Brewers Journal Podcast

In an increasingly crowded marketplace, looking at new avenues to promote your beer is one way to broaden your market reach. Festivals, museums, hotels are three such examples so it’s a good thing then that the operations director at Tate Modern, the UK’s most popular visitor attraction, knows and loves his beer. Andrew Downs has...

In 2005, you would have got some pretty confused looks if you asked after the latest Imperial Pastry Sour. There would have been no Instagram to capture the ‘Iceman pour’ of your beverage and no Untappd to rate said beer on. The beer landscape has, unsurprisingly, changed beyond recognition in the 15 years since Nick...

In 1986, Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, Germany was still divided, a deal was signed to build the Chunnel, and Nethergate Brewery began pouring its first craft beer – although that was an expression no one was using back then. Named after the road it was located on in East Anglia, over the years it...

High IBU beers are back – no they’re not – yes they are – yes – no – yes – no,  it’s all enough to drive you crazy. Through our own fault of not educating customers, most of the time they equate IBU solely with hop flavour. No wonder they’re confused and driving us a...

Each year it seems like we’re willing to accept a bit more eccentricity with our beer and not even bat an eye while drinking the latest blueberry IPA or milkshake-flavoured stout. But mention pumpkin beer and the eyes roll back, hands clasp the stomach, and 999 calls are made for a medic. How, we ask,...

It has been a full one, that’s for sure. I look forward to the time when that’s not the case!” says Sam McMeekin, co-founder of London’s Gipsy Hill Brewing Company. Looking back on 2019, there’s no risk of understatement from McMeekin. In addition a brand refresh, the company has completely revamped its brewhouse and fermentation...

To hear some brewers talk, doing a collaboration with another brewery is a rite of passage, something every brewer has to do. But do they? You have your own brewery to run, with your own never-ending workload of paperwork, brewing, testing, delivering, cleaning, packaging, ordering, scheduling, and a whole lot more. Guess what, a collaboration...

Is it a snake-oil scam, a placebo, or something we’ll all be using soon for everything from anxiety attacks to joint pain? Regardless, is taking a dose of hemp through a can of beer the way to go? In this episode of The Brewers Journal Podcast, we’ll be stepping into the CBD debate, we’ll be...

You’re done all you can to make a decent beer, but then the calls start coming in. Pubs are complaining that your cans look like they’re ready to explode. Drinkers are complaining that your beer tastes awful. Another said when they opened the can, all the beer shot out like a geyser. Chances are, you’re...

A good stout or porter is something beautiful to behold in your glass and in your mouth. Smooth and creamy with a wonderful balance – a dark will have you forgetting an IPA in a heartbeat as it dances across your taste buds. Probably, no other type of beer allows a brewer to show off...

In 2019, the UK lager scene is in good health. There is a wealth of truly excellent beers being produced by breweries of all shapes and sizes and, for the most part, you’re never too far away from a great pint. The drinker realises that there is something known as choice when they’re in the...

Quality should be paramount above all else, says Andy Leman, head brewer at Timothy Taylor’s. And when you’re producing consistently excellent beer, time and time again, such an approach to brewing is clearly working for the Yorkshire-based business. In this podcast, recorded at the Brewers Congress, Andy gives us an overview of cask- conditioned beer,...

In modern brewing, if your business has been around for more than five years you’re considered something of an industry veteran. So for a brewery to celebrate its 22nd anniversary in 2019 is a fantastic achievement, indeed. But when see the high regard beers such as Lagonda, Manchester Bitter and Pint are held in, alongside...

Brooklyn Brewery masterbrewer Garrett Oliver says “If you don’t have a religion, you can’t be a craft brewer.” His time spent in London in 1983-84 set in motion a career that has greatly shaped the US and global brewing scene. In this episode of the Brewers Journal Podcast we hear how Garrett Oliver’s career unfolded,...

You might be making the best beer on the planet, but in a market that is becoming  more crowded and competitive, how are you going to get somebody to make that discovery? You have to think marketing. While some brewers act like the word is the most obscene one out there, not fit to mention...

There are rules you play by as a craft brewer. You have an active tap room, you’re located somewhere near your customers, and the very last thing you would do are cask ales. And let’s throw into this mix, you started with home brewing never, ever, coming from a big brewer. Don’t even bother showing...

In part one of a special ‘On the road’ broadcast of the Brewers Journal podcast, we were at Jerusalem’s Shapiro brewery. In part two, host Velo Mitrovich of Reby Media will be taking you to Taybeth Brewing Company in Palestine. If you were a bird with strong wings, you could fly between the two breweries...

When you hear mention of ‘Jerusalem’, your mind instantly pictures many things which could fill this page about a million times over, ranging from the song sung at weddings, to King Richard the Lion Heart. Chances are though, craft beer isn’t one of them. But, the Shapiro brothers are out to change that – and...

We’re not short of initiatives and schemes launching in the UK to help tackle food waste, but an impressive array of new product developments have also launched across the country aiming to tackle areas of wastage from wonky fruit and veg to surplus bread. The Brewers Journal Podcast speaks to Toast, an ethical beer brand...

If you have a brewery, you need a tap room, says Ritchie Bosworth, Head Brewer and CEO of Coventry’s Twisted Barrel brewery. “For us, it’s the main source of our revenue. If you’re going to be a brewer, no matter how small or big your set-up is, you need a tap room,” says Ritchie Bosworth....

In part I we gave you the history and the whys; now we’re given you the nuts and bolts on wood barrel aging. Aging beer in wooden barrels in not for the feint hearted, but if you can’t get a climbing pass for K2 this year, it’s the next best thing. Wooden barrel-aged beer has...

Wooden barrel-aged beer has been described by brewers as everything from chaos in a barrel, to what keeps them up at night. When it’s done right and the barrel adds flavours to the beer that can be obtained nowhere else, it’s pretty-near a perfect drink. However, even the best of brewers say that at least...

It goes by a lot of names. Near-beer; non-alcohol beer; no-alcohol beer; non-alcoholic beer; NA, or malt beverage. But for most of the last 40 years or so, ‘good’ is not something it’s been called. Because of the negative stigma that goes with drinking non-alcohol beer, in the States bartenders have been even known to...

We head to the Beavertown Brewery in Tottenham Hale to sit down with founder Logan Plant and discuss the plans for the 500,000hl brewery in Enfield called: Beaverworld. We talk about the pains of growing a brewery, the toll it takes on mental health and your family. Logan gives his advice to brewers embarking on...

There are two ways to start a craft brewery business. The first is to be born with a silver spoon, have deep-pocketed investors who see your potential, or have fantastic money-raising skills. Any or all of these means you can start with decent new equipment, can afford to pay for a small staff, and even...