On the map: Salisbury

Today, the operation produces some 750,000 pints a year – the Grounds For Divorce DIPA and Laser Bird sour are marvellous things – and employ 18 staff. Last September, they took on a historic city centre(ish) pub which now has 14 taps, a large vinyl collection and, er… two names. “The Railway Inn was its official name but everyone called it the Dust Hole,” explains Sarah. “So, the old owners registered both and put up a hanging sign with one on each side.”

The couple liked the quirkiness so much they’ve kept it. “It’s unique,” says Sarah. “Like our beer.”

There’s a uniqueness, too, to the story of Stone Daisy Brewery, based in a mediaeval barn 20 minutes away in the village of Fonthill Bishop.

Eddie Large had been running his own brewery here, Keystone, for almost 20 years when, in 2020, he was approached by Alistair Munro and Jon Carson, two marketing professionals who dreamed of founding a whisky distillery.

“They had no experience and no real knowledge of distilleries,” laughs Eddie today. “It was an ambition in the way that ‘let’s own a Scottish castle’ might be an ambition for some people.”

Except, together, the trio made it happen.

Keystone had struggled during the pandemic so Eddie joined the pair on the condition there would be a new brewery too. Thus began the life of both Stone Daisy and Witchmark Distillery. “There’s more similarities between making whisky and beer than most people realise,” he says. “For both, it’s 80% cleaning!”

The truly special thing here is that the barley comes from surrounding farmland while the water is sourced from their own borehole. “We pull it up from 130 feet underground,” says Eddie. “It’s filtered through 40 feet of chalk so you know it’s good.”

Certainly, the Snail Creep Hanging bitter and the Park Bottom IPA – both named after local landmarks – burst with a freshness that may explain the raft of awards they’ve won. “It’s truly grain to glass,” says Eddie. “People try it once and keep coming back.”

Speaking of repeat custom: Hop Back Brewery.

This is undoubtedly the elder statesperson of the Salisbury scene. Founded in 1986 by London escapee John Gilbert, the family-owned operation has expanded from its original home at the city centre’s Wyndham Arms to a specialist unit on the Downton Industrial Estate. Among its most loved beers are the Crop Circle pale and the Summer Lightning golden ale, both of which were first brewed by John 40 years ago and are still the outfit’s most popular offerings. “It’s got a huge, loyal following,” says sales director Ian Jeffs. “People round here have grown up drinking it so there’s real affection.”

Today, Hop Back beers are served in every good pub in the city, and there’s plenty of those: from the family-run Coach and Arms to Sips, a bottle shop opened in 2022 and which owner Jacob Price says has one overriding aim: “For people to enter with the wonder and excitement that Charlie did in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” 

Yet it all perhaps begs a question. Why has Salisbury become such a small-scale centre of brewing? Gosh, is it anything to do with those mystical lay lines around Stonehenge?

Ian doesn’t think so. “It’s a city with tourists and people looking for quality,” he says. “I think we’re all just answering that demand.”