Hop Forward: Getting You Ahead in the Brewing and Beer Business

In these Fermenting Thoughts, Nick and Sean get festive and discuss plans for Christmas and our ideal cask beers for Christmas, which leads us on to a question, 'What Makes a Good Pub?'.  Sean shares from his experience of running hospitality venues over the many years why a pub should be like a warm hug, while Nick goes off on a rant about some craft beer venues alienating families with children...

On Monday 4th December 2022, it was announced that Warrington's Twisted Wheel Brew Co had ceased trading.  Numerous factors contributed to the closing of this much loved brewery, including Covid, consumer confidence, cost of living crisis and the escalating costs of raw materials. The announcement came within days of Wild Beer Co - a brewery renown for its barrelling programme - statement that the...

In a new series of industry insights, Hop Forward host Nick Law is joined by The Beverage Agent Sean Robertson for their regular reflections on the beer, beverage and hospitality industry. This week, in response to two announcements from Wild Beer Co and Twisted Wheel, we discuss brewery closures and try to take a practical look at what breweries can do in these unstable economic times to try to s...

Times are tough for brewers, retailers, hospitality and supply chain businesses at the moment.  Raw materials, chemicals, packaging costs and even blue roll has increased exponentially in price.  And that's not even to mention business rates, taxation and the like. In a recent blog post , Steve Dunkley of Manchester's Beer Nouveau reported that no less than 47 breweries have closed in 2022.  Simil...

We celebrate episode 150 of the Hop Forward Podcast by travelling to England's  Rural Capital of Food to visit Round Corner Brewing .  Situated in the market town of Melton Mowbray, famous for the pork pie, co-founder of the brewery Combie Cryan joins us to answer the question that many brewing businesses may be asking during the current economic crisis: what does it take to run a brewery in 2022?...

On the Hop Forward Podcast this week, we're joined by Neil Rothwell - co-founder of Liverpool's Top Rope Brewing.  Coming up to their 6th birthday celebrations, we take a look back at their journey and explore Liverpool's beer scene.  We also discuss the many challenges they (and similar breweries) have and are facing as they wrestle their way through these turbulent times. THIS WEEK'S EPISODE OF...

This week on the Hop Forward Podcast, we're joined once again by author Pete Brown to discuss his latest book, Clubland: How The Working Men's Club Shaped Britain .  We explore some of the questions surrounding classism, the preconceptions many people have about social clubs and working men's clubs, as well as exploring whether craft brewers should be creating offerings that cater to social clubs...

There's no doubt that the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme will cause unnecessary disruption to beverage producers here in the United Kingdom.  But how much havoc will this ill-thought-out scheme actually have on its micro-brewers? Coming hot on the heels of a pandemic, an economic and energy crisis, historic changes to how alcohol tax is calculated and a war that has had a major impact o...

A recent article from Paste Magazine called Iconic Craft Breweries Are Completely Surrendering to IPA Dominance has divided opinion on IPAs in discussions online amongst beer lovers. As someone who has a love-hate relationship with IPAs (mostly Hazy IPAs using Citra, Simcoe and Mosaic that look and taste like the next Hazy IPA), this article got me thinking about the nature of marketing IPAs, why...

This week on the Hop Forward Podcast we’re asking the question, ‘Is small the next BIG thing?’ when it comes to owning and operating a brewery.  We catch up with David Eastwood from Southsea Brewing Company and Mathew Bould from Brewis Beer Co based in Amble, UK, to talk about nano-breweries and brew-pub models as a viable alternative to large-pack production sized breweries. In a climate where br...

Brewer and Brother at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, Fr Mateusz, often says that people know more about the surface of the moon than they do about monks. Nestled away in the idlic Leicestershire countryside amongst the rolling hills is Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, a monastery founded in 1835 on land provided by Ambrose de Lisle, who was eager to re-introduce monastic life into the United Kingdom. As tim...

This week, my Fermenting Thoughts are taken from a seminar I ran at SIBA Beer X in Liverpool, March 2022, called 'Brewery Marketing: How to Get Your Beer Buisness Ahead of the Crowd'. We explore everything from how marketing should start with being human right through to crafting a compelling story that will enable consumers to tap into your brand and narrative with integrity. You can download the...

On the Hop Forward Podcast this week, we ask the question, 'Can British Hops Really Create an Incredible IPA?' to Will Rogers, technical director for hop merchant, Charles Faram. To answer this question, we partnered with Charles Faram to brew one for ourselves using hops from Charles Faram's hop breeding programme, making use of hops such as Harlequin, Jester, Olicana, Godiva, Mystic and their mo...

On the Hop Forward Podcast this week, we're joined by Duration Brewing co-founder, Miranda Hudson, to talk about their forthcoming crowdfunding campaign .  The brewery is planning to expand capacity and build an immersive taproom and kitchen at its historic 10th century priory site. “We’ve some incredible plans to make this one of the most beautiful and atmospheric places to drink in the UK, as we...

Standard Brew Co is a customer-owned, subscription-based brewery, shipping out new and exclusive, small batch IPA’s every month. Each subscriber receives twelve shares in the business and become an owner with Standard Brew Co, all whilst enjoying brand new, crushable beers. We're joined by Milo Oddi, founder behind Standard Brew Co, to discover more about this brewery with a unique subscription mo...

On this week’s episode of the Hop Forward Podcast, Nick is joined by none other than homebrewing legend and author Stan Hieronymus to talk about a subject close to his heart: brewing like a monk. We discuss everything from what makes a good Trappist and abbey style beer, how Double IPAs have taken a leaf out of Belgian style beers, and dispel some of the myths surrounding monasticism and brewing....

If you're listening to this on the date of publication, it's my birthday!  In these fermenting thoughts, I share some thoughts on my favourite beers, breweries and bars, as well as take a trip down memory lane on the role beer has played in my life over the last 40 years.  Yes, it's self indulgent... but it's my birthday!

In this week's episode of the podcast, Nick is joined by Yvan Seth and Justin Rivett from UK distributor Jolly Good Beer , looking at the issues regarding the recycling chain with one trip kegs.  We take a deep dive into an issue that is largely being ignored throughout the supply chain and passed like the hot potato. We also discuss potential solutions and ask a few non-recycling questions such a...

This week's fermenting thoughts are about consumers expectations when it comes to beer styles.  How we frame a beer often determines how a customer perceives it.  If we misdescribe what's in the glass, it can yield some terrible feedback from drinkers who aren't - or are getting more than - they bargained for. Nick recounts his oxidised DIPA story with some cutting feedback and explores what we ca...

We're joined this week by Adam Henderson, owner and brewer of Liverpool's newest brewery, Azvex Brewing .  Adam, a mechanical engineer by trade and former partner at Neon Raptor, set up 30HL brewhouse in Liverpool that utilises a Thermal Fluid System. We discuss the process of setting up the brewery and having to commission a kit from afar due to Covid-19, through to what it takes to brew and pack...

This week, we're extremely excited to have Professor Charlie Bamforth - a.k.a The Pope of Foam - grace us with his presence on the Hop Forward Podcast. Charlie is a former president of Institute of Brewing and Distilling and was also Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at University of California, Davis between 1999 and 2018.  Following his retirement from the Universi...

This week on the Hop Forward Podcast, we're joined by Sapwood Cellar's co-founder and author of The New IPA to discuss what it takes to make fantastic, modern IPAs and the science behind hopping.  We explore the process from field to fermentation, right through to packaging IPAs and creating shelf-stability for these highly volatile beers. Please note that the audio quality of this week's discussi...

This week's fermenting thoughts are about Meta Platforms Inc. taking down breweries Instagram posts and shadow-banning because they're simply trying to inform consumers about their products through the platform without paying for advertising. I look at what this means for you and your business, what shadow banning is, why this is worrying on a wider level and explore some ways to get around it. Ma...

At the start of 2020, Gavin Martin - co-owner and head brewer of Sheffield's Neepsend Brew Co - had the challenge of moving his 10BBL to a new site in a matter of weeks, while keeping the business going and beer flowing. Unfortunately, on the day they were mashing in for the first time on their new site, the radio was also announcing that all pubs were to shut at that evening as the United Kingdom...

This week, we're joined by Reading's Double Barrelled Brewery co-founder Luci Clayton-Jones to share her reflections on scaling a brewery from a 120L nano-setup in her and her husband's garage to a 24HL brewhouse with a taproom. We discuss the reality of running a brewery business and some of the naivety that comes with inexperience when you're fresh to the industry, as many of us were when we sta...