Our Story
We started in 2008 with a simple aim: brew beer people actually want to drink, and keep control of how it is made. In 2018 we moved to Aldhurst Farm in Capel so we could brew more without changing that. The farm is part of how we work now. Our spent grain goes a few metres up the track to feed the cows.
Being independent means we answer to the people drinking the beer, not to a parent company. We would rather sell a case straight to someone who will enjoy it than chase volume for its own sake. That is why we put the work into the website, the taproom and the pubs: they are where we meet the people we brew for.
Our Brewers
Tom Wells, Head Brewer
Tom has been with Dorking Brewery for over five years and stepped up to head brewer. He has brewed Harvest Time, 1886 Dark Mild and West Street Lager, among others. His own favourite to brew and to drink is Freedom Trail, our hazy pale, which you will find in all our pubs, the taproom and online.
Jeremy 'Jez' Matthews, Production Brewer
Jez joined us in July 2025 and is already a core part of the team. He came to us with experience from several other breweries, and he puts it to use across the range.
How We Brew
We brew on Aldhurst Farm using the same approach across the range: traditional methods where they matter, modern techniques where they earn their place.
We brew in batches, taste at every stage, and hold each beer consistent from one batch to the next. The beers that come out of it are the ones we are happy to put our name to in our own pubs.
Our Surrey Connection
Capel sits at the foot of the North Downs, a few miles south of Dorking. We are a Surrey brewery in the literal sense: brewed on a working Surrey farm, poured in three Surrey pubs, and sent out from here. The spent-grain arrangement with the farm, the local trade, the taproom regulars. The brewery is part of where it sits.