Duration Brewery, West Norfolk
Back in the summer (where did it go by the way?!) we headed down to Norfolk for our first East Anglian holiday together, it was such a beautiful part of the country and I will be writing up the week shortly, in the meantime we have this beauty to get your teeth into…
We contacted the lovely Miranda at Duration Brewing to see if they were free for a catch up and if we could get a sneak peak into the highly anticipated farmhouse brewery and taproom nestled in the Norfolk countryside. WOW, the space is cavernous, bare and not without its issues, the epic crack at the end of the barn that was being supported by scaffolding, along with the fact its a grade ll* listed building, in addition to being part of a scheduled monument and its main water source a protected chalk river, well on paper it sounds crazy. However when you arrive onto the property, surrounded by uninhibited views of the countryside, the quiet murmur of the river a short distance away, and the dramatic scale of the barn you can see why they chose this spot. After showing us the river and introducing us to Alec Birkbeck the owner of the West Acre Estate, we clambered around the scaffolding to get a better view of the barn as Miranda animatedly explained how the crack in the listed building was being embraced and how visitors would experience the site, we were itching to get inside the barn and it did not disappoint. Bates walked us around and explained in great detail their vision for the main barn space and the taproom, leading us back outside to show us where the barrel ageing and the koelschip would be located, they even plan to use an old furnace as a smoker.
The passion these two share is infectious and their vision for the site is incredible, with the build commencing this week I imagine it won’t always be a smooth ride but you can tell that it’s going to be worth it. We can’t wait to get back down and see where this great pair are at next summer. Oh and maybe coincide it with the West Acre Village Fete that happens in June for some tasty brews and a bit of welly wanging!
Follow along with the Duration journey over at https://durationbeer.com
