“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".
When Tim and Andrew founded Fell Brewery back in 2013, they weren’t industry veterans or business gurus. They were two friends from school, fired up by a shared love of great beer and the place they call home — South Cumbria. A decade on, they’re still powering on, inspired by the rugged beauty of the North West.
Not all good ideas start in a pub, but that was where Neptune Brewery took its very first tentative breath. Looking for a fresh direction after parting ways with a previous business, Les O’Grady found himself chatting with his friend Geoff Wainwright over a less-than-impressive pint. By April 2015, Neptune Brewery was officially registered.
DEYA is meaningless. The English spelling of ‘Deia’, a beautiful village in Mallorca, founder Theo chose a name that had little to no connotations, and he and his team have been imbuing it with meaning for the last decade.
It’s a rare thing to be able to introduce the brewery of a friend, but that’s what we’re doing with batch no. 045. Meet Reece, founder of London-based Bianca Road Brewery.
Naming yourself Staggeringly Good certainly shows intent. batch no. 044 makes the relatively short journey from Portsmouth to bring their confidently brewed beers to our fair isle.
We went north for batch no. 043, but not very far. In fact, we’ve not even crossed the Thames, remaining in London to introduce Battersea’s Mondo Brewing Company. Founded by Todd Matteson and Thomas Palmer in 2014, the two American-born brewers originally met at London Fields Brewery, where they quickly formed a friendship over a mutual love and respect for great beer.
February's feature brewery was founded by a trio with a serious love of boardsports. Their appreciation for the outdoors informs their ongoing commitment to minimising their impact, their growth plans and even their name.
We’re not sure you’ll find a better brewing pedigree anywhere else in the UK. batch no. 041’s Sureshot are doing incredible things in the belly of Manchester. The co-founder of January’s feature brewery, Sureshot, passed through several of the UK's best brewerues before choosing to go it alone in 2022.
Founded by Stuart Winstone and Jasper Tupman in 2018, the two met whilst working at Wild Beer Co – a brewery many craft beer drinkers will recognise – and were the company’s first employees. A conversation in January 2018 acted as the catalyst the pair needed to break out on their own and, ten months later, Yonder became a physical space in the Mendip Hills, Somerset.
