we decided to open a brewery.’
The trio, now all 26, launched Three Acres Brewery at The Blackboys Inn Beer Festival, in 2018, naming it after the fields between their childhood homes where they played as youngsters.
Having survived the pandemic by delivering cartons of beer filled straight from casks in the brewery to people in their local area, Three Acres continues to grow, upscaling its tanks and increasing the size of its team.
‘Our motto is 'modernising the traditional', with an aim to reimagine the future of cask beer,’ explains Chester, adding that people are often surprised when they find out the young friends are the co-founders.
The trio, who won the BITE Sussex Rising Stars Drinks Award in 2021, now have over 10 beers in their portfolio, which they distribute across the South East and beyond, picking up awards on the way including, last month, a Gold SIBA Award for their Blood Orange Pale.
‘We're completely self-taught, both in brewing and in business, but we’re already winning awards,’ Chester smiles.
And, while the garden shed has returned to its original purpose, storing garden tools, the original homebrew kit is still alive and well. ‘We still use it to trial new test recipes, before putting them through our big commercial kit,’ admits Chester.
‘We've also just converted a horsebox into a mobile bar so we're looking forward to rolling that out to events, festivals and parties this summer.’
SUSSEX'S YOUNGEST VINEYARD OWNERS
Joe Beckett, 29 and Rebecca Dancer, 28, Kinsbrook, Thakeham
On their vineyard just outside Thakeham, in West Sussex, Joe Beckett and Rebecca Dancer have a clear vision – to create an inclusive and sustainable lifestyle culture centred around wine, feel-good food and hospitality.
When Joe, 29, planted 20,000 vines on his third-generation family farmland back in 2017 at the age of just 24, he was the youngest vineyard owner in the country. Almost six years on and the couple are some of the most progressive wine producers in England.
Influenced by neighbouring industry leaders such as Nyetimber, they initially began making sparkling wines but have recently switched their focus to still wines, working in conjunction with winemaker Tom Bartlett of Stopham Vineyard in nearby Pulborough.
‘You can make all the plans you want, but it’s most likely the grapes will decide the kind of wine you end up making,’ explains Joe, adding that the unpredictable English weather has such an effect on grape yields and UK winemakers have to be prepared to be flexible in order to make money.
'We began focusing on still wines in 2021 and it’s been an interesting process deducing which grapes to allocate to which wines,’ adds Joe, whose latest still wine release, ‘21’, has won several awards including being named wine expert Matthew Jukes’ top still white wine out of 100 English wines. ‘This year we will be making red wine for the first time as well as a blend and a couple of very different wines which will be a departure from anything we’ve released before.’
In 2022 the pair opened Kinsbrook Farmhouse, a farm shop with deli and butcher counter and upstairs restaurant offering seasonal dishes with views across the vines. While the essence of the brand is their wine, the couple wanted to create somewhere that they could welcome visitors and celebrate other local producers. ‘It’s important that Kinsbrook Farmhouse doesn’t feel like a commercial building,’ says Rebecca, ‘but rather that we’re welcoming guests into our home.’
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THE FROZEN COCKTAIL SORBET MAKER
27, Miall’s Cocktail Sorbets, Lindfield
The genesis of Miall’s Cocktail Sorbet started in 2017, when Hannah Miall was just 22, working on a supermarket checkout with no idea what she wanted to do as a career.
A fan of iced desserts from a young age – ‘When I was young my mum would give me ice cubes made from delicious juices, which is one of my favourite childhood memories,’ she says – Hannah’s tastes developed to a love of alcoholic sorbets, but she found they were never punchy enough in terms of alcohol content.
‘I bought a mojito ice lolly which I loved but it only contained 0.4% rum,’ she says. ‘It got me thinking about creating cocktail sorbets with a proper alcohol content.’
She bought an ice cream machine and got to work creating recipes, trialling her alcoholic sorbets on friends and family.
By the following summer, once her family home in Lindfield had got its’ alcohol licence, she started selling her three flavoured sorbets, Gin & Tonic, Mojito and Raspberry Prosecco, which boast an abv of 4.2% and contain local, natural, vegan-friendly ingredients, at small markets in the county.
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But it wasn’t until 2019 that the business really gained momentum. ‘Initially sales came predominantly from our online shop but we began attending events such as Cuckfield Local Market, Lindfield Pop-Up Shop at The Stand-Up and Sussex Gin & Fizz Festival in Lewes, with our cocktail sorbet bar,’ Hannah explains. ‘And last summer, we had the amazing opportunity to supply the EE VIP tent at Glastonbury, where celebs such as Laura Whitmore and Jack Whitehall tried the sorbets.’
Since then Hannah has been working hard, ploughing all the money back into the business and buying industrial ice cream machines and more freezers to keep up with demand.
She’s developed more flavours and adapted others to incorporate more localised ingredients, such as the Gin & Tonic sorbet, which is now called Lemon Gin and uses Generation 11’s Sussex Dry gin. She is also working with Bluebell Vineyard in Furner’s Green near Uckfield, to create a sorbet championing their wines.
‘I’m still learning,’ Hannah admits. ‘Just last week I discovered a whole new ingredient and have managed to reduce the sugar content in our sorbets by 26 per cent.
‘It’s been a challenging journey but I now can’t imagine myself doing anything else.’
Young Talent is vital
Nick Mosley, co-director or BITE Sussex, which hosts the annual BITE Sussex Rising Stars Awards, says it’s important to recognise the talent of the county’s younger drinks entrepreneurs. ‘We tend to hear more about young talent in the food industry – particularly chefs – than those in the production of wines, beers, spirits and other categories,’ he says. ‘It’s not that the skills are not there in young people but typically they’re hidden behind either the brand or named winemakers and master distillers who naturally take the credit. So for young people to take entrepreneurial leaps in their own right – even in their early twenties when many still don’t have a career in mind – is to be celebrated and supported.’
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