Episodes

The role provenance plays in beer is something we rightfully celebrate. It can give the beer an identity and a sense of place. And today’s guest has made it his goal to recognise and toast British ingredients, as well as the agricultural excellence that helps make it all possible. Meet Kirk Stamford. He’s the founder of Atlantic Archipelago, an independent beer brand headquartered in Norfolk. Following an extended period of travel across the United Kingdom, the business draws inspiration from t...

Fresh from celebrating the brewery’s latest birthday at the end of 2025, the team at Full Circle are gearing up for another year of growth and evolution. One of the UK’s most revered and regarded modern breweries, Full Circle’s 2025 was characterised by new releases and collaborations to events, community gatherings, and behind-the-scenes milestones. And later this month, we are thrilled to be heading to their excellent Newcastle taproom for our first Brewers Lectures of 2026. The Brewers Lec...

When it comes to brewing, what excites you? The beautiful thing about beer is that we all come at it from different directions, with different passions, different opinions. And for Red Kellie, she loves making a wealth of different beers that end up in cask, keg, bottle and can. But it’s working with wild and foraged ingredients where her and team really come into their own. Red is joint owner and head brewer of the First & Last Brewery. Founded with husband Sam, First & Last is a family-run br...

Fresh from celebrating their triumphant 20th anniversary in 2025, Thornbridge can reflect on another year of growth and evolution. And in 2026, beer fans can expect a raft of new beers including a number of fresh releases from its celebrated Union system. So as we gear up for another 12 months of beautiful beer, let’s take a look back at our conversation with brewery co-founder Simon Webster from this time last year ahead of what prove to be a fantastic period for the Bakewell business. There ...

Meet Tamar Banner, a veteran of the craft beer industry, having started brewing professionally in the US in 2001. In more than 24 years of brewing, she has worked in the brewhouse, cellar, packaging, quality, and management. She is currently the brewmaster at To Øl Brewery in Denmark where she manages brewing, packaging, quality and recipe development. Prior to To Øl, she worked for Harpoon Brewery in both Boston and Vermont, New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado, and BrewDog Brewery i...

From Café Kick to Coin Laundry, and from Moro to Mikkeller, Exmouth Market in London is a favourite spot for many in the capital. For good reason, too… And since late 2019, the Mikkeller Brewpub has been serving the great and the good a wealth of excellent beers. For fans of brilliant beer there are few experiences more enjoyable than imbibing it at the source. Be that at a brewery taproom, or the brewpub model more commonly found in North America, the idea of grain to glass can mean beer at i...

It’s been another fantastic year for Windsor’s Two Flints… Following on from the recent release of their celebrated collab Double IPA with Ghost Whale’s Ray Hadnett, the brewery has also worked with NZ Hops on their Bract Project initiative. Not only that, they’ve released one of the year’s best dark beers in Heartwood – the barrel aged evolution of their debut Imperial Stout ‘Into the Night’. So with that in mind, we’re revisiting our conversation with founder Alex Kerr from earlier this yea...

Being part of the teams at two of the UK’s most regarded breweries is good going by anyone’s standards. But for Robin Head-Fourman, the opportunity to open a brewery of his own was an opportunity that was too hard to turn down. And in doing so, represents the latest stage in a decorated brewing career. And if you don’t know him personally, there’s a good chance you have enjoyed a beer he has brewed. Part of the revered Burning Sky in Firle since 2016, he would go on to join a fellow Sussex bre...

Showcasing and celebrating the finest beers and breweries from around the globe is one of the most rewarding parts of the brewing industry. And at the end of September here at The Brewers Journal we toasted the winners of our very own Brewers Choice Awards. But for these events to happen, breweries need to be prepared to show off their latest creations and decorated judges from far and wide need to assess the great and good. And with the entry deadline for the 2026 World Beer Cup rapidly appr...

In the world of drinks production it’s not unusual to find a mutual admiration between brewing and distilling. Especially if you were a graduate of the world-famous Heriot-Watt University’s Brewing and Distilling School in Edinburgh. And Ben Murphy is one such graduate. Boasting a wealth of brewing and distilling experience, he’s now helping put a Northumberland business on the international stage. He’s the head distiller at Ad Gefrin. Officially opening in 2023, Ad Gefrin was the first whisk...

If you’re looking for a way to demonstrate how the UK craft beer scene has changed and evolved in the last decade, then the Bermondsey Beer Mile is a pretty good place to start. An amalgamation of breweries, taproom and bars that stretch along much of Enid Street and Druid Street in London SE1, businesses have come – and businesses have gone since The Kernel started brewing back in 2009. While a lay person might not have heard of your favourite brewery or your favourite brew, the success of th...

While we primarily focus on the wonderful world of beer and brewing, it’s occasionally important to take time to look at the excellent innovation taking place across the wider world of drinks. So at our Brewers Congress in the Autumn, we invited the team at Botivo to share their story. Botivo, which is non-alcoholic, is an intensely refreshing aperitivo with a bittersweet backbone, herbal notes and a tang of citrus. A big-sipping drink hand-blended in small batches at Lannock Farm, the Botivo ...

Pete Brown is a British author, journalist, broadcaster and consultant specialising in food and drink. His latest book ‘Tasting Notes: The Art and Science of Pairing Beer With Music’ was published this year. And since February 2025, he has been the Sunday Times Magazine’s weekly beer columnist – the only regular broadsheet newspaper or magazine beer columnist in the UK. Across thirteen books, his broad, fresh approach takes in social history, cultural commentary, travel writing, personal disco...

Francesco Lo Bue is an agronomist with a degree in food technology, specialised in hops aromatic compounds. He’s also a brewer with 10 years of experience in the some most advanced craft breweries in Europe and the UK such as Beavertown in London.

 With that wealth of knowledge at his disposal, we invited Francesco to deliver a talk on hop compounds at our recent Brewers Congress in London. He outlines how hop compounds peak at different times and explained how brewers can bring them all int...

What is the secret behind running a successful brewery? For today’s guest, the ability to make strategic production choices and prioritize markets is key. Marian Reed is the General Manager and Head of Business Development at Sudden Death Brewing in Lübeck, Germany. Throughout her career, she has been able to connect vision to actions, identify root causes and best outcomes, while managing team members in a way that best suits their own personal development arcs. And last month she flew into ...

In today’s brewing world an entire brand from concept to completion can be developed for you in seconds at the touch of a button, or outsourced to agencies who almost definitely don’t know your beer as well as you do. However, as this week’s guest asks, in an increasingly digital world, how do modern marketing strategies resonate with consumers who are looking for something more tangible, something genuine, something authentic? In his talk on ‘Reflections on Authenticity’ at our recent Brewers...

Last month The Kernel celebrated its 16th (!) birthday. A fantastic achievement by one of the UK’s most-loved breweries. And as the dust settles on our very own Brewers Congress event in the capital last week, we wanted to revisit our chat with brewery founder Evin O’Riordain from earlier this year before normal service resumes on The Brewers Journal podcast next week…. The London brewing scene has changed a great deal in the last decade. Styles have come into, then gone out of, fashion. People...

Our 2025 Brewers Choice Awards take place on the 30th September and Anspach & Hobday are nominated for both ‘Brewery of The Year’ and ‘Beer of The Year’ for the fantastic London Black. With that in mind, let’s revisit the talk that Paul Anspach, co-founder of London business, gave in Bristol earlier this year. Every so often a beer comes along and things just click. A combination of brilliant branding, a brilliant brewery and, of course, a brilliant beverage are essential ingredients for a beer...

There are little more than three weeks to go until The 2025 Brewers Congress and Brewers Choice Awards. One company nominated in this year’s awards is the fantastic Thornbridge. So what better time for us to revisit our interview with co-founder Simon Webster from earlier this year. There are certain joys, certain constants when it comes to the world of beer. And one of those has to be the pleasure when scanning the bar for a pint and you happen across the pump clip for Jaipur on cask. It’s a...

Brian Dickson is the co-founder and technical director at Leeds-based Northern Monk. One of the UK’s finest brewers, he’s been an integral member of the Yorkshire business since it started out in 2014. And an important part of the brewery’s current path is its journey to carbon neutral operations. In his recent talk, he shared some of Northern Monk’s achievements to-date in the fields of water, wastage, electricity and nitrogen. He also outlined the team’s future plans and goals that include...

The 2025 release of Pliny The Younger, the ever-popular annual iteration of Russian River Brewing Company’s Triple IPA, was unsurprisingly a hit. So what better time to revisit our conversation with Vinnie Cirluzo, co-founder of the seminal US brewery? We hope you enjoy… In the world of beer, there are a number of real positives when it comes to working for, or running, a brewery. Creating something that people enjoy, savour and value is a goal in any artistic venture. And in ownership, so is ...

If you’ve not had a beer from Hall and Woodhouse, you’re sure to know someone that has. Blandford Fly, Fursty Ferret Amber Ale and Tangle Foot Golden Ale are long-established household names while the newer Outland brand, with beers such as its Tropical Pale Ale, West Coast IPA and Helles are making a mark on their own terms. And heading up the production of these beers is Toby Heasman. A celebrated and revered brewer that joined the business back in 2006. Much has changed in the time Toby has ...

A business and a relationship forged in Liverpool, Neptune Brewery has just celebrated its 10th birthday. But what is the secret to their success? Julie O’ Grady founded the business with her husband and business partner Les back in 2015. In the years since they’ve helped build a community and grow a team that thrive in making modern beers inspired by tradition. In this episode Julie outlines the brewery’s commitment to brewing beers they and their consumers enjoy, the importance of their beer...

We are all aware of diacetlyl in beer but how does it originate and importantly, how do we reduce it? Then allow us to introduce Todd Isbell, a senior brewing technician at the University of Nottingham and International Centre for Brewing Science. Todd has a BS in civil and environmental engineering from Clarkson University and is a graduate of the United States Army Chemical School. A professional brewer for more than twenty years in the United States, he has taught fermentation sciences at ...