BARELY a year after turning his home brewing hobby into a business, Steve Farrell has seen his beer winning awards – and a glass of it found its way into the hands of the prime minister.

Eight Arch Brewing Company takes its name from the arches of Julian’s Bridge in Wimborne, a short distance from the company’s base. Steve set it up after his family closed their business, the Poole transport company Farsons.

“I kind of thought I would take over from my father running the transport company, but I had been bitten by the brewing bug,” he said,“It’s quite a big investment to do it.

“With the transport company going, it gave me the opportunity, funding-wise.”

Farsons had been a successful business with up to 12 trucks, but it was heavily reliant on a contract with one major company, which it had served well through “chaotic” Christmas periods, Mr Farrell said.

“They started to move all their distribution to the Midlands. That was 95 per cent of our work. Knowing business a bit better now, you should never put all your eggs in one basket,” he says.

“My dad had a stroke and we decided, us and Mum, just to go our separate ways. My dad started the company in 1993 and it’s a bid sad it had to go but looking back, I think it was the right thing.

“As soon as I knew the transport company was coming to an end, I quickly set my sites on this. I had to be in Wimborne. I’m from Wimborne, I grew up here.”

Steve, 32, took a site at Stone Lane Industrial Estate, where he brews around 4,200 pints every fortnight. The company’s core beers are Parabolic, Bowstring, Corbel, Quarterjack, supplemented by a host of seasonal and special ales such as the current Spring Saison.

Steve runs pretty much the whole business himself, with one helper and his wife Ellie doing some of the sales.

He delivers the beer to various local outlets. He also pulls the pints at the brewery’s tap room, which is open from 4-8pm every Friday.

“There will come a time when I have go get someone to do the delivery but I’m going to do it myself for as long as possible because the customers like seeing me. I like to have a chat with the customers,” he says.

Not long after the business was launched, David Cameron sampled its beer on a visit to Dorset at the start of last year’s general election campaign.

The opportunity was organised by Michael Tomlinson, who became the area’s MP and arranged for Steve’s Bowstring bitter to be stocked in the House of Commons Strangers’ Bar. Steve went to Parliament to pull pints of it himself.

Several of Eight Arch’s beers have earned awards: Parabolic was named Beer of the Festival at CAMRA Dorchester Beerex this year, while its fellow pale ale Corbel was named gold winner by the independent brewers’ association SIBA in the south west.

Steve does a lot of research and tries a lot of beers as he prepares his own. “If you’ve got an open mind to try a new beer, your options are endless,” he says.

Steve says he is around as much as he can be for his six-year-old son George and 10-month-old daughter Neve. He is pleased his wife, Ellie, supported him in the venture.“She said to me: ‘If you don’t do this and you get to 40 and haven’t done it, will you regret not giving it a go?’ She said, ‘Let’s do it, then’.”

CONTACT ME:

t: 01305 830999

e: newsdesk@dorsetecho.co.uk

twitter: @DorsetEcho