no. 014 | Time & Tide

Almost a decade old, Time & Tide remain a small and nimble team based on Kent’s coast. It’s clear their ambitions are not to be the biggest brewery they can be, but the best. 

This month we head into the garden of England, or Kent as it’s more commonly known. Here, in their hometown of Deal, founders Sam, Paul and Kerry established Time and Tide brewery back in 2013 with a view to recreating the big, hop forward American IPAs they’d experienced on their travels. “We grew up with frankly boring beer”, says Kerry, “and we really wanted to change that”. So they rolled up their sleeves and set-up a brewery on the UK’s south east coast. 

Time and Tide are now almost a decade into their brewing journey, but they’ve been conscious in how they’ve grown the business during that time. As Kerry points out, it’s been an incremental and considered journey: “We’ve grown slowly and re-invested everything as we go along back into the brewery”. Even today, the team split the responsibilities of making beer, running the brewery, dealing with their list of customers and overseeing their taproom between just 5 people. 

Coming from a small seaside town, it perhaps follows that the names of the beers they brew are inspired by their local surroundings, experiences, music and friends. For instance, Spratwaffler – the Session IPA included in this batch – is the name given to people from the north end of Deal (more on this overleaf). Meanwhile, Liquid Life Saver is inspired by an advert filmed in Deal starring Crocodile Dundee’s Paul Hogan and we probably don’t need to explain the link between Lighthouse Lager and a town with a port. 

The beers and their names are then brought to life by Greg Stobbs (@squirlart) and his colourful and imaginative can designs, which are a world within themselves. Once you’ve seen a few, you begin to see the references and easter eggs that run from one label to the next.

There’s a passion for beer that shines through not just in the three founders’ final cans, but in the conversations we had with them in putting together this month’s brewery story. It’s clear they’re not aiming to be the biggest brewery in the UK, or even in Kent, but the best. We hope that quality prevails and that you enjoy our beer selections.