Hop Forward: Getting You Ahead in the Brewing and Beer Business

This week on the Hop Forward Podcast, we talk to beer writer Siobhan Buchanan and Head Brewer of South London's Coalition Brewing, Charlotte Cook, to talk about sexism, misogyny, toxic workplace culture and leadership, and what women endure working in craft beer and hospitality on a regular basis on account of the attitudes of men.

In this open and frank discussion, we ask questions such as what can women do to protect themselves from being ill-treated or taken advantage of, how can we tell whether a beer business is genuine in its responses to being exposed on social media verses those with good PR management and damage control, and what action should breweries be taking to make amends or protect their female employees and patrons?

While we're careful not to name any particular businesses and keep the conversation more generalised, the discussion may be hard listening for some of our listeners, especially those affected by the nature of the topic.

Should you relate to what's being shared, please don't suffer in silence and reach out to your union representative, to The Drink's Trust charity (UK) or to the Brewer's Association (USA) and get advice.

THIS WEEK'S EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY CRISP MALT
Since 1870, Crisp Malt has been producing the finest malt at Great Ryburgh in Norfolk. With 5 maltings located in the best barley growing areas in the UK, they produce a wide range of malts and non-malted cereals in 25kg sacks for craft brewers and distillers all over the world.

They still work one of the last remaining floor maltings in England and use it to make their pioneering heritage malts. They also craft roasted and crystal malts of unprecedented consistency on their vertical, all electric tower roasting plant, the only one of its kind in the UK. Check out their website for more information about their range of malts and also their educational blogs and webinars too.

Visit crispmalt.com to find out more

Follow Hop Forward on Social Media
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Find out what we can do for your brewery and business
Hop over to www.hopforward.beer to discover more.

Founded in 2015, CANarchy is a disruptive collective of like-minded brewers dedicated to bringing high-quality, innovative flavours to drinkers in the name of independent craft beer. The portfolio of craft breweries includes Oskar Blues Brewery, Cigar City Brewing, Squatters Craft Beers, Wasatch Brewery, Deep Ellum Brewing Company, Perrin Brewing Company, Three Weavers Brewing Company and Revitalyte.

In 2020, CANarchy experienced dollar growth trends that doubled that of Top 20 Vendors in retail scans; increasing total shipments by 2%. The collective provides craft beverages throughout the United States and 21 countries and US territories.

This week on the podcast, we chat to International Business Development Manager for CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, Jesse Kercheval about the formation of the collective, how it has positively impacted the breweries involved, the philanthropic work that their charity - Can'd Aid - does working with the local community, as well as some wider topics such as imports and exports, trends in craft beer and how the industry is responding to the social reckoning occurring at the moment.

Not an episode to miss!

THIS WEEK'S EPISODE OF THE PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY...
Since 1870, Crisp Malt has been producing the finest malt at Great Ryburgh in Norfolk. With 5 maltings located in the best barley growing areas in the UK, they produce a wide range of malts and non-malted cereals in 25kg sacks for craft brewers and distillers all over the world.

They still work one of the last remaining floor maltings in England and use it to make their pioneering heritage malts. They also craft roasted and crystal malts of unprecedented consistency on their vertical, all electric tower roasting plant, the only one of its kind in the UK. Check out their website for more information about their range of malts and also their educational blogs and webinars too.

Visit crispmalt.com to find out more

Follow Hop Forward on social media
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Find out what we can do for your brewery and business
Hop over to www.hopforward.beer to discover more.

On the Hop Forward Podcast this week we're joined by founder of Elusive Brewing, Andy Parker: officially 'the nicest guy in beer'.  We talk about how he won a The Craft Beer Co’s National Home Brewer award competition to have his beer produced by Dark Star, which led to the brewery's conception.

We also chat about their flagship West Coast IPA, Oregon Trail, as well as what advice he'd give to aspiring homebrewers in a similar position today.  And we ask some honest questions about the reckoning occurring in craft beer at the moment.

This Week’s Episode is Sponsored by Crisp Malt

Since 1870, Crisp Malt has been producing the finest malt at Great Ryburgh in Norfolk. With 5 maltings located in the best barley growing areas in the UK, they produce a wide range of malts and non-malted cereals in 25kg sacks for craft brewers and distillers all over the world.

They still work one of the last remaining floor maltings in England and use it to make their pioneering heritage malts. They also craft roasted and crystal malts of unprecedented consistency on their vertical, all electric tower roasting plant, the only one of its kind in the UK. Check out their website for more information about their range of malts and also their educational blogs and webinars too.

Visit crispmalt.com to find out more

Follow Hop Forward on social media
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Find out what we can do for your brewery and business
Hop over to www.hopforward.beer to discover more

Beer and food writer and broadcaster Mark Dredge joins us on the Hop Forward Podcast this week to have an open and frank discussion about the effects of alcohol on our bodies.  We also chat about why he decided to go vegan and how brewery tap rooms and bars could go further when offering a vegetarian option for the patrons.

This Week’s Episode is Sponsored by Crisp Malt

Since 1870, Crisp Malt has been producing the finest malt at Great Ryburgh in Norfolk. With 5 maltings located in the best barley growing areas in the UK, they produce a wide range of malts and non-malted cereals in 25kg sacks for craft brewers and distillers all over the world.

They still work one of the last remaining floor maltings in England and use it to make their pioneering heritage malts. They also craft roasted and crystal malts of unprecedented consistency on their vertical, all electric tower roasting plant, the only one of its kind in the UK. Check out their website for more information about their range of malts and also their educational blogs and webinars too.

Visit crispmalt.com to find out more

Follow us on social media
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Find out what we can do for your brewery and business over at www.hopforward.beer

On the podcast this week, we're joined by Nelion Ridley, family brewer and owner of Essex based brewery, Bishop Nick.

With a rich heritage of traditional brewing as part of the Ridley brewing family that dates back to 1842, Nelion briefly moved out of the industry after the family brewery was sold to Greene King in 2005.

However, it wasn't long before he was persuaded to give it another go, buying a small kit installed in the back of a pub.  Since then, Bishop Nick brewery has scooped numerous leading industry awards including the highly coveted Campion Beer of Britain (SILVER overall) for their leading brand Ridley's Rite in 2017.

In this episode, Nick talks to Nelion about some of the challenges the brewery has faced, discussing everything from the pandemic's impact on the business, to canning and the increasing consumer demand for cans, all over a few Bishop Nick beers.

In addition to the discuss, Nick references and reads from the SIBA Independent Brewer Magazine article on 'Influencers', which can be found here.

Since 1870, Crisp Malt has been producing the finest malt at Great Ryburgh in Norfolk. With 5 maltings located in the best barley growing areas in the UK, they produce a wide range of malts and non-malted cereals in 25kg sacks for craft brewers and distillers all over the world.

They still work one of the last remaining floor maltings in England and use it to make their pioneering heritage malts. They also craft roasted and crystal malts of unprecedented consistency on their vertical, all electric tower roasting plant, the only one of its kind in the UK. Check out their website for more information about their range of malts and also their educational blogs and webinars too.

Find out more from Hop Forward and our partners…

Since 1870, Crisp Malt has been producing the finest malt at Great Ryburgh in Norfolk. With 5 maltings located in the best barley growing areas in the UK, they produce a wide range of malts and non-malted cereals in 25kg sacks for craft brewers and distillers all over the world.

They still work one of the last remaining floor maltings in England and use it to make their pioneering heritage malts. They also craft roasted and crystal malts of unprecedented consistency on their vertical, all electric tower roasting plant, the only one of its kind in the UK. Check out their website for more information about their range of malts and also their educational blogs and webinars too.

Visit crispmalt.com to find out more.

Described on the BBC website as 'the most influential women in brewing today', Emma Gilleland was the first ever woman head brewer in England.

Emma is now the Director of Supply Chain for Carlsberg-Martons in the UK, meaning that she is responsible for brewing, production and distribution of beer to customers across all five breweries in the Marston’s business; from Cumbria to Hampshire.

In this episode, Nick chats to Emma about brewing on a macro-sale and what both big beer and small independent micros can learn from one another.

In light of recent events and revelations that have come to light over social media, it was a pleasure to chat to Emma who has a vast wealth of brewing knowledge and experience.

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Visit hopforward.beer for more insights and a range of branding, marketing and business development services to help you and your beer business get ahead.

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Recently, we’ve been paying more attention to brewing practises, especially in the content of these shows.  In addition to Ali Capper from the British Hop Association, talking about the flight of farmers ,and Bill McFarland from Omega Yeast, who shared some of his fermentation practises with a focus on the Kveik strain, this week I took the opportunity to talk to the team from Munton’s Malt to talk about malting and using malt extracts.

We look the journey of malt from grain to glass, how malt is selected or rejected from the harvest; we investigate the importance and difference between technical datasheets and certificates of analysis; and we chat at length about malt extracts and probe the myth about the ‘malt extract tang’ that many homebrewers in particular endlessly debate on forums.

Find out more from Hop Forward and our partners…

The Disruptive Entrepreneur, Rob Moore, says that  the difference between sales and marketing is, ‘Sales is taking the cash off the customer… marketing is getting them into the shop in the first place!’.

If you were to sit down, right now, and assess your marketing and sales activity, how would you fare?  Are there any areas where you could grow in your marketing activities and testing their effectiveness?

The beer industry has a lot of competition for tap lines, shelf space, social media engagement and, ultimately, customers to purchase your beers.

So, how does a consumer make their purchasing decisions?  How do they know which beers to buy and where to get them from?  How do they know whether the breweries, bars or businesses they’re purchasing from align with their own internal values?

How do we get them into the shop in the first place?

These are the questions we discuss with Julie Rhodes from Not Your Hobby Marketing.

From English pubs to craft beer bars to supplier sales and management, Julie has worn many hats in the beverage world.

You name it, she’s done it - front of house service, finance, marketing, inventory and supply chain management, product orders, national accounts, field sales, large scale special events, social media management, point of sale material creation, distributor management, sales training, mentoring, CRM’s, data management, website creation, product deliveries, and logistics.

She’s sold and marketed beer and cider in various regions throughout the US, giving her diverse insights into sales and marketing for the drinks business as a whole, working with breweries and cideries across the United States.

Julie really is the craft beer unicorn!

For more info check out Not Your Hobby Marketing or get in touch with Hop Forward to see how we can help you with your sales and marketing strategies.