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

Ric Womersley runs a social enterprise with the aim of raising awareness one beer at a time. Spotlight Brewing, based on the outskirts of Snaith, aims to produce top class beers along with providing a tailored workplace for people with learning disabilities; all while trying to educate and raise awareness surrounding disabilities. Running a social enterprise comes with its challenges though, espec...

On the podcast this week, we talk to Dan, Pip and Lizzy from Eyes Brewery about something BIG that is brewing in Bradford: There are some amazing beers being produced in the UK at the moment. However, not everyone gets the praise they deserve for one reason or another. BIG is our opportunity to put that right! BIG is a beer festival celebrating the new wave of UK craft breweries destined to grow l...

On this week's episode of the Hop Forward podcast we catch up with owner of Bath's Chapter One, Michael Heap, to discuss setting up and running a bar, what considerations bar owners make when purchasing beers to sell, and how to handle the beer bros who want the latest, craziest beers available. Today’s show is proudly sponsored by Brew Broker – the marketplace for the brewing industry. With over...

Nestled in a railway arch down in Ardwick, Manchester, is a brewery doing things differently to its next door neighbours. Within a stone's throw of Wander Beyond, Alphabet Brewing Company and Track Brew Co - and a mere walk from Cloudwater - Manchester Union Brewery are not turning out big juicy DIPAs or thick luscious imperial stouts, but have turned to traditional central European lager brewing...

On the Hop Forward Podcast this week, we mix skateboards with brewing as we talk to Beer Riff's Rhys Pillai all about the Swansea based brewery and tap room. We discuss everything from building a brand and a business in a coastal city far from the UK's brewing and beer hubs such as Manchester, Newcastle and London; through to recent the crowdfunding woes consumers have faced when their favourite b...

In this week’s episode, Nick ventures over the Pennines to one of the leading breweries in contemporary beer: Cloudwater Brew Co. However, if you’re expecting an episode about Cloudwater rise to success or how they obtain bold, punchy flavours in their beers, then think again! We caught up with founder and director, Paul Jones, in Cloudwater’s Unit 9 Tap Room to chat about mental health and the im...

There are so many issues surrounding cask beer, everything from low margins and dodgy pump clips, to bad cellaring and badly brewed beers. The list is seemingly endless. However, for all it's negative points, there is nothing quite like a pint of cask ale when stored and served correctly. This week on the Hop Forward Podcast, we talk to veteran brewer Shane Swindells from the Cheshire Brewhouse to...

Award-winning writer Melissa is widely acknowledged as one of the UK’s leading beer & food experts. In this episode of the Hop Forward Podcast, Nick invites Melissa to share her experiences as a beer writer and what it takes in today’s digital age to make a living from beer journalism, alongside other creative endeavours. Melissa also shares how her face ends up on a pint of Guinness! And Nick...

Designating himself as driver, he taxied a group of friends around a variety of brewery tap rooms - everything from craft upstairs Wild Weather and Siren Craft, to the well-established West Berkshire Brewery and Wytchwood, famous for their beer Hobgoblin - allowing them to experience the full pallet of offerings from a range of breweries, all heralding different styles. In this episode, we ask Car...

The Queer Brewing Project is a new non-profit collaborative brewing initiative led by artist and beer writer Lily Waite. Inspired by the likes of Denmark’s Hops Not Hate and People Like Us, and London’s Craft Beer Cares festival, the project hopes to use collaborative brewing as a vehicle for fundraising and conversation, raising awareness of LGBTQ+ issues. In this week's episode of the Hop Forwar...

This week, on the Hop Forward Podcast, we talk to a businessman who is going after the macro-brands with his eco-friendly, vegan lager, Bumble Beer. Jason Winter is the entrepreneur behind Bumble Beer: a premium, pilsner-style craft lager that is fully vegan on a mission to save our nation’s bees, provided sustainability within the entire supply chain for both his brand and other brewers to build...

Fermenting Thoughts are bonus mini-episodes aimed at getting you ahead in the brewing and beer business where Hop Forward founder, Nick Law, shares his knowledge, thoughts and expertise on various aspects of running a beer business. In this episode, Nick explore why branding is so important for you and your beer business and share about the best beer you'll never try. We explore what a brand isn't...

Our senses and being able bodied is something many of us take for granted. But how would you respond if you were to lose your eyesight, hearing or a limb? Life for you would change dramatically as the everyday things we take for granted, such as ordering a pint over the bar or navigating through your favourite brewery tap room, would suddenly become extremely challenging. Unfortunately, this is ho...

There's never been a better time to keg beer. One way packaging means brewers don't have to round up empty steel kegs from bars and pubs, whilst landlords can dispose easily of the container once it's been used... right?! But where do our one-way kegs end up? Many can't be recycled easily. That's where Ecokeg are fighting the battle of sustainability with their line of fully recycled and recyclabl...

SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers, was established in 1980 to represent the interests of the growing number of breweries in Britain, and currently represents around 830 independent craft breweries in the UK. Regardless of your own thoughts on SIBA, there’s no denying their active role in lobbying government helped bring about Small Breweries’ Relief, which has played a pivotal role in the n...

When news broke that Magic Rock Brewing sold their fledgling business to Australia's Lion, Twitter started trending with #MagicRock as people in droves started discussing 'What does this mean?!' yet again. Hot on the heels after independent bottle shop closures and Tesco's all-singing, all-dancing craft beer range moving up a gear, the perfect storm was brewing for emotions to run high and opinion...

Abbeydale Brewery have been around the block and then some! Founded by Patrick Morton and with his father Hugh in 1996, they quickly carved out a reputation for themselves in Sheffield and beyond by brewing traditional cask beers such as the award winning 'Moonshine', 'Daily Bread' and 'Absolution'. Over the last three years, Abbeydale Brewery have grown substantially, re-establishing themselves i...

In this week's episode, we catch up with Charles Sibbald, a man who built his own canning machine! Having been challenged by a fellow brewer to come up with a solution for his own brewery, he set his hand and finances towards developing a micro-canning line for breweries similar to his own. Charles talks about the advantages and disadvantages of cans over bottles, what brewers should consider when...

Yeastie Boys isn't your conventional brewery. They span the northern and southern hemisphere, operating out of the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia, their products are readily available in national supermarkets, and yet they don't own a brewhouse of their own. This week we talk to the benevolent dictator of the Yeastie Boys, Stu McKinlay, about moving his family from New Zealand to brew t...

In this week's episode we chat to Willy Mayne of Bullhouse Brew Co based in Belfast, who talks about some of the difficulties selling beer in Northern Ireland due to archaic laws surrounding licensing and public houses, exporting to mainland Britain and the challenges with wholesalers, and moving beer into the Republic of Ireland; also discussing what Brexit could beer for craft beer in Northern I...

We caught up with David Jackson, CEO of EeBria: a technology business that exists to serve the craft beer industry. Having learned from and left Viagogo, David Jackson set up EeBria, which is now the UK's largest independent craft beer wholesaler, utilising technology for breweries to deliver their beers direct to your door and to landlord's via their trade site, EeBria Trade. In this episode, we...

Richard Morrice has an impressive CV. Marketing Director for Courage Brewing (John Smith's, Foster's, and Miller), Richard moved on to set up his own marketing agency, working with the huge multinational companies such as Heineken, Coca Cola, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Fullers, among many others. These days, Richard is a semi-retired consultant within the drinks industry and runs beer tasting events,...

This week, we talk to Eyes Brewing - the UK’s first wheat focused brewery, based in Bradford - an old industrial city in the heart of Yorkshire. I first met Dan Logan in 2016. At the time a stand-up comedian and formerly a teacher, Dan had the dream to start his own brewery focusing on wheat beers with a modern twist. Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of seeing Dan develop his brewer...

On this week’s episode, we catch up with award winning beer writer, photographer and consultant Matthew Curtis to chat about beer trends and social media, exploring everything from packaging types, whether breweries should chase the hype of Hazy and Brut IPAs, and what kind of legacy beer business are leaving behind - if any. Matthew appears regularly in publications such as Original Gravity Magaz...

Our interview with a new microbrewery has a unique and interesting background… Husband and wife duo - Dann and Martha Paquette - set up The Brewery of Saint Mars of the Desert (Beers of SMOD, for short) after their last venture, Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project, came to an end. Souring various locations across the UK, Europe and America, Dann and Martha set up shop in an unlikely location in t...