Good Beer Hunting

The landscape of the British beer industry has seen a seismic shift over the last few years, as the influence of American craft beer culture has become ever more pervasive. But what we’re seeing now is breweries that were influenced by US beer culture when they were young, are now shaping this to form their own ideal. A new, brighter and more energetic British beer community. One of these breweries is Beavertown, of Tottenham, North London, which was founded by Logan Plant, son of none other than Led Zeppelin frontman Robert, back in 2012. After being inspired by the beer and food culture he discovered in Brooklyn, Plant returned to London and opened a restaurant called Duke’s Brew and Que in a little pocket of East London called De Beauvoir town – or Beavertown to its locals. In less than four years Plant has gone from brewing by himself on a six barrel kit in the kitchen of his restaurant, to employing a 40 strong team at a state of the art 30-barrel facility. In part this has been thanks to the great beer his brewery produces but much of Beavertown’s success has also been to do with the strength of its brand and the great design that’s at the heart of this. Creative Director Nick Dwyer joined Beavertown part time shortly after they opened, even pulling a few shifts at Duke’s Brew and Que while the brewery got on its feet. His unique design work, featuring his signature skulls and spacemen, has rapidly ensured that Beavertown has become one of the most instantly recognizable beer brands in the UK. And the brewery is already gaining traction in the US – they were the only UK brewery invited to pour at the Firestone Walker invitational last month for example. Nick’s story of how he accidentally found his way into the beer industry after graduating from art school is a fascinating one. Working in beer might never have been his intention – but now, through his artwork, he’s helping to drive and inspire the UK’s new breed of craft brewers.

One of the amazing things about the beer industry diversifying like it has is that there are so many unique roles that simply didn't exist before. And today's guest has one of them. Dave Kahle, one of the rare Master Cicerones in the world is a specialist at Breakthru Beverage, formerly Wirtz beverage, in Chicago. A few years back, they decided to branch out from wine and spirits, and take on a role as a craft beer distributor. To do that, they knew their sales force needed a serious education, and when they went looking for someone to lead that effort, Dave answered the call. He works on the sales side, but his primary role is helping his salesforce understand the ingredients, processes, and context of beer. He does this in a variety of ways, both big and small, which you'll hear about. But he's also one of the first people you'll meet at Breakthru if you're a new brewery looking for a distribution partner. And that's where Dave puts both his palate and his former life as the owner of a popular bar to work. He has a broad vision, and deep skepticism of many things he sees in the beer industry today. And he tries his best to put that to work to benefit the many partners he interacts with. I like to remind listeners that when you're talking to someone from the distribution tier, they often can seem a bit vague sometimes — there's good reason for that. They answer to many different people. And it's not easy for them to keep everyone happy when there's so many perspectives at work in the industry. So don't be too hard on him — rather, try to glean something from the insights he's so generously laying out there for us. There's plenty to go around.

One of the amazing things about the beer industry diversifying like it has is that there are so many unique roles that simply didn’t exist before. And today’s guest has one of them. Dave Kahle, one of the rare Master Cicerones in the world is a specialist at Breakthru Beverage, formerly Wirtz beverage, in Chicago. A few years back, they decided to branch out from wine and spirits, and take on a role as a craft beer distributor. To do that, they knew their sales force needed a serious education, and when they went looking for someone to lead that effort, Dave answered the call. He works on the sales side, but his primary role is helping his salesforce understand the ingredients, processes, and context of beer. He does this in a variety of ways, both big and small, which you’ll hear about. But he’s also one of the first people you’ll meet at Breakthru if you’re a new brewery looking for a distribution partner. And that’s where Dave puts both his palate and his former life as the owner of a popular bar to work. He has a broad vision, and deep skepticism of many things he sees in the beer industry today. And he tries his best to put that to work to benefit the many partners he interacts with.

For anyone who's been following GBH since the very beginning, today's guest will seem like a blast from the past. One of the first interviews I ever transcribe wasn't with a beer guysat all — it was with the owner of a wine shop. Perman Wine Selections in Chicago's West Loop is one of the city's gems. It's an unassuming storefront with a well-edited selection. But the real story of the place and its impact on Chicago food and beverage is its owner, Craig Perman. He conducts a lot of his business over email, through his newsletter, and he travels the world looking for niche producers that he can bring in to the US, and sometimes only to his own store as an exclusive retailer. He works with many Chicago restaurants to build their lists and supply great wines. And he's long been an interesting follow for me given his proclivity for the written word. His newsletters are fantastic. So he's in a bit of a hustle, like so many of us who work in the beverage industry, piecing together his skills in a variety of ways. But the real reason I like following Craig, and occasionally picking his brain, is because so much of what's happening for wine geeks right now indicates a possible future for some of the country's best beer makers. Resources, agriculture, fermentation, and limited intervention (essentially wild wines). But also market factors like pricing, distribution, and trends. There's a lot more I want to get in to with Craig, and I'll likely have to have him back again soon to do it. But this chat got us off to a great start.

For anyone who’s been following GBH since the very beginning, today’s guest will seem like a blast from the past. One of the first interviews I ever transcribe wasn’t with a beer guysat all — it was with the owner of a wine shop. Perman Wine Selections in Chicago’s West Loop is one of the city’s gems. It’s an unassuming storefront with a well-edited selection. But the real story of the place and its impact on Chicago food and beverage is its owner, Craig Perman. He conducts a lot of his business over email, through his newsletter, and he travels the world looking for niche producers that he can bring in to the US, and sometimes only to his own store as an exclusive retailer. He works with many Chicago restaurants to build their lists and supply great wines. And he’s long been an interesting follow for me given his proclivity for the written word. His newsletters are fantastic. So he’s in a bit of a hustle, like so many of us who work in the beverage industry, piecing together his skills in a variety of ways. But the real reason I like following Craig, and occasionally picking his brain, is because so much of what’s happening for wine geeks right now indicates a possible future for some of the country’s best beer makers. Resources, agriculture, fermentation, and limited intervention (essentially wild wines). But also market factors like pricing, distribution, and trends. There’s a lot more I want to get in to with Craig, and I’ll likely have to have him back again soon to do it. But this chat got us off to a great start.

Sometimes it feels like every small craft brewery is in constant expansion—and the numbers back up that general sentiment. More capacity, bigger brewhouses, contracting out, and bringing canning lines in—there's an endless number of dependencies when you're building out an expanded space in the hopes of meeting demand or chasing a growing market. And on the surface, these expansions seem obvious, almost simple. Afterthoughts in a market where success still seems inevitable for many. But behind those expansions are a thousand tiny decisions, and a few really big ones, that add up to hope and anxiety, victories and defeats, self-doubt and over-confidence. But somehow, through all those ups and downs that any small business owner is all too familiar with, you have to have the unwavering faith that it'll all work out. Today's guest is John Barley of Solemn Oath. I was there when they first fired up the brewhouse in 2012. I've been there alongside their many phases of growth over the subsequent few years. And today, I want to bring you a story about the project that pushed them, the entire team really, to their limits. Over the past year, they've replaced the brewhouse, their cold storage, brought in a canning line, and even mundane things like the boiler, condenser, all the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that makes the expansion possible—an expansion that, for a while, looked like it might be too much. But here he is, on the other side. Not unscathed, but perhaps appropriately scathed. And better off for it.

Sometimes it seems like every small craft brewery is in constant expansion — and the numbers back up that general sentiment. More capacity, bigger brewhouses, contracting out, and bringing canning lines in —there’s an endless number of dependencies when you’re building out an expanded space in the hopes of meeting demand, or chasing a growing market. And on the surface, these expansions seem obvious, almost simple. Afterthoughts in a market where success still seems inevitable for many. But behind those expansions are a thousand tiny decisions, and a few really big ones, that add up to hope and anxiety, victories and defeats, self-doubt and over-confidence. But somehow, through all those ups and downs that any small business owner is all too familiar with, you have to have the unwavering faith that it’ll all work out. Today’s guest is John Barley of Solemn Oath. I was there when they first fired up the brewhouse in 2012. I’ve been there alongside their many phases of growth over the next few years. And today, I want to bring you a story about the project that pushed them, the entire team really, to their limits. Over the past year, they’ve replaced the brewhouse, their cold storage, brought in a canning line, and even mundane things like the boiler, condenser, all the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that makes the expansion possible — an expansion that for awhile, frankly, looked like it might be too much. But here he is, on the other side. Not unscathed — but perhaps appropriately scathed. And better off for it.

We're 84 episodes in, and that means that some of the breweries we profiled when we first started this thing are a year or two old by now. And that's a year or two of hindsight and lessons learned that anyone in the industry would benefit from. Why kind of problems has a two-year-old brewery had to solve? What kind of assumptions did they make that were completely off-base? And how did they adapt to the always-evolving nature of the market for beer? Today, I'm going to bring you the perspective of Gary Gulley of Alarmist Brewing in Chicago [from Episode 35]. It's a small operation that hasn't found its stride yet, though they've certainly found a way to solve some unique problems. And despite the hardships of running your own start-up manufacturing business, all the stress and long-term doubts and insane cash flow issues, the effect it can have on an individual and their family is still a net positive. The power of entrepreneurialism lies in that counterintuitive result—with all the incredible burden you take on, you also gain all that reward.

So we’re 84 episodes in now, and that means that some of the breweries we profiled when we first started this thing, are a year or two old by now. And that’s a year or two of hindsight and lessons learned that anyone in the industry would benefit from. Why kind of problems has a two-year old brewery had to solve? What kind of assumptions did they make that were completely off-base? And how did they adapt to the still evolving nature of the market for beer? Well, today I’m going to bring you the perspective of Gary Gulley of Alarmist Brewing in Chicago. It’s a small operation that hasn’t found its stride yet — but they’ve certainly found a way to solve some unique problems. And despite the hardships of running your own start-up manufacturing business — all the stress and long-term doubts and insane cash flow issues — the affect it can have on an individual and their family is still a net positive. That’s the power of entrepreneurialism lies in that counter intuitive result — that with all the incredible burden you take on, you also gain all that reward.

Hosted by our London Contributor, Matthew Curtis—For my first episode, I invited one of my best friends in the UK beer industry up to my apartment, here in North London, to record an interview. These days, Chris Hall works for a cool little brewery in South London called Brew By Numbers as their sales and media guy. I'll be bringing the full story of Brew by Numbers to GBH soon, but before then I wanted to talk to Chris about how he worked his way into the beer industry His job encompasses everything from running the brewery's Twitter account to writing artful blog posts about forthcoming beer releases as well as developing and hosting events. On top of this he'll often be out visiting accounts and selling beer, and on really busy days you might even see him on the back of a forklift truck moving pallets around the warehouse. Such is the way of a small business. But Chris' journey into the brewing industry was an unconventional one. Like me, he started out as a beer blogger, which is how we met and became friends. From there he became a professional beer writer, which eventually led to his position at Brew By Numbers. This is something we're seeing more and more of in the beer industry, people starting out as enthusiasts who are eventually turning pro. And like Chris, they're not just succeeding—they're thriving.