After years of being a home brewer, Alex Ferris decided to launch her own brewery in Dorset, combining her passions for F1 racing and beer. Here she talks about her history, the toughest brew and plans for 2026
How did you get into brewing?
Like many, I started with home brewing. My father used to brew from those awful Boots kits and it meant that I grew up around the smells of malt extract. Then, as an adult, I started myself. In a previous house, we had a lovely pub right at the bottom of our driveway, and we would bring our jug up every Sunday to fill and bring home. After a while, though, the pub changed hands and the new couple didn’t know how to look after the cellar properly. One day my husband came back with our jug and the beer had line cleaner in it. They told us it must be our dishwasher, but it wasn’t. From there I thought I’d have a go myself.
When did a hobby turn into Apex?
I started with a little pilot brewery in 2013, and by 2015 I had sufficient feedback to apply for my HMRC brewing licence. Then, three years ago, we bought a location on a farm with the intention of building a brewery. Apex wasn’t the original name. We wanted to call it Milliways, which is a reference to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but in the end, we didn’t. We love cars and are a petrolhead family, so Apex worked. There’s also a lot of mileage (pun intended) in Apex for naming beers.
You have 12 beers on offer. Which was the most challenging? And the most fun?
The one thing I didn’t do for a long time was a lager recipe. It’s a different process to ale, takes longer and has another yeast. It’s also notoriously the most difficult style to make because the flavours are crisp and clean and can’t hide any imperfections. Originally, I didn’t want to brew it, but then decided there was no reason I shouldn’t try. I made the recipe myself and cuckoo brewed it using the equipment at Utopian Brewing in Devon. The beer I most enjoyed making was the Double IPA, though, which was originally named Tank Slapper because it was so strong. In brewing, if you’ve got a high abv, you want to try to balance it with hops. That’s what we did there.
What are your plans for 2026?
We have a new head brewer coming in and I’ll be moving to work 50% on logistics and 50% in brewing. I definitely don’t want to stop brewing. We’re also quite far into the process of opening a taproom in the brewery. From Sherborne, we’ve got amazing views all the way to Glastonbury and knew we wanted to do a taproom and restaurant too. We’ve already got a team in place for that and are down to the finer details, like choosing furnishings. The aim is to be operational by Easter.
