“We were brought up locally and then lived in Canada for 4 years,” explains Dave, who founded the brewery with his wife Emma in 2015. It was during that time abroad that he became, in his words, “a pretty accomplished home brewer”. Inspired by the vibrant North American craft beer scene, when he and Emma planned their move back to Llandudno, that hobby became a livelihood.

It was founder James Heffron’s travels that lit the first spark for Verdant. Backpacking in New Zealand, he was enjoying beers like Mac’s Gold which presented him with flavours he hadn’t experienced before – bright citrus flavours, hazy bodies and rounded, elegant mouthfeel. Returning to the UK he started to see (and drink) the likes of Sierra Nevada Pale and early Punk IPA cropping up and knew something was shifting. “The romanticism was too much,” he laughs. “I came home, filled the freezer with hops, and started stinking the whole house out brewing on the stove.” 

Born on the cliffs of Cornwall, Bluntrock has grown from a tiny container brewery into one of the country’s most exciting independents. In the spring of 2020 the founders of the Bluntrock Brewery, George and Hugo, were at a barbecue on the cliffs of Cornwall’s Pentire, sipping on hoppy IPAs as the sun disappeared into the sea. The chat drifted from surfing and summer plans into what felt like a throwaway comment about starting to brew beer together. “Before we knew it, we’d built ourselves a tiny brewery".