In 2015, multi awarding-winning brewer and publican Olly Bainbridge launched a brand new brewery in Exmouth in 2016.

With the beer initially produced through “cuckoo” brewing (using spare capacity in an existing brewery). This was the first step towards opening a part-crowdfunded 6 barrel brewery in The Grapevine’s old stables in Exmouth town centre in 2015.

Crossed Anchors Brewing launched their first finely crafted beers at The Grapevine’s 2015 Beer Festival. They were met with instant success and fast formed a notoriety that has found both local and non-local beer fans eagerly seeking and sampling every new batch with increased enthusiasm.

“The science of the process is fascinating,” says Olly Bainbridge, who has seen his brewery grow from strength to strength. “It’s exciting to come up with new recipes and to be pleased with the finished result. To hear how well our beers are received just adds to the pleasure of brewing it.”

Since its infancy Olly has been very clear that quality and integrity are key to brewing and has taken complete control for the whole process.  Our apprentice brewer Connor ‘Milky’ Hawkins is now our head brewer ably assisted by Martin Slim Richardson.  “The future is exciting for me,” says Olly. “I look forward to developing new speciality beers as well as continuing with our proven beers.”

The team at Crossed Anchors are thrilled by the consistent popularity of their beer, meaning the have had to move the to Exeter.  After opening a tap room in Topsham and with growing sales in their Exmouth pub The Grapevine it became clear a big brewery would be needed.  The new brewery on Water Lane in Exeter is open for drink on the weekends and is a fantastic edition to the growing Exeter beer scene.   

Moving on, Olly looks forward to the prospect of creating limited edition beers and experimenting with the wealth of flavours he can produce. Look out for our Crossed Anchors beers in pubs and farm shops near you and let us know what you think of our fantastic ales.