Farr Brew Ltd

About the company

Founded in 2014 Farr Brew is the brainchild of Nick Farr, a man with an enthusiasm for top-quality ale who started his brewing journey in 1999. He was soon joined by long-term friend Matt Elvidge who brings his experience from years of working in the creative and sales industries to the role of Sales Director.

Farr Brew was founded on the principles of creating great tasting real ales brewed with craft and a commitment to quality. This vision has seen our beers stocked in a great and growing range of top-quality beer shops and brilliant pubs. We also regularly attend events across Hertfordshire selling our wares and offering free samples to quench the thirsts of the masses all served up by ‘The Best Bar Staff, by Farr’.

2015 was a busy year for Farr Brew; we supplied beer to the St Albans Beer Festival and CAMRA’s AGM. Our ‘Most Potent Porter, by Farr’ was chosen by acclaimed beer writer Roger Protz to be featured in a private tasting event. We went on to be runners up in the Hertfordshire Beer of the Year competition.

Buoyed by this success, and through a combination of crowdfunding and private investment, funds were raised to move to a 1722sqft facility in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire. The site was extensively refurbished to include a 10 barrel brewery (that’s a whopping 2885 pints per brew), taproom and bottleshop.

The microbrewery represented a new chapter in the Farr Brew story and has become a hub for beer enthusiasts from across the county, the country and indeed the world. With frequent brewery tours, beer tasting evenings, summer bar-b-ques (or should that be Farr-b-ques?) and open brewing days, customers have been able to see more of Farr Brew in action than ever and are hoping to continue that way!

Covid resilience

Farr Brew employs 100 people in its four Hertfordshire pubs. At one point 40 per cent of its staff were isolating after being pinged by the government's track and trace app. The business has to react quickly and closed the Eight Bells in Hatfield for a week so that the staff could be redeployed elsewhere, while menus were reduced to four days a week.