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

On the Hop Forward Podcast this week, two designers involved in the craft beer space - Marcus Ohanesian ( Perfect Evolution ) and podcast host Nick Law ( Hop Forward ) discuss branding from a designer's perspective. How has beer branding changed over time?  How does a designer approach a branding project?  What does a brewer need to do to get their product to stand out on a shelf or a bar?  And wh...

Already a year in the making, Moonwake Beer Co based in Leith, Edinburgh, spent January 2021 lockdown awaiting delivery of their 35hl three-vessel brew kit that has been delayed due to a backlog of containers at the Port of Felixstowe due to issues stemming from Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. Demolition in their Tower Street unit commenced in January 2020 with work being halted due to the March...

I first became aware of Vocation Brewery on a warm summer’s drive to Stamford in 2015.  As we passed The Green Man pub on the edge of the town, I saw an A-board sporting a design that reminded me of The Eye of Ra.  I took particular notice of it because in my post-college days, I had been in a band with a similar looking logo.  This was one of my first interactions with the brewery, though it woul...

During his 5 years as Head Brewer at London Brewing Co , Rich White - original up upstate New York - was able to help it grow from a tiny kitchen brewery to a full size production facility, creating amazing, award winning beers that sold all over the UK.  As well as at one time even simultaneously taking over 10 taps at over 200 Nicholson's pubs in London, Rich brewed collaborations that even went...

Sustainability and ethics are not only becoming a part of brewery life but are starting to come to the forefront for the modern beer business. One brewery who are serious about working out their CO2 emissions and make a real life difference is Cheltenham’s DEYA Brewing Company . DEYA have become synonymous with their flagship beer, Steady Rolling Man: a soft, opaque New England style Pale Ale that...

On this week's episode of the Hop Forward Podcast, we talk to Ali Capper from the British Hop Association about the devasting impact that the pandemic is having on British hop farmers, coupled up with the conitnued plight of climate change and favour of importing hops from other regions in the world. We discuss how supply chain businesses have largely been ignored by the government when doling out...

Pubs have long been a staple part of society, particularly in these parts in the world, and has undergone countless changes over the centuries.  However, even in war time - where pubs were forced to operate on restricted hours to both keep the streets dark during blackouts or by keeping workers sober and hangover free, there was still opportunity to frequent the local. Fast Forward to the 21st cen...

Founded in 1980, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co . is arguably one of America’s premier craft breweries.  Renowned for exclusively using whole-cone hops, Sierra Nevada has set the standard for artisan brewers worldwide with beers like Tropedio, Big Foot and their West Coast style Stout. But it’s the modern classic, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale that thrust the brewery into the consciousness of consumers and has...

Since 2015, Neptune Brewery have been brewing both traditional and modern quality beers.  In keeping with the brewery’s name - that, as you’ll hear was birthed from their parent business - the majority of their lucious beers are given water-themed names deriving from fish, the sea, and mythological creatures. Neptune Brewery are well known, highly respected and fondly regarded around these parts o...

Hailing from Leeds, sometimes referred to as the ‘London of the North’, Northern Monk began underground in a damp cellar with little more than £5000 - a gift from founder Russell Bisset’s grandparents - and an adventurous northern spirit. Since those heady days of reinvesting the profits into a sesh on the beers, Bisset and head brewer Brian Dickson quickly pulled ahead in the British beer scene,...

From a cold store in an apartment that leaked into his neighbour’s flat below to building a second larger brewery in Lagos, Kevin Bature and co-founder James Turley set up Nigeria’s first craft brewery, Bature Brewery . With a vision to produce high quality beers in West Africa, Bature Brewery is a cross pollination of international ownership and is working towards giving its dedicated team of bre...

On the Hop Forward Podcast this week, we take a look over the past year and our experiences of the brewing industry throughout the global pandemic, before turning our attention to the story of brewer Donncha Bruke. Donncha has worked for a variety of brewers and has experienced a variety of ups and downs, including having to close a brewery, throughout his years of brewing beer. We hope you have a...

One of the privileges I had while working in the brewing industry is meeting and working with some fantastic individuals, one of which is Christian Barden from Kegstar . Coming from a background in brewing and hospitality working with companies such as Whitebread, AB InBev and Cott Beverages , along with active involvement in companies such as BrewBroker and Kegstar , Christian is an entrepreneur...

Chris Hodgetts, founder of Levithan Brewing , worked in management consultancy for almost 20 years, often spending large portions of time away from home. As an avid beer lover, it was only after being diagnosed with cancer in 2017 that Chris decided to do something that would enable him to be at home with his family each night - brewing. Although Chris was given the all clear, in June 2018 he was...

There are countless stories of brewers, cider and wine makers across the world who have abandoned city life and the smell of smog for the countryside and the aroma of freshly malted barley and green hops. One such couple to take such a bold step are Miranda Hudson and Derek Bates, founders of Duration Brewing . Leaving a brewing post at Brew by Numbers and architects in London respectively, Bates...

This week on the Hop Forward Podcast we are talking all about beer and music with Sam McGregor from Signature Brew . Like many musicians, founders and cousins Sam and Tom left the touring circuit back in 2011 to set up Signature Brew with the same DIY spirit that most artists and musicians adopt to creating and releasing their records. Signature Brew channels the spirit and energy of live music in...

This week we turn our attention to Southampton’s Unity Brewing Co , who recently celebrated their fourth birthday this October past with the release of a special four-pack of collaboration beers. Unity is a 20 hectolitre craft brewery known for its modern, hop-forward craft beer including Conflux Pale Ale and Collision IPA. In the past 12 months the team have expanded into larger premises, taken d...

This week on the Hop Forward Podcast we reconnect with Timothy Taylor ’s Chief Executive to discuss their stance and statement on the reforms to Small Breweries’ Relief. When calls to boycott breweries and pull of out of pints ensued like a cascade of beer flowing from a DVP with an open dump valve, many of the breweries who form part of the Small Breweries’ Duty Reform Coalition (SBDRC) scrambled...

In this week’s episode of the Hop Forward Podcast we talk to Jack Hobday, co-founder of London’s Anspach & Hobday about the proposed beer duty reform and how it will affect small independent craft breweries, hindering growth rather than promoting it. The first in a two part series looking at SBR, we are on a mission to give an overview of the reforms, presenting arguments from both sides (thos...

On the Hop Forward Podcast this week we talk with Greg Avola, CEO of the popular beer check-in app, Untappd , which celebrates its 10th birthday this week, discussing everything from big data, review culture and why 4pm is officially Beer O’Clock. Twelve years ago, my wife and I started a list that we stuck to our fridge called ‘Beers We Have Known and Loved’. The idea was simple: for every beer w...

This week's episode features Alan Mahon, founder of Brewgooder and Work In Progress . Work In Progress is an open to all breweries that aspire to build a more inclusive and representative beer industry. The breweries involved - including everyone from London’s Mondo Brewing Company , Liverpool’s Neptune Brewery , Bristol’s Left Handed Giant and many more, are committed to taking action in their bu...

On the Hop Forward Podcast this week, we are talking all about business with Kelly Sidgwick from Bristol based brewery Good Chemistry Brewing . Unfortunately, many business owners have had a rough ride throughout 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. While it’s usually enough in and of itself to deal with the myriad of issues that arise on a daily basis while running a business, the national lockd...

On the Hop Forward Podcast this week, we catch up with Jason Bayliffe: founder of Wiltshire's Broadtown Brewery . A railway engineer by trade, Jason took his passion for home brewing to the next level by converting an old, derelict coach house from the 1830’s, which once held the dray horses of the old Hart ‘Brewing Family’ of Broad Town and Royal Wootton Bassett, bought not one, but two 500L Germ...

On this week’s almighty yeast of a show we are talking all things fermentation and dried yeast with Lallemand Brewing ’s Technical Sales Manager for the UK and Scandinavia, Andrew Paterson. I doubt there is a topic that genuinely gets brewers out of bed more than yeast. Just ask them a question like, ‘How does chronically depleted oxygen resources affect fermentation across yeast generations?’, or...

In this week’s episode, we’re talking all about brewing IPAs with Pipeline Brewing Co ’s Jonny Cooper. There’s not a shadow of a doubt that the craft beer revolution owes much of its success and prominence due to the humble India Pale Ale. As we all know through historians and beer writers, the passage to India back in the 18th century was a lengthy excursion, giving the beer ample opportunity to...