Tongham, Surrey-based Hogs Back Brewery has kicked-off a major expansion programme.

This has started with the arrival of an 80-barrel and two 120-barrel dual purpose vessels. There is also scope for a further four 120-barrel vessels, as well as a new boiler and chilling system for the brewery.

The new vessels will be used to ferment and mature its ‘Hogstar’ English Craft Lager to cater for growing demand while also providing extra capacity for the brewery’s new keg beer, ‘London’s Outback’.

The company will also be building a new hop store and racking building, as well as installing a keg racker and sterile filtration equipment.

Hogs Back will also be constructing a second warehouse beside the existing listed barn that will offer space for a new visitors’ centre.

In addition, the brewery has taken on two new assistant brewers with additional marketing and sales staff expected on board.

Hogs Back owner Rupert Thompson explained: “Hogstar is an authentic lager which is matured for a minimum of 28 days in order to give the beer its combination of depth of flavour and refreshment. With sales of Hogstar growing in bottles, cans and kegs we needed increased maturation capacity and to free up fermentation space for our bestseller,TEA.

“The successful launch of London’s Outback has also created a need for increased kegging capacity, and the filtration plant will allow us to do small runs of cans on site.

“Our biggest challenge is adding capacity on our existing small site. There were one or two sharp intakes of breath as the new vessels were moved into place, but our location in Tongham is an integral part of our identity.

“This is where we grow our hops and brew our beer, and it’s well worth the time and investment needed to expand on our existing site, in order to retain our place at the heart of the local Surrey community.”