For batch no. 015, we return to London. Pressure Drop were part of the capital’s brewing renaissance in the early 2010s & have gone from a garden shed to serious commercial premises in their 10 years. Today, the 7 person team can be found brewing in Tottenham Hale.
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. In their hometown of Deal, Kent, 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.
Andy Parker’s journey from his job in IT to founder of Elusive Brewery is a long and convoluted one that goes as far back as 1998. It was a well-timed National Homebrewing Awards that presented Andy with an opportunity to take things to the next level and firmly laid the foundations for the brewery we know today.
In Greek philosophy, MERA means to put your all into something, and the Japanese word Ikigai refers to your life purpose. When the two collide, you get Merakai, our latest feature brewery, owned and run my partners Emma and Olly.
Partizan are part of the fabric of London’s modern craft beer scene. Now 10 years old, they continue to make consistently delicious, exciting beers.
Founded by Andy Smith in 2012, their location in South East London’s Bermondsey means they have been part of its now infamous Beer Milk since its humble beginnings. It’s here that we first sampled their beer some 8 or 9 years ago and we’ve been returning to them frequently ever since.
Unity Brewing Co. is a Southampton-based brewery with community at its core. However, founder Jimmy Hatherley’s education in beer came via his father.
The brewery name also embodies its ethos. Proudly community owned, Unity aims to be as inclusive as possible and their extensive list of collaborations, which includes previous batch feature breweries like Boxcar, Left Handed Giant and Track, demonstrates this.
Brewing on a family farm in northern Wales, inside a barn that was once home to a horse, the story of Polly’s Brew Co. is anything but run-of-the mill. Founder Sean Wheldon set about establishing a modern, hop forward brewery, as co-founder Arron Fellows explains.
Left Handed Giant never intended on going into commercial brewing. Thankfully, a chance encounter in a pub in 2014 changed that. Today, a permanent LHG brewery is complemented by their brewpub, which is located in the centre of Bristol and overlooks its floating harbour.
Craft beer is often considered a modern phenomenon, but that’s not always true. Meet Wylam, who have been brewing since 2000. Brewing in Newcastle Upon Tyne, they take their time in the brewing process and only make beer that they want to drink.
What started as a cycle across North America escalated to a round-the-world ride and, eventually, Track Brewing Co. Confronted with beers he'd never seen or tasted before, founder Sam Dyson was inspired to throw himself into the still-new UK craft beer scene. In 2014, he established his own brewery in Manchester, beginning an ongoing journey of discovery that continues to this day.
It takes a village, or in this case two Villages, to create the beers that came together to create batch no. 004. Brothers Archie and Louis brew their beers in South East London's Deptford and this batch marked their first time shipping outside of the UK.
