Explore every episode of the podcast Brewers Journal Podcast

If you own a brewery, where did you source your brewhouse from? It might have come from one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers in the industry. Or perhaps it was a piece of loved, second-hand kit that needed a new home.

You were unlikely, however, to have been chased around the streets of Vienna by an angry auctioneer looking for their money. But that’s exactly what happened, through no fault of his own, to Reece Hugill. And thankfully the whole saga would result in the creation of one of the UK’s finest breweries.

In an industry often seduced by the pressure of relentless expansion, multi-site taprooms, and national supermarket listings, Reece Hugill has chosen a radically different path.

As the founder behind Donzoko Brewing Company, he has built something that craft beer frequently preaches but rarely delivers: a fierce, uncompromising sense of place.

In this episode of The Brewers Journal Podcast, we sit down with Reece to trace the winding, highly entertaining, and deeply passionate story of Donzoko.

It is a journey that began when a Newcastle University chemistry student realised that brewing lager in a friend’s school kitchen during a study abroad year was far more soul-fulfilling than a life in the lab.

After brewing stints in Edinburgh and navigating the uncertainties of the pandemic, Reece reached a critical turning point. Taking direct inspiration from the rustic Kellers and village brewpubs of Franconia, he brought Donzoko back to its emotional home in Newcastle upon Tyne, establishing a 10-hectolitre brewpub and taproom just around the corner from where his first beers were poured.

Reece also shares his candid thoughts on why beer culture suffers when every brand is available everywhere, why true passion trumps rigid textbook numbers, and why creating a hyper-local hub for his community is the ultimate reward.

With judging well underway for our 2026 Brewers Choice Awards and with planning in full flow for the Brewers Congress we are taking a step back to revisit one of the highlights of last year’s event.

In his talk on ‘Reflections on Authenticity’ at the 2025 Brewers Congress in London, Matthew Curtis posed a question.

In an increasingly digital world, how do modern marketing strategies resonate with consumers who are looking for something more tangible, something genuine, something authentic? 

Matthew is a writer and photographer obsessed with beer, pubs and their culture. Based in Manchester, he’s the co-founder of Pellicle Magazine and the author of three books on beer and pub culture within the UK, including the award-winning Manchester’s Best Beer Pubs and Bars.

In London he took a deep dive into the importance of conveying authenticity in your breweries brand message, and explored how being true to yourself, your brand, your values and – most importantly – the beer you make is key to winning hearts and minds in beer’s modern era. 

The UK beer landscape looks a lot different today than it did ten years ago. We’ve seen breweries and trends come and go. But certain names have stood the test of time by focusing on one thing: quality.

Today’s guest is someone who transitioned from a decorated homebrewing career to founding one of the most respected independent breweries in the country. Based in Finchampstead, Berkshire, Elusive Brewing is officially hitting double digits in 2026.

To help mark their 10th anniversary, which they’re celebrating this very week, we caught up with brewery founder Andy Parker.

An award-winning brewer, and the producer of countless award-winning beers, we discuss how the brewery has developed in the last decade. Andy outlines the importance cask beer plays in their range and why the ongoing popularity of their Oregon Trail West Coast IPA is a nice problem to have.

We also discuss how his approach to business has evolved over the years and find how Andy and his excellent team are marking their 10th anniversary – all with a little help from some friends they’ve made along the way…..

How do you build brand consistency at your brewery? Well, it’s clear that starting with controlling the quality of the liquid you’re building your business is on is a great way to start.

At Northern Monk, Tanya Kondratyuk was Quality Manager at the Leeds-based business. She started her career in the industry working in quality control, sensory analysis, and the bourbon barrel aging program at Goose Island Brewery, based in Chicago, IL.

Her experience is rooted in microbiological & analytical fermentation analysis, yeast propagation, bourbon & sour barrel sensory and blending work.

Before moving on to her new role at Harrogate Spring Water, she spent two years with Northern Monk designing and supervising the build-out of their new QC laboratory, launching analytical and microbiological sampling programs, yeast propagation planning, sensory panels, barrel aging programs, and also taking part in production planning and recipe development.

In this podcast, part of our digital takeover on quality control and analysis, she shares her expertise on the building blocks you need to create brand consistency at your brewery.

She argues that continuous improvements are key, which includes setting achievable goals, embracing your mistakes, keeping quality dynamic and if you aim for consistency, you’ll find room for creativity.

When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold…

We’ve all probably heard that saying, or at least a variant of it. In beer, it’s no secret that many US brewers appreciated and were often inspired by classic British styles. And in turn many brewers in the UK, Europe, and beyond have been galvanised by the wealth of creations to emerge from modern US brewing. 

One such outfit operating in that landscape is Finback. Founded in 2011, Finback Brewery is born from a passion for brewing and experimentation. After a long search combing through back streets, along canals, under bridges and industrial no-mans lands, the team found a space in Queens in 2013. 

Finback would go on to release its first beers brewed in Queens in January of 2014 and the brewery is proud to call Queens home, being part of the diverse and rich culture of the borough.

Basil Lee, if the co-founder of Finback, a business that continues to brew exceptional beers through iteration and rotation deploying a variety of hops, ingredients, and techniques as a creative journey in bringing unique beers to the consumer. 

With a previous career in design, Basil brought strong training in process and collaboration in building Finback as an engaging beer experience.

And with that in mind, we invited Basil to deliver the keynote address at our 2023 Brewers Congress. In this episode, Basil discusses how the industry has evolved in the decade Finback has been in business.

He looks at the ways consumer tastes have changed and why, 10 years in, he feels that much of beer and brewing is now about going back to basics.

We have all taken different routes on our journey in beer and today’s guest has taken a path from Wigan, leading to London before heading some 40 miles out to Wokingham in Berkshire.

Hayley Pearce is a brewer at Siren Craft Brew. Originally from the north of England, Hayley headed south in 2008 to study Biochemistry at Imperial College London. 

In 2012 she joined the Fuller’s Graduate Programme and it soon became clear that her future lay in the brewhouse. Progressing from junior brewer to shift brewer and now with an IBD Diploma in her pocket Hayley was ready for a new challenge.  

At Fuller’s she helped commission and run the Pilot Brewery until 2021, when she was drawn by the song of the Siren where she continues to spread her infectious enthusiasm.

In this episode, recorded at our Brewers Congress in London, Hayley recounts her career so far, the lessons she has learned along the way and her hope that her journey in beer can inspire others, too.

There’s a strong chance you, or someone you know, has enjoyed a beer that has been made possible by the hand of Nikola Marjanovic.

Following a degree in food technology, specialising in microbiological processes, at Serbia’s University of Novi Sad, he became a quality engineer before then taking the position of brewing supervisor at Apatin Brewery.

Three years later Nikola swapped Serbia for Scotland, becoming brewery manager at BrewDog. In more than six years, he oversaw a period of significant growth at the business.

Upon leaving the Ellon brewery, he would head south to take the job of head of brewery operations and expansion at Beavertown before then moving to operations director last November. During that time, Beavertown was acquired by Heineken and also opened its new brewery in Enfield.

Opening in August 2020, the new facility was armed with the ability to produce up to 500,000hl and to brew in 150hl batches.

Thanks to the popularity of beers such as Neck Oil, Beavertown has only grown further since. And similar to his time in Ellon, Nikola has been integral in overseeing the commission and addition of equipment that brews and packs these beers. 

In this episode we speak to Nikola about his role in specifying, building and expanding some of Britain’s biggest breweries, the main hurdles and challenges he’s encountered along the way, and his passion for learning, self-improvement and training, especially when it comes to his team.

If you’ve ever entertained a visiting brewer from overseas, one of the first questions you are normally asked is – where can we go for a great pint of cask beer?

As decorated author Des de Moor tells us in his new book, cask beer is a unique format of fresh, live draught beer that, at its best, delivers a taste experience unmatchable in any other way.

But despite it being revered by fans across the globe, sales of cask beer in the UK continue to suffer. 

In his latest article for The Brewers Journal, former Fuller’s brewing director John Keeling observes that throughput is down, inspections are less rigorously enforced, and training is intermittent. He also asks how we can change this situation…

In this week’s podcast Paul Davies, the founder of AleHunters Brewery Tours, leads a panel discussion with a revered group that share their experiences and expertise working in and around cask beer.

Recorded at our Brewers Congress event last month, he was joined by Alice Batham, the head brewer at Bathams in the West Midlands and also Janos De Baets, the co-founder and head brewer of Dok Brewing Company in Gent, Belgium. 

Also on the panel was Rob Lovatt, the head brewer and production director at Thornbridge and Des de Moor, one of the UK’s top beer experts, and author of the new book Cask: The real story of Britain’s unique beer culture.

In this episode, Paul leads a passionate and informed discussion about this beloved beer type featuring input from some of the people that know it best.

Photo: Noelia Amado

How do you market your beers? How do you ensure that the people you think will enjoy them most are aware they exist? And also, how do you go about creating new fans altogether? 

To answer those questions, we invited today’s guest to help us out. Because recently, they had a new lager to bring to market and incorporated a range of tools to ensure it hit their desired audience.

Verity Phillips is the Media Lead at Asahi UK, working across a portfolio of premium brands including Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Asahi Super Dry, London Pride and Cornish Orchards, to name a few. 

She is responsible for the media strategy within the marketing team: anything from social media to radio to TV. Verity has helped the Asahi brands reach a broader lager drinking audience in the UK whilst maintaining their premium position in the category.

And this year, Verity has been involved in the launch of Peroni Nastro Azzurro Stile Capri, an easy-drinking beer inspired by the refreshing taste and scent of the Mediterranean.

In this episode, recorded live at our Brewers Congress event in October, she talks us through the launch of Peroni Stile Capri to the UK market, and how Asahi UK used media to target 18-34 lager drinkers.

She explains how younger consumers have become increasingly difficult to reach through traditional media channels thanks to a changing landscape in the last 8 to 10 years. 

With that in mind, the business adopted a range of media opportunities such as dynamic out of home advertising, sampling campaigns and more.  

As a result, 97% of Lager Drinkers aged 18-35 said they has seen the company’s Peroni Stile Capri advertising at least once, and 88% on them at least three times.

In 2002 Emma Reynolds met Ken Yamada and became great friends over their shared love of travelling and food, more specifically Japanese food and in particular ramen.

Over the years, they realised it was very difficult to find decent ramen in London, so they began on a mission to sort that out themselves…

They started out in 2011 with a Saturday night pop-up in the city. 30 people came through the doors at the very first pop-up, but just ten weeks later they had 120, with tickets selling out within minutes.

Friday nights were spent prepping – bubbling broth for hours (with condensation running down the windows of Emma’s flat) making chashu and gyoza fillings, whilst drinking a couple of beers and talking about opening their first ramen restaurant.

Then they’d be up at 6am on the Saturday to move all the ingredients to the pop-up restaurant, handmake 400 gyozas and get ready for the first sitting, with their adrenaline pumping.

Ken and Emma made a different ramen every week, each from a different region of Japan. People loved it, and they knew they were onto something, which gave them the confidence to go and find a location for our first restaurant – and in 2012 Tonkotsu Soho was born.

Now, in 2023, Tonkotsu has since grown to 17 restaurants – 15 in London, with Brighton and Birmingham also – and 280 staff over the last 11 years.

And last month Emma took some time out from her busy schedule to deliver the keynote at our flagship Brewers Congress event. Here she reiterated the importance of people in your business, the tough decisions you often have to make and why Ramen is always a good idea.

At a time when many breweries are celebrating their tenth anniversaries Hackney Brewery, now the ripe old age of 12, could be considered elder statesmen of the London brewing community.

Much has predictably changed in those years the brewery, founded by Jon Swain and Pete Hills, have been in business. Especially more recently, with the team celebrating two years at their new home in High Hill, Walthamstow.

Part of the burgeoning and brilliant Blackhorse Beer Mile, Hackney Brewery is thriving thanks in no small part to their excellent taproom space that welcomes visitors four days a week.

The High Hill Taproom is their new facility where the team aim to create a experience that you can immerse yourself in through their art, latest releases, beers from their friends around the world and events to celebrate the multicultural capital it calls home.

In this podcast, we speak to co-founder Jon about the importance of the taproom in the brewery’s business proposition, Hackney’s role in the Blackhorse Beer Mile, those early days building the business with colleague Pete and also the secrets behind the team’s successful and sessionable sour range – namely the delicious Millions of Peaches.

As the dust settles on our recent Brewers Congress in London, we are already busy laying the foundations for next year’s event.

Colin Stronge, a brewing industry pioneer, was due to close last month’s Congress. Sadly a recent operation meant he was unable to make it but health comes first and we, of course, very much look forward to welcoming him back at future events. Get well soon, Colin!

So in lieu of real life Colin, we have the next best thing. A talk he expertly delivered at our Brewers Lectures in Springwell, Leeds.

In this podcast, the head brewer of Salt Beer Factory, looked back at 23 years in beer. In doing so, he tracked his career alongside how the industry has evolved in that time, with the breweries, brewers and beer styles he has encountered along the way…

Gary Robson is CEO & Founder of Sure Purity, an award winning manufacturer of advanced filtration systems for the beverage industry, we are trusted by the most well-known beverage brand owners and sold in over 100 countries worldwide.

He’s also the former president of International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT), board member and founder member of the Beverage Gases Technical Committee.

So with more than 25 years’ experience in the beverage gases industry with expertise in carbon dioxide for beverage applications, we invited him to speak at our recent Brewers Lectures in Newcastle to share his views on the current state of play in the CO₂ supply chain, new sources and proven solutions.

You can access Gary’s presentation right here. The figures presented were correct at the time (August 2023).

Welcome to The Summer of Lager. As we race through 2026, the longer, warmer months are fast-approaching. And with that, so does the consumer appetite for cold, beautiful lager.

And in Scotland, one of the country’s finest breweries has just launched a new beer that’s sure to be a hit in 2026 and beyond.

Independently owned and proudly based in Alloa — the historic brewing capital of Scotland — Williams Bros Brewing has brewed, packaged and shipped every beer from its Scottish site for over 30 years.

Best known for creating Joker IPA, one of Scotland’s most iconic modern beers and the country’s number-two selling IPA, the brewery continues to grow year on year while staying true to its values: quality, independence and innovation.

Fast forward to 2026 and the creation of Ceilidh – the latest expression of that philosophy. A premium lager, brewed and aged in Scotland, it’s designed for today’s drinkers who value provenance, flavour and style in equal measure.

Named after Scotland’s iconic social dance, Ceilidh captures the spirit of connection and celebration in every glass. As Scotland prepares for a historic World Cup appearance, Williams Bros is raising a pint to the moments that bring people together.

In this episode we speak to Meet Marc Dickson. Marc is an on-trade account manager at Williams Bros Brewing Company in Alloa.

We discuss how he moved from a career in coffee to one selling beer and why, for him building longstanding and meaningful relationships is a highlight of his role.

We talk about the brewery’s ongoing success with its no-and-low range and find out that why Ceilidh, is a premium Scottish lager brewed for moments worth celebrating.

To many, John Keeling surely needs no introduction. But for those unaware, John is the former brewing director of Chiswick, London-based Fuller’s. Regarded and respected the world over for his ability to create and brew beers defined by balance and flavour, John is using his retirement to collaborate, consult and create with breweries across the globe.

In this episode, we speak to John about his early career, what got him into beer and also brewing as a profession. We discuss his move to Fuller’s and what he learned from colleagues over the years such as Reg Drury, Derek Prentice and Georgina Young. 

We ask him what he makes of the current brewing landscape and the challenges facing it, along with the advice he has for people working in and running breweries today. We discuss his love of music and also the beer industry, both in the UK and overseas, and how that can sometimes influence his travels with wife Symone. 

Chris Lewington is on a mission at Brew Resourceful, and that’s to make the world of craft brewing more resourceful. 

​He has spent more than a decade in some of the UK’s top craft breweries, and he’s been exposed to the industry’s best and helped some of the future best on their journeys. Individually, the elements of resourcefulness have always been the focus of his brewing life but in the last few years he saw how all the elements can combine under this same header.

We should make being resourceful one of our top priorities, it helps reduce our industries carbon footprint, keep businesses financially healthy and stimulate our industries minds. 

​This is exactly why he wanted to bring the topic of resourcefulness to the forefront of our discussions. He wants it to be talked at every conference, dinner, journal article, chat around the brewery & podcasts. 

​With that in mind, we recently invited him to speak in Newcastle to outline the basics of sustainability. He explained how none of us are perfect but we should challenge our suppliers, challenge ourselves and also focus on what we can control.

When it comes to no-and-low, that no longer means no choice, no quality, no variety. Thanks to outfits like Mash Gang and their peers, there is something for everyone. 

And of late, demand has been so high the business has actually run out of beer. To remedy this, they’ve recently brewed at five different breweries to get the capacity ready for their peak season. That means there’s currently more than four hundred and fifty hectolitres in tank.

This plan of action also involved investing heavily in draught production, moving from just Cans in Hands, to Pints in Pubs.

In this podcast recorded last month Jordan Childs, the leader and brewer at Mash Gang, shares his thoughts on changing consumer perception of now-and-low beverages, recipe creation, his love of working with breweries and businesses of all kinds, and the group’s collective desire for continuous improvement.

The pressure is growing for all businesses to demonstrate a coherent response to the climate crisis.

In this podcast, Andrew Furness of Net Zero Now explains that a carbon footprint is the foundation of a credible climate strategy and provides essential content for key stakeholders.

He says that corporate climate strategy has evolved in the last decade towards a consistent approach, built on global standards falling into four sequential and iterative actions.

In this episode, he outlines them and explains how the brewing industry and those around it can all play their part. 

A love of ingredients and flavour exploration led Jordan Mower to open a nano brewery back in 2014. And nearly 10 years on UnBarred Brewery of Brighton, with its team of 16, lives for one thing – that’s to inspire discovery through boundless creativity.

In this podcast, Jordan talks us through the early days at the brewery, the journey since and the role of the community at the business.

He also outlines the overarching purpose of UnBarred as a cohesive unit and that you should trust your heart, your tastebuds and gut instinct. That you should work with people that bring out your creative truth and don’t be sold a marketing deck without integrity. 

Photo: Noelia Amado

They are a brewery based in Hoults Yard, Newcastle. Home to great beers & an award-winning taproom since 2018.

But why Full Circle, we hear you ask?

The inspiration comes through three generations of a family business. Brewery owner, Ben Cleary’s grandparents were in the pub and beer trade, while his parents got into the wine business, and now Ben has moved towards the beer industry – thus the family has come Full Circle.

A brilliant business, headed up on the brewing side by Alex Redpath, has forged its name with full-flavoured regardless of the style or ABV, such as Looper, Repeater, Hoop and Rotator.

In this episode, we speak to Ben Cleary about the brewery’s growth, investment in capital equipment its strength in the export market and the company’s plans for expansion.

How much do you know about your beer and your customers? That’s the question asked by Amber Thorne.

And when it comes to your brewery, what is your niche – your USP? And on the other side of the conversation, why do you want to sell to a particular venue?

Amber Thorne started her career in beer in the sales team at Siren Craft Brew.

She has since moved to the iconic Bristol beer scene working with Good Chemistry and is now the Customer Account Manager at Arbor Ales. In her time in beer she has also worked with the non-alcoholic lager brand, Lucky Saint.

In this latest podcast, recorded in Bristol in June, she explains and outlines the questions we should be better at asking, why we should know more about who our customers admire and also, why it’s worth being honest when asking ourselves if we can actually service an account that we’re planning to work with. 

What is marketing, and what is it not?

That’s the question Rachel Auty asks….

The head of marketing at Brew York, Rachel is a marketing leader, and brand and communications strategist who has worked extensively across the beer industry and the arts.

She has work directly with SME founder-owner-managers, senior management teams, and boards of directors across tech, charity and not-for-profits, and fmcg. This rare breadth of cross-industry business and marketing experience enables Rachel to bring fresh and unconventional thinking to drive change and build resilience.

Rachel has more than 24 years’ marketing and business experience underpinned by formal qualifications in marketing, leadership and management. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. A feminist and equality champion, she is outspoken about the value of women on boards and having marketing expertise at board level.

In this podcast, Rachel says when it comes to your business, work on strategy not just tactics, utilise the skills of your experienced marketing colleagues and in terms of competition, don’t only watch your competitors. Be brave and be bold – in a world of noise and choice, we can’t afford to just do the same as everyone else.  

Photo: Rachel Auty

When it comes to the world of brewing, sustainable can no longer be just a buzzword or a box-ticking exercise.

And at Bristol-based Wiper and True, they are constantly working to become the most sustainable brewery they possibly can be.

As they admit, it’s no secret that brewing uses a lot of energy and creates a significant amount of by-products.

So they are one outfit that want their overall impact on the planet to be a positive one, so in the day-to-day running of our business, they are always focused on tackling the biggest environmental impacts that our brewery is making, whether that be our energy demand, efficiency savings, waste products or ingredient sourcing.

In doing so, they hope that in talking transparently about what they’re up to and where we are succeeding in our sustainability goals – as well as where we can make improvements – they will encourage other individuals and businesses to think about their impact on the planet, and what all breweries can all do to lessen that impact.

And working for Wiper and True for 9 years is Joe Watts His role as Operations and Sustainability Manager has given new impetus to focus on implementing sustainability projects, and he has given his ‘green’ slant on a multitude of operational system in the brewery.

In this podcast, recorded live at their brewery in Bristol, he explains how they’re doing just that…

With Jordan from Mash Gang speaking at our Brewers Lectures in Newcastle next Wednesday, what better time to revisit our chat with him from January 2023…

Gone are the days where choosing a beer without the alcohol meant forgoing genuine choice in the process.

Countless macro businesses now offer 0.5% or 0.0% iterations of well-known brands.

Beers that complement the burgeoning number of beverages available to consumers that want a great beer, just with less, or none, of the alcohol.

For today’s guests, who started their brewing journey back in the first COVID lockdown, no-and-low is their raison d’être.

And if ongoing demand is anything to go by, they’re showing that the appetite for quality beers, without the alcohol, is only growing and growing.

A successful crowdfunder, brewing 36 beers, exports to the Nordics, Australia, and USA to name but a few along with 700% growth FY21-FY22 – it’s not been a bad few years for the team at Mash Gang.

Of course, that’s come with a lot of hard work along the way. 

But in doing so, they’ve showed that you can produce exciting beers that taste great, look the part and further broaden people’s understanding of what low and no alcohol beers can really be.

In this episode, we speak to Jordan Childs, the leader and brewer at Mash Gang about challenging consumer perception of NOLO beverages, its debut supermarket beer launch, working with breweries and businesses of all kinds, and the group’s desire for continuous improvement.

Image credit: Mash Gang

Meet Pete Brown.

Pete, as many of you will know, is a British author, journalist, broadcaster and consultant specialising in food and drink.

In his latest columns for the Sunday Times he’s discussed everything from supermarket beer to where to turn when nothing catches your eye on the bar.

And last year he released his latest book ‘Tasting Notes: The Art and Science of Pairing Beer With Music’.

Across thirteen books, his broad, fresh approach takes in social history, cultural commentary, travel writing, personal discovery and natural history, and his words are always delivered with the warmth and wit you’d expect from a great night down the pub.

While Pete gears up for a busy summer sharing his expertise along with excerpts from his books such as ‘Clubland – How the Working Men’s Club shaped Britain’, we are revisiting his excellent talk from our 2025 Brewers Congress

In his lectures Pete discussed the concept of premiumisation, emphasising its long-standing presence in marketing and branding. He highlighted that premiumisation is not solely about price but encompasses desirability, luxury, and necessity.

He also noted that since the 1970s, products have become more reliable, leading to overconsumption and a shift towards experiences. Pete also addressed how big brewers define premium, often inconsistently, and stressed the importance of consumer perception over corporate definitions.

Last year’s release of Prize Old Ale was a real highlight for many fans of excellent beer. But the journey of this storied beverage, that classic fruity, strong, dark ale, goes back somewhat further.

Originally a recipe from George Gales & Co, a great deal of interest was generated by the latest version of Prize Old Ale, which was brewed at Dark Star by head brewer Henry Kirk.

According to John Keeling, the former brewing director at Fuller’s and a previous colleague of his, Henry made a version of great character and personality –  much like himself.

For those that don’t know, Henry is a celebrated brewer. Previously the head brewer at Dark Star and has worked in a variety of breweries including Fullers over the past 12 years.

He is also passionate about old British styles and cask beer. In this podcast, he recounts the rich history of this revered beverage and his role in ensuring its story was kept alive.

And thanks to Henry, you can refer to his presentation, which is linked right here.

You can also read John Keeling’s article on the story Prize Old Ale in his own words. 

Welcome to Wiper and True.

The brewery, which is known for beers such as its Kaleidoscope Pale Ale, Milkshake Milk Stout and a wealth of other fantastic creations besides, has just celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Based in Bristol, their goal is clear – that’s to make beautiful beer.

Whether it’s at their original site at St Werburgh’s, which is focused on barrel ageing and mixed fermentation, or their stunning new Old Market brewery and taproom, the team is fully-focused on the beauty of brewing.

In this episode, we speak to brewery founder Michael Wiper and head of marketing Alice Howells about reaching that recent landmark, their commitment to sustainability and the exciting road ahead.

In the modern world social media plays a huge role in pretty much every industry, and hospitality is no different.

It can be both a blessing and a curse, so knowing how to get the best out of it is all-important.

For your brewery, bar or bottleshop, it can enhance brand awareness, drive sales and help build a community.

And one person that knows all about that is Charlie Harding, the founder of Bonne Vivante Marketing.

After years of working for other people, she struck out on her own in 2020, offering a personal and bespoke service for small independents looking for help with their social media management.

As a freelance marketing manager who works with pubs and breweries, she can usually be found in a pub or taproom scanning the pale ale list and tweeting about beer.

In this podcast, recorded at Wiper and True’s Old Market taproom last week, Charlie looks at the role of social media in the beer industry, what to do, what not to do and how we can all use it more effectively.

You can also view Charlie’s presentation right here!

It almost doesn’t need repeating but breweries, like many businesses in the wider world of hospitality, have much to contend with in recent months and years.

As we continue to adjust, post-pandemic, to what normal is – if there still is such as thing –  there are also other pressures to deal with.

A cost of living crisis, rising energy costs and staff shortages are all major hurdles to producing and selling your beer.

And last week, HMRC published its guidance to the upcoming changes to Alcohol Duty.

Effective from the 1st August, HMRC outlined the rates of duty and also the new reliefs for draught products and small producers.

But how might these affect you?

Thankfully Andy Parker, the founder of Berkshire’s Elusive Brewing, is on hand to explain.

Recorded live yesterday at our Brewers Lectures in Bristol, Andy spoke on the background to these measures and shared some examples on how these revised rates could impact your brewery.

And thanks to Andy, his presentation is also available to view and download right below, too.

https://www.brewersjournal.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Andy-Parker.pdf

When it comes to the world of no-and-low beers, they no longer on the periphery of the conversation – they are the conversation.
 
The sale of low-alcohol and no-alcohol beers in the UK have nearly doubled in the last five years.

Various product releases from global brands, coupled with a raft of launches from independent businesses, have helped give drinkers an increasing number of options when it comes to the beer they drink.

A glance at research from last year courtesy of research group IWSR showed that UK drinkers bought some $500m of alcohol-free and low-alcohol beers in 2021, a 40% increase on what they procured back in 2016. 

In that time the curious and determined duo of Bill Shufelt and John Walker brewed more than 100 test brews of non-alcoholic beer on a small home brewing system in order to perfect their proprietary process.

As a result, they went on to start the US-based Athletic Brewing. Since founding the business, they’ve gone from being one of the smallest breweries in America to a top-20 craft beer producer.

In this episode, we revisit our chat with co-founder Bill Shufelt who talks us through the brewery’s journey, its global expansion and why losing the alcohol from your beer, shouldn’t mean you lose the variety. 

For many people, you mention Reading and the first thing that springs to mind is the famed festival. The Reading Festival, which will once again take place this August, is the world’s oldest popular music festival to still be in existence….with countless bands and artists having played at the summer event over the last five decades.

But breweries, as we all know, also have a special way of putting places on the map. And outfits such as Double-Barrelled are doing just that for the celebrated Berkshire town. Double-Barrelled, a concept, began when its co-founders Mike & Luci Clayton-Jones got married, back in 2015. With Mike being a passionate home brewer for many years prior, they created their first branded “Double-Barrelled” beer as their wedding favour, as a nod to Mike’s much begrudged surname.

Having loved creating their own brand of beer & sharing their beers on a larger scale than ever before, this idea became the pathway to where they are today.

Later this year, the Reading-based brewery turns five, so with that in mind we invited co-founder Luci to give a talk on the brewery’s journey so far. Recorded live at North’s Springwell in Leeds, Luci shares her experience in helping run a brewery, the importance of community, a love of travel and how the business has navigated the challenges and hurdles that have come their way.

Welcome to Camden – home of Werewolf Beer.

In the latest episode of The Brewers Journal Podcast, we return to North London to catch up with Rich White, the founder of Werewolf Beer.

Recorded live at the brewery, to accompany our new Brewers Journal video series, we speak about Werewolf’s commitment to classic US styles, the challenges and opportunities of running your own business, welcoming his new sales manager Josh Curran and his hopes and ambitions for the year ahead.

The brewing industry has become a testing ground for the energy transition. Many drinkers want to drink responsibly: not just to protect their own health, but the health of the planet.

Brewers large and small are taking innovative approaches to their energy use. In Samlesbury, AB InBev has started working with Protium, who will fund, build, and operate a green hydrogen facility that will provide renewable energy, heat for brewing operations, and fuel for their distribution vehicles.

Hepworth & Co, a much smaller brewery, based in Horsham, has been taking an incremental approach, using solar panel, and careful recovery of heat from its systems, to cut its use of fuel oil. And the company is now looking to use methane, produced on site in a containerised anaerobic digestor, to replace some of its fuel use. The next step for the brewery will be to store heat produced over the weekend, and use it in its small batch brewing through the week.

One day, brewing consultant Tim O’Rourke says, brewers may be able to source agricultural raw materials from farmers who use techniques that actually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, meaning that every pint drinkers enjoy, will help heal the planet.

Guests

Tim O’Rourke – The Brilliant Beer Company

Andy Hepworth – Hepworth & Co

Chris Jackson – Protium

Welcome to Moonwake.

Moonwake, or “the moon’s reflection on a body of water” speaks to the Scottish brewery’s Leith Shore location, the importance of water as an ingredient, and their beers’ reflection of the team’s combined experience.

Established in 2021 and the winners of ‘Best New Brewery’ at our 2022 Brewers Choice Awards, the outfit brew with the belief that there is a beer out there for everyone and they create balanced beers for a wide range of people to enjoy.

In the latest episode, we speak to Sarah Sinclair, marketing manager at Moonwake and also co-founder and head brewer Vinny Rosario.

We discuss the brewery’s achievements and successes over the last 12 months, the thought process behind new beers, the Leith taproom and the community around it, as well as road ahead for a business that is only on the up. 

The brewing industry has changed a great deal in the last decade. Breweries have come and gone, as have numerous beer styles. But take a step back even further and you’ll see an even bigger picture.

This sector is blessed with certain brewers that have truly made their mark on the field of brewing. They’ve worked in different breweries, producing different beers, catering for different audiences.

And at the end of last year, we celebrated one such figure. The winner of our 2022 Brewers Choice – Brewer of the Year has been a pillar of the UK beer scene, created beer styles and also helped light the way for new breweries and the brewers within.

In this week’s podcast, recorded live at our Brewers Lectures at North Springwell, Colin Stronge, the head brewer of Salt Beer Factory, looked back at 23 years in beer.

In doing so, he tracked his career alongside how the industry has evolved in that time, with the breweries, brewers and beer styles he has encountered along the way…

Meet Red Kellie. Red is joint owner and Head Brewer of the First & Last Brewery. They are a family run brewery, taproom and event space situated in rural Northumberland.

The brewery doubles as a community space used for everything from art workshops to gigs and literature events. They brew a wide range of styles from hazy IPAs, through to sours, wheat beers, stouts and Belgian beers.

After helping to establish Stu Brew at Newcastle University (Europe’s first student run brewery), then Twice Brewed Brewery Red set up the First & Brewery in 2016. Red’s main passion is for pairing wild ingredients from the local hedgerows and forests with beer styles.

Why? So that their qualities complement and accentuate each other. Experimentation and innovation of working with fresh, hand-picked ingredients such as gorseflowers, sprucetips, bullaces and wild raspberries also give her the perfect excuse to be outside soaking up the beautiful local environment.

At First & Last Brewery, their beers are inspired by the wild, untamed landscape and dark skies of Northumberland.

So what better opportunity to hear from the cover stars of this month’s Brewers Journal publication. Speaking in Newcastle at the end of February, Red explained how the team are passionate about making beer and why they love talking about the science, art and history of beer & brewing.

Breweries are centres of creative expression. Places where talented teams can come together to produce fantastic creations full of flavour. But the beers brewed are often only part of the story.

For Thom Stone, beer and music are his two biggest passions in life. So it seemed appropriate that the brewery he founded in 2017 would in some way reference an art form that has historically paired the two.

And in Liquid Light Brewing Company, he’s done just that.

In this episode, recorded last week in the brewery’s Nottingham taproom, we discussed the Liquid Light’s ever-evolving role in the Nottingham beer and music community, how the business navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, and Thom’s passion for cask beer.

This week we are bringing you a bonus episode from our sister podcast The Distillers Journal following. The bourbon industry has faced challenges over the centuries. However today the industry is booming, and Briggs of Burton are supporting Kentucky distilleries steeped in history and tradition, as well as new businesses emerging along the Bourbon trail, to meet customer demand and prepare for the future.

Guests

Logan Cordle, Briggs of Burton, Louiville
Lindsay Parker, lead process and design engineer, Briggs of Burton

This episode was created in partnership with Briggs of Burton

10 years is a pretty significant chunk of time, in any walk of life. So you can’t blame Brian Dickson, who helped start one of the UK’s most popular modern breweries, of being proud of how far Northern Monk has come in that first decade.

And if you work in and around the craft beer industry, you probably know Brian. There’s a strong chance you’ve probably brewed with him, too. Such is his appetite for working with others.

A meeting at a beer festival with fellow co-founder Russell Bisset would set the duo on a path to grow a business that produces countless beers, has won a wealth of awards and exports to numerous countries.

The brewery also employs a team of nearly 100, too. And with their popular Hop City festival on the horizon this May, we recently visited Brian at the Northern Monk Refectory in Holbeck, Leeds, to discuss their achievements in that first decade, the importance of working with the community, and the brewery’s collective desire to give people the best beer experiences they possibly can.

Miranda Hudson is the co-founder of Duration Brewing, a progressive farmhouse brewery that makes beers that belong in Norfolk.

Starting out as a nomadic brewery in 2017, the business she founded with husband Bates, has become one of the most respected breweries in the UK.

Based in a beautifully renovated Norfolk barn, they continue to expand and a successful Crowdfunder was one of their biggest successes in 2022, with more than 600 supporters, which is really enabling them to truly push on the future of their brewery will set a tap room and much more besides.

Last month, Miranda joined us at Springwell, the home of North Brewing, to deliver an honest and open talk on the story of Duration so far.

But also, she shared some sincere insights on her own personal journey, and how she has navigated certain hurdles along the way.

Photo: Nicci Peet

The winner of our 2022 Brewers Choice – Brewer of the Year has been a pillar of the UK beer scene, has invented beer styles, lighting the way for new breweries, dishing out advice, support and encouragement to new and existing brewers as well as being an excellent all-around brewer.

Colin has long since written his name into the story of modern UK brewing. To mark his keynote address at our Brewers Lectures in Leeds yesterday (23rd February), it’s the perfect time to revisit our conversation with Colin from 2021.  In this podcast, we discuss how the Shipley-based Salt was overcoming the challenges of COVID, and why working with supermarkets must be seen as a viable way for breweries to sustain their business. We consider what more can be done for breweries to improve their QC processes, find out more about the Salt’s Hexagon Project family of beers and also look back of some of the seminal beers Colin has brewed, such as Yellow Belly and Deep Rainbow Valley.

At some point, we’ve all had to turn a spare room into a custom and excise warehouse at some point, haven’t we?

And in doing so, ending up on a path to starting a brewery that would go on to release some 70 unique beers in 2022.

Today’s guest has done just that, and in co-founding Vault City of Portobello in Edinburgh, he’s helped create one of Scotland’s most popular breweries. Co-founded by Steven Smith-Hay back in January 2018, the brewery goes from strength-to-strength and is forecasting triple-digit growth in 2023.

In this episode, we speak to Steven about the early days of Vault City, its recent investments in capital equipment and the brewery’s aim to bring more people into the wonderful world of sour beers.

Opening your own brewery, at any point is time, comes with its own challenges and hurdles to overcome. 

Just ask the countless outfits that had COVID to contend with, weeks and months after, slinging open their doors.

And in the current economic climate, things probably aren’t much easier, to say the least.

But people are thirsty, and there remains an insatiable appetite for excellent, locally-made produce.

Which is convenient because that’s exactly what John, Ollie and Nick, the co-founders of Great Beyond Brewing Company, specialise in.

I recently caught up with John Driebergen. In this episode, the co-founder of one of London’s newest outfits discusses his love of brewing and his desire for Great Beyond Brewing Company to become part of the fabric of East London.

We also discussed the team’s experiences working in the industry and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

Photo: Great Beyond Brewing Company

Gone are the days where choosing a beer without the alcohol meant forgoing genuine choice in the process.

Countless macro businesses now offer 0.5% or 0.0% iterations of well-known brands.

And with January already halfway behind us, numerous independents have thrown their hats into the ring with a fascinating array of low and no pales, lager, sours and stouts.

Beers that complement the burgeoning number of beverages available to consumers that want a great beer, just with less, or none, of the alcohol.

For today’s guests, who started their brewing journey back in the first COVID lockdown, no-and-low is their raison d’être.

And if ongoing demand is anything to go by, they’re showing that the appetite for quality beers, without the alcohol, is only growing and growing.

A successful crowdfunder, brewing 36 beers, exports to the Nordics, Australia, and USA to name but a few along with 700% growth FY21-FY22 – it’s not been a bad few years for the team at Mash Gang.

Of course, that’s come with a lot of hard work along the way. 

But in doing so, they’ve showed that you can produce exciting beers that taste great, look the part and further broaden people’s understanding of what low and no alcohol beers can really be.

In this episode, we speak to Jordan Childs, the leader and brewer at Mash Gang about challenging consumer perception of NOLO beverages, its debut supermarket beer launch, working with breweries and businesses of all kinds, and the group’s desire for continuous improvement.

Image credit: Mash Gang

Earlier this month, the team at Neptune Brewery moved into their new home. It’s a step that will allow them to cater for increased demand and further cement themselves as one of the UK’s finest breweries.

But this evolution didn’t happen overnight. And while the brewery started out in 2015, the story of Neptune Brewery goes back some years further.

During one their first dates, enjoying pints of mild, a couple while away the evening in one of the UK’s most fashionable cities.

But no, we’re not talking about 2022. Instead this is Liverpool in the late 1980s….

And although they were both working in hospitality back then, little did Julie and Les O’ Grady know that some 30 years on, they’d be running a different hospitality business of their own.

For Julie and they’d meet at Dunny’s Sports & Social Club. They’d get married, and have two children, Les would run a successful aquatics company while Julie had a decorated career in the NHS.

But after Les decide to call time on that venture, he’d hang up his fishing net and pick up his mash paddle, with Julie joining full time several years later.  

Celebrating their seventh birthday earlier this year, Neptune Brewery goes from strength-to-strength. In this episode, initially broadcast earlier in 2022, we discovered how they’ve done it.

UK sales of low-alcohol and no-alcohol beers have almost doubled in the last five years.

Alternative versions of global brands, while a raft of launches from independent businesses, have helped give drinkers an increasing number of options when it comes to the beer they drink.

If we look back at research from earlier this year, research group IWSR revealed that UK drinkers bought some $454m of alcohol-free and low-alcohol brews in 2021, $200m more than they did back in 2016. 

And during that period, the curious and determined duo of Bill Shufelt and John Walker brewed more than 100 test batches of non-alcoholic beer on a small home brewing system in order to perfect their proprietary process.

In doing so, they went on to start the US-based Athletic Brewing. Since starting out, they’ve gone from being one of the smallest breweries in America to a top-20 craft beer producer.

In this episode, co-founder Bill Shufelt talks us through the brewery’s journey, its expansion into the UK market and why losing the alcohol from your beer, shouldn’t mean you lose the variety. 

Since being founded by Adam Henderson in 2020, Azvex Brewing Company has gone on to become of the UK’s most respected producers of hop-forward pale ales and IPAs, fruited sours, and imperial stouts.

And head brewer Jack Walker has played a huge part in that journey.

Known and respected across the land, Jack has helped create a wealth of fantastic beers at the Liverpool-based business. And for that reason, we invited him to speak at our Brewers Lectures in Newcastle last month.

In his latest talk, Jack walked us through his approach to the production of the brewery’s delicious West Coast Pils.

He outlined the team’s approach to defining the style and water profile employed, to the mash, boil, bitterness as well as yeast and fermentation.

Jack described their dry-hopping regime and whether these beers should be hazy or not while concluding that these beers are an evolution of the West Coast IPA and a style still finding its feet.

With the 2022 iteration of The Brewers Congress almost among us, it was only right we revisited
the closing remarks from last year’s event, delivered by Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster at Brooklyn
Brewery.

At the end of the 2021 Brewers Congress, we learned that in beer, and the wider world, what
people love is for you to have the respect to show them what you love. And in doing so, they have
an opportunity to walk through a little door and potentially find something they really enjoy. But if
you don’t give people the chance, then they can’t respect you.

Garrett Oliver, as well all know, has hosted countless tastings. And he has seen that people can
surprise you. With their knowledge, their taste, with their enthusiasm.

In London, he told us that you should never assume that you know more than the person sitting in
front of you. That we all should be more inclusive, and to have the courage to put ourselves in front
of people who don’t look like us and maybe haven’t heard about our beer.

And also, he said that if you want to have a really good time, get everybody in the room. Not just
the people you know, but everybody because, put simply, everybody loves beer.

Photo: Nic Crilly-Hargrave

We’re all familiar with the saying time flies when you’re having fun.

When we last spoke to Rich White back in April last year, he was in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign and brewery fit out.

His long-held ambition to start a brewery of his own was becoming a reality. In that episode we spoke about his exciting plans for Werewolf Beer, their crowdfunding campaign, his love of brewing classic American styles and the brewery’s very own…. ghost train!

At that point it was very much a case of all hands on deck. And you can probably argue that little has changed since. Except now he has a brewery to call his own.

And it’s one making excellent beer that caters for the great and good from London and beyond. 

Let’s see how he’s been getting on….

Diversification in, or this case away, the world of brewing can mean more than producing different styles of beer or packaging said liquid in unusual package types.

An increasing number of breweries have, or at least considered, broadened their offering by entering the world of spirits. And for many, that means Gin.

And if you suspect big gin has a grip on the UK hospitality trade, you are correct. But this doesn’t mean you can’t get poured as well. Receiving the right data will help you understand your market – and competitors – as this episode will explain.

Data collection agency Shepper sends its ‘Sheppards’ out to pound concrete and come back with the real facts regarding products. In this case, they looked at 1,000 pubs, bars and restaurants across the UK to see what gins were being poured.

It found that not all towns ‘belong’ to big gin, glasses can make a difference if you want to charge more, and if you’re thinking of entering the tonic water market, you might want to think again.

In this episode from our sister publication The Distillers Journal, Toby Darbyshire of Shepper – who has been connected with the spirit industry for years – will explain all.