A MICROBREWERY and taphouse is opening in Christchurch soon and will serve beers themed on the local area.

Neil Hodgkinson and James Lewis, who live in Tuckton, decided to turn their passion for pale ale and porter into a business venture.

They plan to open Drop the Anchor Brewery, based at Christchurch Emporium, in the next six weeks.

As well as catering for local businesses, the microbrewery will be open during manufacturing hours to members of the public.

Three beers will be brewed named The Priest Hole Porter, Tucktonia Pale, and Iron Dogger IPA.

Neil said each beer would be hand-crafted in small cask batches.

“The beer process takes five weeks – one day brewing, seven days fermenting, and three to four weeks ripening,” he explained.

“This venture is quite overwhelming but exciting,” he continued. “It’s gone from kitchen to microbrewery as I stated home brewing around two or three years ago as a hobby. A friend and I did a mini-beerfest with the beer we made and someone said ‘you should sell it’. So I thought, ‘why not?’

“I’m the main brewer and my business partner, James, deals with the marketing and financial side of things.

“It took us a while to find the right premises, but luckily for us Christchurch Emporium said we could take over upstairs.

“We’ve got all the kit in now, and we hope to start brewing in the next couple of weeks.”

Neil and James, who have swapped their IT careers to open the microbrewery, plan to work with local businesses in Christchurch Emporium, which Neil envisions as a “big street market”.

“It’s going to be an amazing place. Our plan is to open during brewing hours so people can come in and taste and buy the beer. There will also be a mini-bar, and we’re hoping to do brewery days so people can see how the beer is made.”

Neil added they had already received “a lot of interest” from micropubs in the area.

The pair also plan to run a competition inviting people to ‘create a beer flavour’.

Follow the microbrewery’s progress at droptheanchorbrewery.co.uk.