Episodes

What does it take to cut it as the head of operations and sales at one of the UK’s most exciting independent breweries? Well, we asked Kat Türková to find out! Kat grew up in the Czech Republic and came to the UK in 2015 to study a BA in Comparative Literature at King’s College London. After graduating university and following a few jobs in the hospitality sector, she met Daniel Tapper and became a part of the Beak Brewery from the early days in 2019. At Beak, Kat has utilised her skills and w...

As head brewer at Liverpool-based Azvex, Jack Walker is responsible for creating a raft of celebrated beers. And only this month, the brewery was awarded the accolade of Best Double IPA in England for its Swedish Buzzsaw in the Untappd Community Awards. The 8.2% beer is dry-hopped with Citra, Strata, Mosaic & Nelson Sauvin These types of beers, as Jack explains, are part of the modus operandi at Azvex. And that means hazy hops, big stouts and silly sours. In this podcast, recorded in the Azve...

Where do you go for a pre-match pint? If you’re one of the Fratton Park faithful supporting Championship-bound Portsmouth, there’s a strong chance you’ve frequented the excellent taproom on offer by the good folk at Staggeringly Good Brewery. On matchday they often welcome no fewer than 1,000 footy fans to their superb spot that’s only a stone’s throw from the famous football ground. So whether you’re in the market for their Beerbasol Pilsner Lager, Little Arms Big Ambitions NEIPA or perhaps a ...

We’re only two months into 2024 and this year has been somewhat seismic for Mash Gang, the producers of high-quality, small-batch low and no alcohol craft beers. In addition to a wealth of new beer releases, the team announced that they are significantly boosting their output after securing major investment from tech investor Ryan McCarry. The investment process, managed and advised upon by Daniel Finn, brewery sector lead of Brabners LLP, marks a pivotal moment in Mash Gang’s journey, fuellin...

How do you ensure that your potential fans, your potential customers, your potential advocates feel like they’re part of your story? How do you bring them on that journey with you? At Neptune Brewery, their newly-opened beerhouse is one such way of doing just that. A business and a relationship forged in Liverpool, Neptune Brewery was founded by Julie and Les O’ Grady. Producers of modern beer inspired by tradition, their beers are naturally conditioned and unfined. In this episode, we speak t...

How can we make brewing a more sustainable process? We can all pretty much agree that when it comes to the world of beer, the topic of sustainability needs to be more than a box-ticking exercise or a buzzword that we occasionally throw about as part of our business plans. And we’re a month into the new year so many of us are probably assessing how well our resolutions for 2024 our panning out. And from a business perspective, reducing our impact on the environment and improving the efficiencies...

How much do we understand about brewing ingredients and the advances that are taking place in this integral part of the sector? With that in mind, we brought together three leading names from across the brewing spectrum to find out… In this panel discussion, which took place at our Brewers Congress in London, top of the agenda was biotechnology past, present, future and how to harness it. In this episode we hear from Margaux Huismann, Stephanie Brindley and Todd Isbell, who share their brewing...

Where were you a little over 30 years ago? As today’s guests recall… England had failed to qualify for the World Cup, 2 Unlimited were Top of the Pops, Shane Warne had bowled the ‘Ball of the Century’ and Rooster’s Brewing Co has just hatched. And in doing so, forever changing the shape of beer in the UK. And in 2024, Rooster’s Brewing Co is ramping up its limited release offering in 2024, with close to 50 different beers scheduled for production in addition to their year-round core range. The...

Knowing why your beer tastes like it does is imperative, in all parts of the chain. In this podcast, part of our Digital Takeover on quality control and analysis, our contributing editor Melissa Cole chairs a panel discussion with figures from the brewing industry whose roles revolve around ensuring quality and extolling the virtues of this to the wider world. As SHE Compliance Manager at Beavertown Brewery, Jessica Maye looks after all things health & safety, food safety and environment & sus...

How do you build brand consistency at your brewery? Well, it’s clear that starting with controlling the quality of the liquid you’re building your business is on is a great way to start. At Northern Monk, Tanya Kondratyuk was Quality Manager at the Leeds-based business. She started her career in the industry working in quality control, sensory analysis, and the bourbon barrel aging program at Goose Island Brewery, based in Chicago, IL. Her experience is rooted in microbiological & analytical f...

When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold… We’ve all probably heard that saying, or at least a variant of it. In beer, it’s no secret that many US brewers appreciated and were often inspired by classic British styles. And in turn many brewers in the UK, Europe, and beyond have been galvanised by the wealth of creations to emerge from modern US brewing. One such outfit operating in that landscape is Finback. Founded in 2011, Finback Brewery is born from a passion for brewing an...

We have all taken different routes on our journey in beer and today’s guest has taken a path from Wigan, leading to London before heading some 40 miles out to Wokingham in Berkshire. Hayley Pearce is a brewer at Siren Craft Brew. Originally from the north of England, Hayley headed south in 2008 to study Biochemistry at Imperial College London. In 2012 she joined the Fuller’s Graduate Programme and it soon became clear that her future lay in the brewhouse. Progressing from junior brewer to shif...

There’s a strong chance you, or someone you know, has enjoyed a beer that has been made possible by the hand of Nikola Marjanovic. Following a degree in food technology, specialising in microbiological processes, at Serbia’s University of Novi Sad, he became a quality engineer before then taking the position of brewing supervisor at Apatin Brewery. Three years later Nikola swapped Serbia for Scotland, becoming brewery manager at BrewDog. In more than six years, he oversaw a period of significa...

If you’ve ever entertained a visiting brewer from overseas, one of the first questions you are normally asked is – where can we go for a great pint of cask beer? As decorated author Des de Moor tells us in his new book, cask beer is a unique format of fresh, live draught beer that, at its best, delivers a taste experience unmatchable in any other way. But despite it being revered by fans across the globe, sales of cask beer in the UK continue to suffer. In his latest article for The Brewers J...

How do you market your beers? How do you ensure that the people you think will enjoy them most are aware they exist? And also, how do you go about creating new fans altogether? To answer those questions, we invited today’s guest to help us out. Because recently, they had a new lager to bring to market and incorporated a range of tools to ensure it hit their desired audience. Verity Phillips is the Media Lead at Asahi UK, working across a portfolio of premium brands including Peroni Nastro Azzu...

In 2002 Emma Reynolds met Ken Yamada and became great friends over their shared love of travelling and food, more specifically Japanese food and in particular ramen. Over the years, they realised it was very difficult to find decent ramen in London, so they began on a mission to sort that out themselves… They started out in 2011 with a Saturday night pop-up in the city. 30 people came through the doors at the very first pop-up, but just ten weeks later they had 120, with tickets selling out wi...

At a time when many breweries are celebrating their tenth anniversaries Hackney Brewery, now the ripe old age of 12, could be considered elder statesmen of the London brewing community. Much has predictably changed in those years the brewery, founded by Jon Swain and Pete Hills, have been in business. Especially more recently, with the team celebrating two years at their new home in High Hill, Walthamstow. Part of the burgeoning and brilliant Blackhorse Beer Mile, Hackney Brewery is thriving t...

As the dust settles on our recent Brewers Congress in London, we are already busy laying the foundations for next year’s event. Colin Stronge, a brewing industry pioneer, was due to close last month’s Congress. Sadly a recent operation meant he was unable to make it but health comes first and we, of course, very much look forward to welcoming him back at future events. Get well soon, Colin! So in lieu of real life Colin, we have the next best thing. A talk he expertly delivered at our Brewers ...

Gary Robson is CEO & Founder of Sure Purity, an award winning manufacturer of advanced filtration systems for the beverage industry, we are trusted by the most well-known beverage brand owners and sold in over 100 countries worldwide. He’s also the former president of International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT), board member and founder member of the Beverage Gases Technical Committee. So with more than 25 years’ experience in the beverage gases industry with expertise in carbon dio...

To many, John Keeling surely needs no introduction. But for those unaware, John is the former brewing director of Chiswick, London-based Fuller’s. Regarded and respected the world over for his ability to create and brew beers defined by balance and flavour, John is using his retirement to collaborate, consult and create with breweries across the globe. In this episode, we speak to John about his early career, what got him into beer and also brewing as a profession. We discuss his move to Fuller...

Chris Lewington is on a mission at Brew Resourceful, and that’s to make the world of craft brewing more resourceful. ​He has spent more than a decade in some of the UK’s top craft breweries, and he’s been exposed to the industry’s best and helped some of the future best on their journeys. Individually, the elements of resourcefulness have always been the focus of his brewing life but in the last few years he saw how all the elements can combine under this same header. We should make being reso...

When it comes to no-and-low, that no longer means no choice, no quality, no variety. Thanks to outfits like Mash Gang and their peers, there is something for everyone. And of late, demand has been so high the business has actually run out of beer. To remedy this, they’ve recently brewed at five different breweries to get the capacity ready for their peak season. That means there’s currently more than four hundred and fifty hectolitres in tank. This plan of action also involved investing heavil...

The pressure is growing for all businesses to demonstrate a coherent response to the climate crisis. In this podcast, Andrew Furness of Net Zero Now explains that a carbon footprint is the foundation of a credible climate strategy and provides essential content for key stakeholders. He says that corporate climate strategy has evolved in the last decade towards a consistent approach, built on global standards falling into four sequential and iterative actions. In this episode, he outlines them...

A love of ingredients and flavour exploration led Jordan Mower to open a nano brewery back in 2014. And nearly 10 years on UnBarred Brewery of Brighton, with its team of 16, lives for one thing – that’s to inspire discovery through boundless creativity. In this podcast, Jordan talks us through the early days at the brewery, the journey since and the role of the community at the business. He also outlines the overarching purpose of UnBarred as a cohesive unit and that you should trust your hear...