When Bowness Bay Brewing founder Richard Husbands left a career as an armed response officer to build on his love of homebrewing in a bid to go professional, it was a decision that was met with, let’s say, mixed reactions. But seven years on, with a brand new four vessel brewhouse just installed, Husbands’ move was vindicated and he’s ready to press on with his next plans for the business.
Some eight miles separate the eastern side of Windermere and Kendal, a market village and civil parish in the South Lakeland District of Cumbria,
The former, a large lake in Cumbria’s Lake District National Park, is a thing of natural beauty surrounded by mountain peaks and villages, which include Bowness-on-Windermere.
Here you’ll find Bowness Bay. A modest, though only in size, bay, that attracts tourists and locals alike thanks to its marina, boat tours and views of Belle Isle.
Though if you head east from the bay, continuing your journey upon entering Kendal, you’ll soon find Bowness Bay Brewing. Ok, assuming you’re not familiar with the location, you’ll probably need the following assistance too:
LA9 7DE
54.3257° N, 2.7432° W
Kendal has been home to Richard Husbands and his team at Bowness Bay Brewing since 2015.
Like many breweries before them, and soon to follow, growth and the need to expand forced their proverbial hand, and a move from Windermere made sense for all parties. It is only 10 miles, give or take, from the bay said brewery is inspired by, after all.
Brewing was not always in Husbands’ blood, however. He got his kicks in different way. Nearly a decade working on respected publication Motorcycle News was a suitable home for someone with a passion for two wheels.
But where do you go when you want a new challenge? You become an Armed Response Officer for Police Scotland, of course. And it was around this time when Husbands began to dabble in making his own brews.
“Working six days on, you’d get four days off, so I used that time to start making by own beer,” he recalls. “These would be well received and before long, someone told me I should buy a microbrewery.”
So off he went. Scouring the classifieds brought Husbands to kit from the now defunct Northcote Brewery in Norfolk. Some parts of the 4.5 barrel setup were rudimentary, at best, but they had done the job for Northcote and they’d soon do the job for Bowness Bay Brewing.
Husbands would have to put those days off work to effective use. But life would find a way, as it often does at breweries in their formative years.
“I ended up with kit that featured two tanks welded into one, a number of grundy tanks, and a load of casks. But it came at a fair price and with lots of good will,” he says.
Brewing in Windermere was up and running by 2012. The small hurdle of sourcing a suitable premises was navigated with ease, culminating in the move into a farm building that was modern in the build but in need of some TLC. Husbands tended to that, sorting utilities, and brewing commenced in June 2012.
Seeing brewing command Husbands’ undivided attention, colleagues at Police Scotland were both bemused and somewhat jealous in equal measure. Surprised he wanted to try another career, but acknowledging of the way it made him happy.
“When it can to fully leaving the profession, my wife Kim was….sceptical, but she was supportive nonetheless,” he says. “She saw the way the brewery was growing, that people enjoyed the beers I was making, and that there was potential for it to be something bigger.”
So upon leaving Police Scotland in late 2014, it was time for another move, too. The 5m x 15m unit in Windermere was no longer fit for purpose. The days of transporting 1000l IBCs of water to the brewing for boiling and brewing with were over. They had to be.
But it would swiftly become evident that Windermere was unable to offer the type of facility, and room for growth, that Bowness Bay Brewing wanted. Husbands didn’t just want somewhere for today, but for years to come. And with that, Kendal came calling.
Since a move to Castle Mills, Husbands has hit the accelerator on his brewing operation. The company has just become the first brewery to take delivery of a 4 vessel 25HL Brewbloc brewhouse from SSV Limited, offering the company the flexibility it required to brew a wealth of different beers, or higher volumes of its flagship, Swan Blonde.
The beer is a 4% number that features light malts, Pioneer, Aurora and Citra hops. Other beers in its core range include Swan Black, a 4.6% Black IPA, 3.8% Swift Best, the 5% Tern IPA and Amazon Amber.
The investment in the new brewhouse has been complemented by a spend on other kit including new FVs and a kegging machine.
Funding from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development of £60,000 enabled the brewery to buy six state-of-the-art 5000 litre FVs that increase capacity by four-fold. In addition, the funding saw Bowness Bay Brewing acquiring a new fully automatic keg machine from Brewology, which will help increase output to over 1000 kegs per month and new sterile filter equipment.
Husbands explains: “When we set out, we wanted to ensure that anything we produced was of high quality and had a consistent taste – it’s not ground breaking but it’s common sense. It’s a mantra that has paid dividends because we’ve developed an enviable reputation for brewing great quality beer.
“What this has resulted in is a significant increase in demand for our core range, and to ensure this level of quality is maintained we needed new equipment. Our new fermenters will enhance production, but the high specification keg machine will create so many new opportunities for us as a business. It’ll increase productivity and enhance quality control as it will filter and carbonate beer.
“It also means we can now keg anything from steel to plastic and therefore our beers will be available in more formats to meet consumer demands. Historically we’ve outsourced kegging which added time and costs, so these will now be reduced to a minimum.
“It also means we don’t need undertake frequent and lengthy journeys to deliver and then collect kegged beer from the contract kegging company, which again will help reduce costs but has important environmental benefits too.”
Having undertaken the funding project, Husbands has some words of advice for others that may want to take advantage.
“We were always aware of the funding, but it is something of a minefield,” he says. “When you’re running a business, the idea of all of the hoops to jump through can easily put you off.”
He adds: “Knowing what I do now, using a specialist makes life a lot easier. There’s a lot of bureaucracy and leaning on an expert was a great help.
“We’re extremely grateful for the funding as it will also enable us to look at the brewery’s estate and how we can best use that. We’re now putting finishing touches to our new Tap House but safe to say we have some very exciting plans for the brewery, not solely as a place which produces great beer but as a destination venue too.”
Going forward, Husbands expects the company’s keg offering to grow but he’s clear in his commitment to cask. And when it comes to beer styles, he’s firm in his desire to stick to the company’s popular core.
It’s these beers that will be front and centre at the company’s new taproom when it opens this year.
“When we moved to this site, we were one building of many in this courtyard. We now account for all of those. We’ve been fortunate, in that respect, and we’re going to put our all into it,” he explains. “It’s been a fun journey but it’s a lot of work, too. There’s only so many plates I can spin at once, and I don’t want to drop any of them.”
