Canterbury Brewers & Distillers is a bar, restaurant, brewery, and distillery based on a single site in Canterbury. The business is run by partners Jon and Jodie Mills.
They produce over 14 craft beers and ciders, as well as a large spirit range, including rum, gin, and vodka. They have also recently embarked on distilling whiskey, for which they are receiving international recognition. In March 2024, they took home four top awards from the World Whiskies Awards for their single malt whiskeys.
Topping off a successful March, Jodie was also awarded the Kent Women in Business Awards 2024 for the Growth Award category. In March 2023, Growing Kent & Medway launched the first round of the Business Sustainability Challenge. The grant was available to local businesses that had an idea to make their production more sustainable or create circular economies in the food and drink sector.
The grant funding is being used by Canterbury Brewers and Distillers to test whether mushrooms can be grown entirely from the by-products of whiskey production. Mushrooms need the material they are grown in to be pasteurised at high temperature, which uses energy and is expensive to do. During the distillation process, the grain, known as mash, is incidentally pasteurised. Using the mash as the substrate, or growing material for mushrooms, should remove the need for a separate pasteurisation process. The mushrooms also require a certain amount of carbon dioxide, and of course, water and heat, to grow – all of which they have available at the brewery.
Read more at growingkentandmedway.com