Warwick family-run brewery celebrates success

The Reynolds family created their brewery in 2012 when they decided to transform a hobby into a business.

Before becoming a brewery, Church Farm was a dairy farm run by Joanne and Andrew Reynolds. Mrs Reynolds said: “There is a pressure on farming and you are constantly looking at supply increase. Milk prices were low and we were looking for another source of income as many farmers are.

“The brewing started as a hobby of my husband and my son and they were quite good at it. It grew from there.

“Farming is really hard work - you have to milk the cows twice a day seven days a week including days like Christmas and bank holidays. As farmers get older it is not something you look forward to and when brewing beer you do not have to do it twice a day seven days a week.”

After taking the leap the Reynolds family all joined in to bring the brewery to life.

Mrs Reynolds said: “The business gives us time to be a family and we are all involved. My husband brews the beer, my oldest son creates recipes and has a financial background, which he uses, I am the customer face and I do sales and my youngest son helps with marketing and branding. It is such a great business to be in.”

Last year the brewery applied for grant funding from Warwickshire County Council and were awarded £25,000, which went towards investing in new equipment and the new brewhouse.

The Reynolds family are hoping to venture into the export market and are looking into owning a pub, which would sell their products.

Church Farm Brewery, which currently supplies 53 business, was shortlisted in the ‘Diversification Innovator of the Year’ category for small and medium farms in the national British Farming awards and was announced as the winner last week.

Mrs Reynolds said: “It is the first award we have ever won and for it to be a national award and a respected award in farming was a real surprise. This is such a big award which is brilliant and validates what we do.”