A brewer based in a Watford garden has used grant funding to refurbish his shed into a full brewery.
Peter Hodge, 30, started Bowtie Brewers in his garden, initially using brewing kits before moving on to all-grain brewing and launching commercially.
He brought his beer to St Albans Beer Festival in 2018 and Watford Beer festival in 2019, before focussing on selling bottles to local outlets during the pandemic.
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After signing on to the Young Entrepreneurs Grant Scheme, run by the University of Hertfordshire and Watford Borough Council, Bowtie Brewers has been able to secure grant funding and turn the ‘BrewShed’ into a full 150-litre brewing system this year.
Peter, who splits his time between brewing and work at the Chiltern Open Air Museum, said: “I started brewing in 2016 when a work colleague bought a beer kit and suggested I should too.
“I realised I really enjoyed it.
“A friend pestered me to go commercial, I suppose they thought the beers were good enough.”
Peter became the Bowtie Brewer because his normal ties kept dipping into the beer, making a bow tie a necessary replacement, a commenter on Peter’s Youtube channel called him the ‘bow tie brewer’ and the name stuck.
He joined the Watford Young Entrepreneurs Programme, which grants up to £5,000 in funding for businesses run by 18–35-year-olds, as well as offering a bootcamp and mentoring.
Peter added: “It was good to meet other new start-up businesses and learn what problems they had and how they overcame them.
“The mentor training was particularly useful in narrowing down what you learned on the course to specifics relating to the business itself, very tailored and concise.
“I got £3,000 from the grant, which I used for the shed refurbishment, it cost around £6,000-£7,000 so the grant halved my costs.”
After completing the refurbishment, which more than tripled the size of his brewing system, he is planning to take his business to the next level with more beer and events next year.
This year, a Bowtie Brewers stall will be up at Watford Market’s Halloween event and traditional Christmas weekend.
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