A Penton brewer has featured on a podcast where he discussed his journey into the beer industry by transforming a country estate.

Guy Rolfe is the owner of Penton Park Brewery, which makes beers such as the Hastings, Penton Porter and William Henry Green from the eponymous estate. Since opening the brewery in 2017, Guy has won a number of awards for his work and expanded his offering.

During his appearance on the Pour Some More – The Journey podcast, he also discussed his work with adults with learning disabilities, and involving them in the brewing process.

Guy, the former owner of a building company, said that he never considered becoming a brewer when he was younger.

“When I was very young indeed, I never really gave a thought about becoming a brewer,” he said. “I just went out with lads and my friends on a Friday and had a few beers.”

However, after becoming dissatisfied with his work in the building trade, he ended up moving to Penton, where the seeds of his brewing empire were sown.

“I wanted to change my career into something that didn’t necessarily revolve around earning tonnes of money,” he said, “but actually revolved around me having a nice day and enjoying what I did.”

The father of three moved to Penton in 2009, where, following his marriage to his wife Danielle, he decided to set up a weddings business. As part of this, he ended up buying a lot of beer locally, and became interested in having a go himself.

“I didn’t really understand the brewing process at that time so I bought a home brewing kit and started brewing,” he said. “My first six months of attempts came out like vinegar, absolutely horrible, but I persevered. It was vinegar with alcohol so I was quite happy.”

With beer kits not proving successful, he instead decided to move into brewing from full grains, which allowed him to rely more on his own skills. He said that his dislike of bitter made him gravitate towards more fruity beers, which soon proved popular at the weddings he ran.

While working with a group of friends, Guy produced a beer called the Penton Porter, which would subsequently become a firm favourite of the range. The first clues to its popularity came when strangers got in touch to enquire about buying it.

“We just started to get opinions from other people on it,” he said, “and we started to get people we’d never met before saying they’d heard about the Porter and wanted to know where to get it from.”

The beer soon made it into Leckford Farm Shop, and won the top prize at the Overton Beer Festival in the company’s first time entering. When Guy applied to construct brewing equipment at Penton Park in 2017, he said he even had letters of support sent to planning officials mentioning Penton Porter.

The brewery has expanded since then, being stocked in various pubs across Andover and further afield, while also providing house ales to pubs such as the White Horse in Thruxton. However, Guy is also keen to ensure the brewery remains true to its local roots, providing services for the people of Test Valley.

He said: “The brewery is special as we have people from James’ Place, a place for people with Aspergers and learning disabilities, as they come down to the brewery and help me brew. It’s a great day, it’s an absolute laugh.

“It’s giving people the opportunity to experience work they wouldn’t get to normally.”

Neil and Jared, the hosts of the podcast, were particularly complimentary of the work of some of the people helped at James’ Place, who brewed the Hastings beer they were sampling on the show, calling it “fantastic.”

To find out more about Pour Some More, visit: https://poursomemore.com/