Ever since I first tried the vibrant, deliciously spiced food at its original Leeds site back in 2014, I have been besotted with Bundobust. It’s 100% vegetarian/vegan menu changed my preconceptions of what a modern Indian restaurant offering could look like. Especially one with such a focus on craft beer—which is more often associated with food such as American barbecue (and its many regional variants) or other meat-focused fare. 

Although it was definitely the eclectic beer offering that first drew me in—and has made me something of a regular—Bundobust helped me understand, and get excited about regional variances in traditional Indian cuisine. A few years ago I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell you what bhel puri was, or about the delights of the (now albeit somewhat ubiquitous) vada pav. But now this style of cuisine feels familiar, and comforting. Perfectly at home in the lively, modern surroundings Bundobust has set it within. 

But Bundobust founders Mayur Patel and Marko Husak are not content with operating just three successful restaurants. Venues that have received seriously high acclaim in the national press. In 2021 they’re expanding by opening their own brewery, which is housed in a soon to open fourth site on Manchester’s busy Oxford Street. For the past eight months, recently hired head brewer Dan Hocking has been toiling away on a brand new brewing system, fine tuning recipes which finally saw the light at the end of June 2021. 

I was delighted to have the opportunity to catch up with Mayur, Marko and Dan, and find out why they’ve decided to move into this direction. It was also the perfect opportunity to dig into the origins of the restaurant, as well as ask a few questions about the bigger picture, such as the gentrification of Indian food, and where Bundobust sees itself in relation to that. We also dig into the beers themselves, and where the restaurant sees itself going in the future. 

Here’s a couple of links to pieces mentioned in this episode:

Jaega Wise talking about sexism in the drinks industry for BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme

Zarina Muhammad’s article “I Hate Dishoom” for The White Pube

It often dawns on me that, as cool as my job of being a writer is, it’s also pretty-fucking-weird. This never felt more the case than over the past nine months where I worked on not one, but two very different books. Not only is having a self-defined career writing (predominantly) about beer, cider and wine strange, but it’s also quite a lonely experience, and largely revolves around working solo. This has felt especially true over the past 18 months. 

This—incredibly self-indulgent episode—is part explainer, part therapy session, where I talk about the idiosyncrasies of what I do for a living, my process as a writer, and what it’s really like on my side of the screen. It’s something that I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time, and honestly it felt really good getting it out there. To round out this episode I also read what I consider to be my personal favourite piece of feature writing of my career so far: my profile of Sheffield’s Brewery of St. Mars of the Desert. 

If you’re interested in writing, especially regarding food and drink, then this episode is for you.

You can pre-order Matthew's new book Modern British Beer here. 

When Cloudwater Brew Co. was founded in Manchester six years ago I was desperate to be the first to get the scoop on this exciting new brewery. This opportunity came in September 2015, when on a typically rainy Manchester day I met a smiling Paul Jones—the brewery’s often outspoken owner and founder—at the entrance of his brewery for a tour, tasting and interview. The article I would subsequently write was published by Good Beer Hunting in January 2016, and was one of the first proper dives into what motivates Jones and his brewery, which at the time was single-mindedly focused on producing what it described as “Modern Seasonal Beer.”

On re-reading the article in late 2020 it felt to me like it was written about what could be a different brewery. Yes, Cloudwater is still focused on producing high-quality, seasonally reflective beer, but in the years that have passed since, they’ve become something more. Not only has Jones grown his workforce from just six to over 50 people, but the brewery pays what is an industry-leading wage and is heavily invested in activism. From supporting charities like The Racial Justice Network, to giving breweries like Rock Leopard, Eko and Queer Brewing what Jones describes as a “leg up” by giving them time and space to make beer on its equipment, to its groundbreaking Wayfinder scheme, Cloudwater has since become a great deal more than merely the sum of its parts. 

This is not without some controversy. The decision to bring sales in house during the pandemic to, as Jones puts it “protect his staff” temporarily cutting off independent retailers from its beers caused a certain amount of ire. This was amplified in early 2021 when the brewery reversed its decision to list in national grocery chains, listing four beers contract brewed by BrewDog, no less, into Tesco. However, this also gave it the opportunity to further the platform of the Black and LGTBQ+ owned breweries it was working with by also giving them a national supermarket listing, the first instance of this happening in the UK. If you also consider that Cloudwater did not make a single redundancy during the pandemic, Paul’s malleability in terms of his decision making might not seem so controversial to some.  

In this interview we discuss all of this and more. It’s been a busy few years for Paul Jones and Cloudwater, so this felt like the ideal way to reflect on them, on the Manchester scene, and how its own beers have changed and developed during this time. Please enjoy this fascinating, hour long conversation with one of the most vocal members of the UK beer industry.

In October 2016, six months into being a full-time beer writer, I waded into the murky waters of cider writing. On publishing my first piece I was—a little surprisingly—met with a considerable amount of resistance to my view that “cider had an image problem” but there were also positives, which kick-started my journey into cider in earnest. 

This episode takes a dive into that piece, in which I said that “there needs to be more British cider that takes itself seriously in terms of both flavour and the way in which it presents itself.” It could be argued that we have that now. However, the further I dig to cider culture, the more it feels evident that divisions remain. In this episode I attempt to work out why that is, while also considering that when most people think about cider, they still consider it to be something fizzy and sweet that comes in cans or pints—certainly not 750ml bottles or bag-in-boxes. 

Consider this a thought experiment in trying to work all of this out, and where UK cider is now compared to where it was five years ago. All opinions within are to be taken with a pinch or two of salt. Listen in to hear what might be next for cider culture, and try to figure out why we can’t all just get along.

Read the original cider article from 2016 here: totalales.co.uk/blog/2016/10/23/the-skys-the-limit-cidre-latypique-and-the-uks-cider-renaissance

Dig into Pellicle’s cider archive here: pelliclemag.com/home?category=Cider

Support Pellicle on Patreon here: patreon.com/pelliclemag

Episode Host: Matthew Curtis

It's that time of the year where we're making our lists and checking them twice. No, not for Christmas, but for our annual best-of's! In this drink-along Christmas special, join Matthew as he recounts his favourite beers, wines, ciders and meals of 2020 over a couple of cans. It's been a rough year for many of us, but hopefully this will help spread a little bit of Christmas cheer. 

Thanks again to our Patreon subscribers for making this podcast possible throughout this tumultuous year. If you’re able to support Pellicle with a monthly donation, please head to patreon.com/pelliclemag.

Episode Host: Matthew Curtis
Read more at www.pelliclemag.com

Welcome you what you could consider the beginning of The Pellicle Podcast 2.0. After much deliberation we've made the decision to switch from a series-based format to an episodic one. We just didn't have the time or the resources available in our current schedule to produce the documentary-style episodes we had in mind when originally launching this podcast. This change will allow us to produce episodes in a more timely fashion, thus keeping the show's momentum going.

We've also made a few editorial changes, for example we'll be introducing more long-form interviews. We know a lot of beer podcasts already do these very well, but you know the feeling where you're listening to a conversation and wish they'd ask the question that's burning away at the back of your mind? Well, we're in an advantageous situation where we can do exactly that, and who are we to deny you folks? In addition, our host—Pellicle co-founder Matthew Curtis—will be using the podcast as his personal scratchpad to explore his feelings on some of the bigger (and smaller) topics in beer, wine and cider.

Which brings us to our latest episode. Over the past few years the UK's beer industry has been embroiled in debate over whether or not some of its smallest brewers are paying enough tax, and if some of its larger brewers are paying too much. In this episode our host explores his personal feelings on a matter he's spent much of the past three years covering, with few holds barred, and a conclusion that perhaps changes to the duty system should be the least of small brewers concerns. 

If you enjoy this new format of the show—or you didn't—drop us a line and let us know.

In this episode we reference an article on Marston's by Jonny Garrett for Good Beer Hunting, which can be read here: https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/sightlines/2019/12/9/years-of-lying-to-pub-tenants-could-cost-marstons-millions

Thanks again to our Patreon subscribers for making this podcast possible. If you’re able to support Pellicle with a monthly donation, please head to patreon.com/pelliclemag.

Episode Host: Matthew Curtis
Read more at www.pelliclemag.com

Welcome to this special edition of the Pellicle Podcast. Today’s episode was recorded back in February at Cloudwater’s Friends and Family and Beer Festival. It’s hard to believe that such a brilliant event actually happened in 2020, but we’re so glad it did, and we’ll remember that weekend fondly for a long time to come. Thanks again to Paul, Doreen and Connor at Cloudwater for inviting Jonny and I up to host these talks at the festival.

In this episode, we chat to Alex Troncoso of Lost and Grounded in Bristol, and Katie Pietsch from WhiteFrontier in Switzerland, as we get into conversation about what makes lager so universally appealing, and contemplate why its popularity has been steadily growing among craft beer consumers who typically lean towards American hops, complex sours, and delectably big stouts.

Thanks again to our Patreon subscribers for making this podcast possible, including Cloudwater, who are one of our pro-tier subscribers. If you’re able to support Pellicle with a monthly donation, please head to patreon.com/pelliclemag. 

Host: Matthew Curtis 
Guests: Alex Troncoso — Lost & Grounded, Katie Pietsch — WhiteFrontier
Read more at www.pelliclemag.com
 

Welcome to this special edition of the Pellicle Podcast. Today’s episode was recorded back in February at Cloudwater’s Friends and Family and Beer Festival. It’s hard to believe that such a brilliant event actually happened in 2020, but we’re so glad it did, and we’ll remember that weekend fondly for a long time to come. Thanks again to Paul, Doreen and Connor at Cloudwater for inviting Jonny and I up to host these talks at the festival.

In this episode Jonny Hamilton chats with Khris Johnson from Green Bench in Florida, Andrew Schwartz from Modern Times in San Diego, California and Felix Nash from The Fine Cider Company here in the UK, on what happens when the production of beer, wine and cider are brought together, and what potential experiences does this offers to the curious drinker. This is a fascinating insight into the crossover of beer, wine and cider, and I hope you find this discussion as compelling as I did when I got to sit in the audience and listen in.

Thanks again to our Patreon subscribers for making this podcast possible, including Cloudwater, who are one of our pro-tier subscribers. If you’re able to support Pellicle with a monthly donation, please head to patreon.com/pelliclemag.

Host: Jonny Hamilton 
Guests: Khris Johnson — Green Bench, Andrew Schwarz — Modern Times, Felix Nash — The Fine Cider Company
Read more at www.pelliclemag.com
 

Welcome to this special edition of the Pellicle Podcast. Today’s episode was recorded back in February at Cloudwater’s Friends and Family and Beer Festival. It’s hard to believe that such a brilliant event actually happened in 2020, but we’re so glad it did, and we’ll remember that weekend fondly for a long time to come. Thanks again to Paul, Doreen and Connor at Cloudwater for inviting Jonny and I up to host these talks at the festival.

In this episode we take great pleasure in chatting to two bonafide industry legends: Doug Odell from Odell Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Paul Wood, now retired but formerly of Manchester’s own JW Lees Brewery. Over the next half hour, we chat about how styles vital to the beer heritage of the United Kingdom such as bitter and mild remain as vital today, and tomorrow, as they’ve always been.

One additional, very important thing about this episode. At the moment I am not actively supporting JW Lees brewery, due to their stance on beer taxation reform in the UK, and how this might negatively affect many of the UK's small breweries. However, I really enjoyed this conversation, and still consider it having value, hence why I’m sharing it. But not everything I say during this recording is reflective of my present stance—find me on twitter @totalcurtis for a more updated view.

Thanks again to our Patreon subscribers for making this podcast possible, including Cloudwater, who are one of our pro-tier subscribers. If you’re able to support Pellicle with a monthly donation, please head to patreon.com/pelliclemag. 

Host: Matthew Curtis 
Guests: Paul Wood — J.W. Lees, Doug Odell — Odell Brewing
Read more at www.pelliclemag.com
 

Here’s something a little different for you. The latest episode of our podcast is spoken word recording of our co-founder Matthew Curtis’ popular article on his visit to Russian River’s brewpub in Santa Rosa, California, for a taste of its revered Pliny the Elder at the source. It’s a short episode at just 13 minutes, but one we still hope you’ll enjoy a great deal.

Regular listeners will know that we’ve narrated a couple of our stories before during a couple of the episodes in the first series of our podcast. This time, however, we’ve not only decided to produce a spoken word version of a feature, but also underpin it with a score. One will—hopefully—add a little extra drama and impact to the listening experience. It should go without saying that we welcome all feedback on how this worked (or didn’t) for you.

There is intent behind this too, as we wanted to see how viable it would be in terms of time and resources to record scores for the episodes planned as part of The Pellicle Podcast’s second series. The answer is that 12-minute-long soundtracks probably aren’t going to become a regular part of our broadcasting, but hopefully we’ll figure out a more time-sensitive way of adding a little colour and flare to S2 when it’s in post-production. More on that soon.

For now, please enjoy this episode, which you can either stream or download below, or via popular services such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and many more. If you’re enjoying our podcasts please subscribe on your app and leave a review if you’ve time, and if you want to help fund more content like this, please consider signing up for a monthly donation via our Patreon page. 

The track in this episode is called “Sonoma” and is written, produced and performed by Matthew Curtis. We recommend sitting in a big, comfy chair with headphones and a cold class of IPA for an optimal listening experience. 

Host: Matthew Curtis 
Read more at www.pelliclemag.com
Support our podcast at patreon.com/pelliclemag