About Kettlesmith
Kettlesmith Brewing was founded 3 years ago and is owned by husband and wife, Antony and Caroline Field. Antony is the Head Brewer and is supported by one full time assistant brewer (Gez), one part time assistant brewer (Andy) and our part time head of sales, Evan. Given the small, local nature of the business, family members tend to get roped in - especially for events such as local markets or beer festivals. Antony's dad is a familiar face around the brewery, helping with DIY projects as well as bottle labelling (and sampling!).
The brewery prides itself on producing high quality, well-balanced and delicious ales. We provide a variety of styles, flavours and alcohol levels. We are passionate about beer education and provide beer tours, beer styles and food pairing courses. Our mission is to elevate beer to be an accepted equivalent to wine.
Awards
We are proud to have been voted 'Best Food or Drink producer' for three years running in the Bradford on Avon business awards.
In addition we have picked up a string of awards at SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) beer competitions over the last 3 years. The have been for beer in bottle, cask and keg formats and have included a gold for Ridgeline last year and a gold for Timeline this year. We are in the national finals with Timeline to be held next March.
Brewery Growth
The Brewery has grown 50% each year since it began and we are looking to double this next year so that we can make the business sustainable for the future. Our strategy is to increase direct sales to our customers by installing a tap room at the brewery and also to engage with more wholesalers to distribute our beer further afield. We also need to increase the efficiency of our beer production process, particularly around bottling and labelling. We currently do this manually and it takes a lot of time!
To achieve these goals we need to raise funding for installing the taproom and equipment at the brewery, renting additional space for storage (so we have space for the taproom), purchase a new fermenter and a new bottling/labelling system.
This has been a long dream in the making and we need to increase our sales and efficiency to make sure this is a sustainable business for the family and employees and we thank you for your support in this endeavour!
History
Antony began brewing over 20 years ago as a student using kits bought in Boots. After moving to London in the mid 90s he began ‘all grain’ brewing which follows the steps used in commercial breweries but at a smaller scale. When he and Caroline moved to California in 2002 he bought a ‘pilot brewery’ – a 10 gallon set up used in commercial breweries to develop new recipes.
He brewed on that right up to the point he opened Kettlesmith in 2016. He still uses this system to create and refine our line up of beers before going into production.
Whilst in California, Antony studied Brewing and Packaging at UC Davis and then did a number of courses at the Siebel Institute in Chicago including: "Starting your own brewery", Beer and food pairing and Beer Styles.
He is a certified "Ciccerone" - the US equivalent of a beer sommelier and is passionate about elevating the position of beer as a viable alternative to wine. He enjoys beer and food pairing and teaching people about the vast variety of beer styles from around the world.
Caroline and Antony moved to Bradford-on-Avon in 2013 and opened Kettlesmith, just 10 miles from where they grew up in Corsham. The beer is heavily influenced by their time in California, but also from their love of Belgian beer. Antony is passionate about producing high quality beers and continuously seeks to learn and innovate.