Brewers Journal Podcast

Harvey’s is truly a brewery for all seasons. It exists within that special sphere that commands admiration and respect. If you’re a beer lover then more than likely, you love the beer produced by Harvey’s. And under the guidance of Miles Jenner, head brewer since 1986 and joint managing director for nearly 20 years, the Lewes, Sussex-based brewery has demonstrated staying power without ever compromising on its principles. Jenner’s life in brewing covers more than 60 years, growing up alongside Harvey’s Brewery itself, and he plays a key role in an age where there are more breweries in the country than at any time since the end of the Nineteenth Century. “However, with the greatest respect in the world, I cannot imagine future generations exploring the utilitarian industrial units that house the stainless steel tanks of today’s new wave of entrants. That is not to say that they do not produce very fine beer, Nor that all are lacking in romance,” he explains. “You have only to visit Mark Tranter at Burning Sky to be blown away by the cocktail of passion, innovation and tradition housed in a nineteenth century Sussex Barn – complete with Artisan blending vaults.” In this podcast, recorded at last year’s Brewers Congress, Jenner takes us on a trip through the heritage of the industry. A grade 2 listed building that perpetuates traditional brewing in every sense. It comes at a cost, though. They recently spent more than £100k on maintaining the fabric of the building. He explains: “We are also largely hands on – unwilling to place ourselves at the mercy of automation, we believe the human factor is important. I always say that, if I was starting from scratch, I would not design a brewery like this. “The truth is, I probably would! I, too, am an incurable romantic and revel in the continuity of standing at a mash tun in the early hours where generations of brewers have stood before – all with the same pursuit of excellence. “There is a lesson to be learnt. Enjoy the heritage of the past but always remain relevant and strive to survive. You can survive adversity, flood and fire as you encounter those challenges but no one has a God given right to sell beer. Innovation is essential but, equally, life often comes full circle. To my mind, this is strangely reassuring. “We should all adapt to circumstances and the changing face of the industry but we should always seek to accommodate and preserve what is dearest to our hearts until circumstances conspire to bring them back into vogue.”

It is a cold, wet miserable day when you decide to visit Hogs Back Brewery in Surrey. The farm fields themselves are muddy, and with their soppy brown colour and the grey, grey, oppressing sky above, it almost seems a reflection as to what the country – and the beer industry – is going through at the moment. But, if you had the courage to leave the warm, dry confines of your SUV and walk out in these ancient fields, you would see hop plants growing, for this is one of  England’s traditional hop regions. The vines are pushing up light green leaves through the mud and it makes you realise that despite the doomsayers,  just how tough and resilient our industry is today and always has been.    The fields that you see belong to Hogs Back Brewery, which prides itself on growing its own, an idea of director Rupert Thompson who believes in not only producing great beers, but also in using local ingredients and being as self-sufficient as possible. It’s not enough to say you want to reduce your carbon footprint ­– do it! In this episode we’ll be talking hops, hops, and more hops with head brewer Miles Chesterman and hop garden manager Matthew King, all with a promise of no bitter, just a smooth taste for your listening pleasure. SPONSOR Support for this episode comes from Petainer. Petainer is a specialist PET packaging company and industry leader in manufacturing one-way kegs, preforms & bottles and refillable PET bottles with recycled content. We serve markets around the world, and work with customers such as Carlsberg and AB InBev.Covid-19 has taken the beverage industry by storm and heavily impacted logistics and business operations. Breweries are struggling to access viable packaging solutions and manage excess stock still sitting in their tanks.  In this time of uncertainty, Petainer kegs will bring additional flexibility to your business, protect your products and minimise losses. With no costly upfront investments, they can be filled on manual, semi-automatic and automatic filling equipment and will help you avoid the burden of keg leasing programmes.  Filled Petainer kegs typically have a 9 month shelf-life and can be dispensed like a steel keg. To speak with our team and for further information, visit petainer.com

In an increasingly crowded marketplace, looking at new avenues to promote your beer is one way to broaden your market reach. Festivals, museums, hotels are three such examples so it’s a good thing then that the operations director at Tate Modern, the UK’s most popular visitor attraction, knows and loves his beer. Andrew Downs has helped turn the art gallery into a beer tour de force, showcasing beer from the best breweries in the UK and beyond. Regular takeovers provide a platform modern breweries to bring their beers to a larger audience while, on a day-to-day basis, taps and fridges boast a vast array of brilliant beer. Earlier this week, we sat down with Andrew to discuss the importance of beer to gallery’s food and drink offering, his plans for 2020, working with breweries of all shapes and sizes and why these outfits shouldn’t be afraid to contemplate working with well-known businesses such as Tate. GUESTS Andrews Downs, operations director at Tate

In 2005, you would have got some pretty confused looks if you asked after the latest Imperial Pastry Sour. There would have been no Instagram to capture the ‘Iceman pour’ of your beverage and no Untappd to rate said beer on. The beer landscape has, unsurprisingly, changed beyond recognition in the 15 years since Nick Dolan founded Real Ale, a bottle shop in South West London. Breweries have come and gone and, to an extent, so have certain beer styles. But what has remained constant is Dolan’s desire to promote excellent beer from the UK and beyond. He’s just doing it on a bigger scale now. We sat down with Nick and Real Ale’s managing director Zeph King to discuss the shift towards buying local, changing consumer tastes and the company’s work with retail giant Marks & Spencer. GUESTS Nick Dolan, founder of Real AleZeph King, managing director of Real Ale

In 1986, Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, Germany was still divided, a deal was signed to build the Chunnel, and Nethergate Brewery began pouring its first craft beer – although that was an expression no one was using back then. Named after the road it was located on in East Anglia, over the years it could have easily renamed itself Phoenix Brewery, due to its rising from financial ashes more than once. Today, in all aspects the award-winning brewery is stronger than ever. This is due to the brewery understanding its customers, giving them the beer that they want, and because of the work of general manager Rob Crawford and his ability to bring in investors while Nethergate maintains control of the brewery. For those of you who think an accountant is the wrong person to head your craft brewery, think again, as this episode will prove to the most skeptical. Supporter Support for this episode comes from Tanks and Vessels Industries For over 40 years TVI has been a leading supplier of new and used tanks, process equipment and pumps to the brewing industry. It holds the world’s largest selection of used stainless steel tanks in the world, all available immediately, at cost effective prices, from there 52 acre Doncaster site. TVI works with hundreds of brewers, both large and small, up and down the country, and across the world. Creating bespoke solutions to brewing problems. Tanks and Vessels has worked hard to gain its reputation as the most trusted, experienced and professional supplier of new and used brewing equipment. To find out more search www.tanksandvessels.com to view there expansive product range.’

High IBU beers are back – no they’re not – yes they are – yes – no – yes – no,  it’s all enough to drive you crazy. Through our own fault of not educating customers, most of the time they equate IBU solely with hop flavour. No wonder they’re confused and driving us a bit insane in our taprooms. The problem is, your average craft beer drinkers have bought into the whole IBU currency, without knowing its worth. In many ways, as beer makers we’re doing exactly the same. We all know how to measure IBUs by lab or formula, but we don’t think about the ‘why’ behind the bitter. Why should something that your body screams out ‘DANGER’, you actually crave? Understanding the human side of bitter will help you understand your customers better which leads to better bitter sales.

Each year it seems like we’re willing to accept a bit more eccentricity with our beer and not even bat an eye while drinking the latest blueberry IPA or milkshake-flavoured stout. But mention pumpkin beer and the eyes roll back, hands clasp the stomach, and 999 calls are made for a medic. How, we ask, could any brewer put pumpkin in a beer and still sleep at night? But, head west across the ocean and you’ll come to a strange land where not only do they drink pumpkin beer, it makes the news when the seasonal brew is released. Every year American beer snobs laugh with distain at those who brew or drink it. Every year, the cash registers get a bit more fuller from sales. In this exciting episode, we’ll be talking about pumpkin beer, what’s it all about, why you’d be an idiot to make it, why you’d be an idiot NOT to make it, and we’ll be giving you a recipe so can get the flavour of it, without having to brew. So, have your pencils and paper handy.

It has been a full one, that’s for sure. I look forward to the time when that’s not the case!” says Sam McMeekin, co-founder of London’s Gipsy Hill Brewing Company. Looking back on 2019, there’s no risk of understatement from McMeekin. In addition a brand refresh, the company has completely revamped its brewhouse and fermentation cellars, as well as layer in a whole load of new technology. They’ve  installed 4 x 120hl tanks to increase fermentation capacity by about 65%. They also installed a new whirlpool, allowing them to brew twice a day on a single brew-shift.The whirlpool complements a new souring kettle, an uprated water purification system and plans to add barrels and foeders to its armoury. McMeekin tells us that he is proud of the brewery’s independence. However, he’s also mindful and aware that the independent brewing sector needs to do more to help its cause in an increasingly competitive landscape. Supporter Support for this episode comes from Tanks and Vessels Industries For over 40 years TVI has been a leading supplier of new and used tanks, process equipment and pumps to the brewing industry. It holds the world’s largest selection of used stainless steel tanks in the world, all available immediately, at cost effective prices, from there 52 acre Doncaster site. TVI works with hundreds of brewers, both large and small, up and down the country, and across the world. Creating bespoke solutions to brewing problems. Tanks and Vessels has worked hard to gain its reputation as the most trusted, experienced and professional supplier of new and used brewing equipment. To find out more search www.tanksandvessels.com to view there expansive product range.’

To hear some brewers talk, doing a collaboration with another brewery is a rite of passage, something every brewer has to do. But do they? You have your own brewery to run, with your own never-ending workload of paperwork, brewing, testing, delivering, cleaning, packaging, ordering, scheduling, and a whole lot more. Guess what, a collaboration with another brewer won’t mean less of the above, it’s going to mean more. The ever-personable Jon Swain of Hackney Brewery will give you his take on collaborations, why he didn’t jump into his first one, pitfalls to avoid, what you will gain as a brewer, and his most recent one with a brewery in New York City. GUEST Jon Swain of Hackney Brewery SUPPORTER As a loyal listener of Brewers Journal Podcast, Beer52 would like to reward you with FREE BEER. You have the opportunity to enjoy 10 exclusive craft beers from around the world. And all you need to do is go to beer52.com/brewers and cover just £4.95 for the postage. Beer52 traverse the globe to find the best and most interesting beer from the greatest small-batch breweries planet earth has to offer. As a craft beer discovery club, beer52 deliver customers a case of beer with a different theme each month. And your first box will be sent next-day! Themes have ranged from Germany to Korea, Norway to South Africa, and California to Finland. You’ll get – Hoppy IPAs, Hazy Pale Ales, refreshing Lagers and more from breweries like “Ora” from Italy, “Ninkasi” from France, “Tempest” from Scotland, “Boss Brewing” from Wales and many more. And the beauty of Beer52 is they don’t hold you to ransom, there’s no lock-in and you can leave any time. Just go to beer52.com/brewers to get your first case of 10 beers for free. That’s beer52.com/brewers

Is it a snake-oil scam, a placebo, or something we’ll all be using soon for everything from anxiety attacks to joint pain? Regardless, is taking a dose of hemp through a can of beer the way to go? In this episode of The Brewers Journal Podcast, we’ll be stepping into the CBD debate, we’ll be giving you the pros and cons, and talk about the big money US brewers are making from adding CBD into their beer. But, we’ll also be telling you in this informative podcast why we think – for at least the time being – putting CBD in beer is a mistake.