On this week's episode of the Hop Forward podcast we catch up with owner of Bath's Chapter One, Michael Heap, to discuss setting up and running a bar, what considerations bar owners make when purchasing beers to sell, and how to handle the beer bros who want the latest, craziest beers available.

Today’s show is proudly sponsored by Brew Broker – the marketplace for the brewing industry. With over 500 traders already on board, BrewBroker will find you buyers for your spare capacity, or the perfect brewery to create, contract or white label a beer.

Create a supplier profile to fill capacity or sign up as a buyer to start your tender with their easy to use platform. Join today for free at brewbroker.com

Nestled in a railway arch down in Ardwick, Manchester, is a brewery doing things differently to its next door neighbours.

Within a stone's throw of Wander Beyond, Alphabet Brewing Company and Track Brew Co - and a mere walk from Cloudwater - Manchester Union Brewery are not turning out big juicy DIPAs or thick luscious imperial stouts, but have turned to traditional central European lager brewing techniques with a modern local twist to create a unique legacy beer that the people of Manchester can be proud to call their own.

Talking to Will Evans - an employee of Cave Direct in the North and one of the four directors of Manchester Union Brewery - we discuss some of the challenges Will and his business partners have faced in running a lager brewery, including being muscled off taps by multinationals, fermentation times vs. cash flow, and running a tap room bar next to some of the UK's hottest craft breweries.

Although we didn't record sampling the lagers themselves, they were utterly sublime!

Check out https://manchesterunionbrewery.com for more details.

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Today’s show is proudly sponsored by Brew Broker – the marketplace for the brewing industry. With over 500 traders already on board, BrewBroker will find you buyers for your spare capacity, or the perfect brewery to create, contract or white label a beer.

Create a supplier profile to fill capacity or sign up as a buyer to start your tender with their easy to use platform. Join today for free at brewbroker.com

On the Hop Forward Podcast this week, we mix skateboards with brewing as we talk to Beer Riff's Rhys Pillai all about the Swansea based brewery and tap room.

We discuss everything from building a brand and a business in a coastal city far from the UK's brewing and beer hubs such as Manchester, Newcastle and London; through to recent the crowdfunding woes consumers have faced when their favourite breweries have failed to deliver.

Nick also shares some musings from his recent race around Sheffield over the weekend and applies it to running a beer business.

Today’s show is proudly sponsored by Brew Broker – the marketplace for the brewing industry. With over 500 traders already on board, BrewBroker will find you buyers for your spare capacity, or the perfect brewery to create, contract or white label a beer.

Create a supplier profile to fill capacity or sign up as a buyer to start your tender with their easy to use platform. Join today for free at brewbroker.com

In this week’s episode, Nick ventures over the Pennines to one of the leading breweries in contemporary beer: Cloudwater Brew Co.

However, if you’re expecting an episode about Cloudwater rise to success or how they obtain bold, punchy flavours in their beers, then think again!

We caught up with founder and director, Paul Jones, in Cloudwater’s Unit 9 Tap Room to chat about mental health and the impact of negative social media - a.k.a Beer Twitter - on brewers in today’s industry.

Paul shares his first-hand experience the triumphs and the criticisms Cloudwater have faced over their relatively short history, and how he and the team have managed to keep their head in the game.

Today’s show is proudly sponsored by Brew Broker - the marketplace for the brewing industry. With over 500 traders already on board, BrewBroker will find you buyers for your spare capacity, or the perfect brewery to create, contract or white label a beer. Create a supplier profile to fill capacity or sign up as a buyer to start your tender with their easy to use platform.

JOIN TODAY FOR FREE at BrewBroker.com

There are so many issues surrounding cask beer, everything from low margins and dodgy pump clips, to bad cellaring and badly brewed beers.

The list is seemingly endless.

However, for all it's negative points, there is nothing quite like a pint of cask ale when stored and served correctly.

This week on the Hop Forward Podcast, we talk to veteran brewer Shane Swindells from the Cheshire Brewhouse to discuss what ails cask ale.

For more information on the Cheshire Brewhouse visit www.cheshirebrewhouse.co.uk/

Award-winning writer Melissa is widely acknowledged as one of the UK’s leading beer & food experts. In this episode of the Hop Forward Podcast, Nick invites Melissa to share her experiences as a beer writer and what it takes in today’s digital age to make a living from beer journalism, alongside other creative endeavours.

Melissa also shares how her face ends up on a pint of Guinness!

And Nick shares an interesting story about how a Budweiser reject has become the new jingle for the podcast.

Music by Mark Stoney, under license to Hop Forward Ltd.

For more info on Melissa Cole follow her on social media @MelissaCole

Visit www.hopforward.beer for more podcasts like this one and a range of services aimed at getting you ahead in your beer business.

Designating himself as driver, he taxied a group of friends around a variety of brewery tap rooms - everything from craft upstairs Wild Weather and Siren Craft, to the well-established West Berkshire Brewery and Wytchwood, famous for their beer Hobgoblin - allowing them to experience the full pallet of offerings from a range of breweries, all heralding different styles.

In this episode, we ask Carl what he took from the experience and talk all about how taprooms now are a must for breweries to succeed.

If you’re in Coventry, make a point of visiting Twisted Barrel Brewery to sample their wide range of exciting beers and soak up the atmosphere. Visit https://www.twistedbarrelale.co.uk/ for more info.

Follow us on social media at @hopforwardbeers and hit the SUBSCRIBE button for fresh content each and every week.

The Queer Brewing Project is a new non-profit collaborative brewing initiative led by artist and beer writer Lily Waite.

Inspired by the likes of Denmark’s Hops Not Hate and People Like Us, and London’s Craft Beer Cares festival, the project hopes to use collaborative brewing as a vehicle for fundraising and conversation, raising awareness of LGBTQ+ issues.

In this week's episode of the Hop Forward Podcast, Nick chats to Lily around some of the issues that our LGBTQ+ friends face in daily life, down the pub, and in the beer industry.

For more info on The Queer Brewing Project and to support the good work Lily is doing, visit https://www.thequeerbrewingproject.com/

This week, on the Hop Forward Podcast, we talk to a businessman who is going after the macro-brands with his eco-friendly, vegan lager, Bumble Beer.

Jason Winter is the entrepreneur behind Bumble Beer: a premium, pilsner-style craft lager that is fully vegan on a mission to save our nation’s bees, provided sustainability within the entire supply chain for both his brand and other brewers to build upon, and promote eco-conscious causes.

At the heart of Bumble Beer are a set of founding principle that all brewers and people in the business of beer could learn from.

Jason shares his experiences as a marketer and brand builder on contract brewing, generating press, bringing his product to market and the securing sales, without being able to brew himself.

For more information visit http://www.bumblebeer.net/

Fermenting Thoughts are bonus mini-episodes aimed at getting you ahead in the brewing and beer business where Hop Forward founder, Nick Law, shares his knowledge, thoughts and expertise on various aspects of running a beer business.

In this episode, Nick explore why branding is so important for you and your beer business and share about the best beer you'll never try.

We explore what a brand isn't (hint: it's not just a snazzy logo!) and explore various aspects of what a brand is and what makes a good brand.

If you want to find out more about brands and how Hop Forward can help develop your brand for your beer business, visit www.hopforward.beer/brands