With a passion for big, bold flavours coupled with a flair for producing excellent session-strength beers, Alex Kerr and his team at Two Flints are helping bring modern beer styles to the great and the good of Windsor, Berkshire. And they\u2019re just getting started, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes two flints to make a fire<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Where did the inspiration for your brewery name come from? For Alex Kerr, founder of Windsor, Berkshire-based Two Flints, he has his own story to tell. And drawing influence from the famous quote from Louisa May Alcott\u2019s coming-of-age novel Little Women was just the place to start.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we were planning this brewery the initial idea was to be more focused on mixed-fermentation and barrel-ageing than we probably currently are. Instead, these first two years has seen us really concentrate on hop-forward hazy pale ales and IPAs,\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd when it comes to these beers, we are extremely scientific in our approach. No stone is left unturned.\u201d<\/p>\n Kerr adds: \u201cFor us, across the spectrum of lagers, IPAs and barrel-aged beers there is an art but there is also a science to the brewing process. When these are combined they produce something greater than the sum of their parts.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd in opening this business my wife Sophie and I found out we were expecting twins so that was that \u2013 the brewery had to be called Two Flints!\u201d<\/p>\n Opening at the end of 2022, Two Flints recently marked its second anniversary brewing in Berkshire. A town that has been the home of Windsor and Eton Brewery for more than 10 years, Alex Kerr and his team would soon be joined by neighbours Indie Rabble, founded by Naomi and Dave Hayward, in 2023.<\/p>\n But before Berkshire came calling, there was Singapore and Kerr\u2019s career in insurance.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be brutally honest, I wasn\u2019t really into cask beer growing up. And when I was studying at university craft beer wasn\u2019t really a thing. But shortly after leaving I discovered the Bermondsey Beer Mile and The Kernel. They, like many others, would be my gateway to great beer,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n \u201cI was hooked. Their famous brown-label bottles and the beautiful beer they made wasn\u2019t like anything I had tasted before. Those experiences got me into the drinking side of craft beer and it snowballed, as it always does.\u201d<\/p>\n Years would pass and Kerr\u2019s work would take him into the field of insurance and that role would in turn take him to Singapore. \u201cWhile you had a few beer bars and breweries such as Brewerkz, the beer scene was pretty poor on the whole. I missed the beers from home so naturally, I decided to give home brewing a shot,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cI had always loved cooking and the creativity involved in that, so it felt like something of a natural progression. It\u2019s quite amusing, I suppose. I bought what proved to be a pricey bit of kit from the US and the elements immediately blew after I plugged it in.<\/p>\n \u201cComing from the US, the system was obviously wired different and I didn\u2019t realise. But it didn\u2019t stop me and I was fortunate to find a second-hand one on the local market. Sophie thought I was crazy but there I was, trying my hand at clones of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and getting a kick from witnessing fermentation take place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBrewing became an insane passion that I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about,\u201d Alex Kerr This early foray would lead Kerr down the well-travelled path to consuming all he could from magazines to podcasts and everything in-between, all in the confines of his basement bomb shelter, a common site in Singaporean residences.<\/p>\n \u201cHoppy beer was my passion but it became quite clear early on that to improve the quality of the hop-forward output I needed to improve the quality of my fermentation equipment,\u201d he says. \u201cSophie was fine with it as long as the bomb shelter was where it stayed. But before long the whole spot was taken up.\u201d<\/p>\n During his home brewing journey in Southeast Asia, Kerr also saw the challenges that many brewers would encounter, too. \u201cIt\u2019s probably one of the hardest places to brew, possibly in the world. Everything is imported so ingredients can become cost-prohibitive and you\u2019re brewing in 30C heat at 100% humidity which isn\u2019t ideal. But while I was there, it was great to see companies like Brewerkz making the beers that they did.\u201d<\/p>\n For several years Kerr would continue working in insurance while also exploring the wonderful world of beer and brewing. But then the global pandemic hit. An event that changed his personal and professional trajectory, like countless others across the world.<\/p>\n \u201cSingapore is a strict country at the best of times and they had very stringent measures in place during COVID. You were only allowed out at certain times so it left me more time to focus on brewing at home. I completed my General Certificate in Brewing and all I wanted to do was create recipes. It became an insane passion that I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt got to the point where Sophie and I decided to move back to the UK. We ended up leaving Singapore when they were easing lockdown rules and we arrived back days before Boris Johnson put us into a two-month lockdown.\u201d<\/p>\n In searching for commercial brewing experience, Kerr would be given the opportunity by Drop Project of Mitcham and Brixton Brewery to help hone his craft while also securing a Diploma in Brewing from the Chartered Institute of Brewers and Distillers. It was during this time that the idea of starting his own operation would crystallise.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were living in North London at the time but that was going to prove prohibitive for what we wanted to do. In writing a business plan I knew I wanted a taproom to be a major part of our brewery,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n \u201cCambridge was somewhere we looked at originally and we probably visited close to 10 times looking at various properties. But for whatever reason it was never right. We then stumbled across Windsor and this classic railway arch. It had bags of potential, and great connections to London which were important both for us and the business. We took a gamble and went for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Kerr would raise funding with help some family and friends and the lease for 25-26 The Arches, Windsor, was signed in September 2022. Although the taproom would open that December, they wouldn\u2019t commence brewing on their 20HL semi-automatic brewhouse from Gravity Systems until February 2023, with Drop Project and Canterbury-based Floc brewing the first batches until then.<\/p>\n And now, some two years into that journey, a constant at Two Flints is Kerr and the team\u2019s passion for producing and drinking hop-forward, often hazy beers. Current offerings, as of February 2025, include 5.5% hazy pale Half Life, 6% hazy IPA Tunnel Vision, 4.8% hazy pale ale Never End and 8% DIPA Big Bash.<\/p>\n These are complemented by 4.5% hoppy pils Small Talk, 5% German-style pilsner Pils and the brewery\u2019s flagship 3.8% hoppy session pale Santiago.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what we love to brew and drink. I\u2019m absolutely fascinated by hops and a visit to Nelson and Yakima are on my bucket list. Early on, even before we started brewing, we were meticulous about sourcing raw materials and we set up direct relationships with suppliers such as hop growers in New Zealand,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n \u201cI felt that by having an element of control in what we were using in the brewery we could ultimately positively impact the end product. I\u2019m fixated on the best and freshest hops.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe love big, bold flavours but as any of our contemporaries have shown you also need a flagship beer,\u201d Alex Kerr<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n While he has a passion for punchy, stronger ABVs, Kerr and the team knew that they also needed a session-strength beer in their portfolio and since day one that beer has been Santiago. Brewed with extra pale Maris Otter, torrified wheat, malted oats and a touch of Vienna, the beer features whirlpool and dry hop additions of Citra, Mosaic and Idaho 7.<\/p>\n \u201cWe love big, bold flavours but as any of our contemporaries have shown you also need a flagship beer that is approachable and drinkable. For us, that is Santiago. At 3.8% it\u2019s a beer that is designed for drinking in the pub. It has a prominent hop character but one that\u2019s not too saturated either so you can enjoy a few if you like,\u201d says Kerr.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a beer that we are always looking at, too. That desire to constantly tweak probably stems from the home brewing days. Because I feel that if you let a beer stand still for too long then it\u2019ll probably get left behind. The beer world is constantly moving, constantly changing and constantly innovating so you need to as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Santiago, as with Two Flints\u2019 other beers, have proved a hit with patrons at its popular taproom. Open from Thursday until Sunday each week, Kerr has enjoyed seeing visitors become converts of modern beer styles that breweries such as his produce. And under the guidance of taproom manager Sophie, it goes from strength-to-strength as a social hub with live music, events and a growing run club with more besides.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brewersjournal.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/two.jpg?ssl=1\")
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