This Week in Craft Beer

Mount St Bernard Abbey is a Roman Catholic, Trappist monastery near Coalville in Leicestershire, founded in 1835. The abbey was the first permanent monastery to be founded in England since the Reformation and is the sole Trappist house in England. Starting in 2018 the monks began to brew the only Trappist beer in England, known as Tynt Meadow.

http://www.mountsaintbernard.org/

Peter and Father Mateusz wholeheartedly recommend https://www.charnwoodbrewery.co.uk/

I first interviewed Joe from Pentrich on the Podcast in Episode 15 in October 2020. At that time we got to talking about how Pentrich had built their reputation by putting "proper" heavily-hopped NEIPAs into keg. I expressed incredulity at this concept, and so Joe invited me to come and join him for a pint or two at the Alexandra Hotel in Derby, to see for myself.

https://www.pentrichbrewing.com/

http://www.alexandrahotelderby.co.uk/

Fast forward through Lockdown #3, and I finally got the chance to take Joe up on his offer last week. I was also joined by my TWICB co-founder Steve, who has been known to be partial to a few pints himself!

I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we did recording it! 

I also hope you are inspired to make your own pilgrimage to the Alex! It is literally a short stagger from Derby Station, so very accessible by public transport. If you are a fan of NEIPAs and you haven't yet sampled Pentrich on cask, your education on the subject is incomplete! If you do follow in our footsteps, drop me a message and let me know how you found it?  [email protected]

Born from a desire of escaping the oil and gas industry, Fierce would become the end result of a chance meeting of co-founders Dave Grant and Dave McHardy during a brewing course at Brewlab in Sunderland.  This friendship led to  Fierce Beer mashing in its first ever commercial brew in May 2016 at its new home in Dyce, Aberdeen.

Five years on Fierce are exporting 15 countries and they have been the most awarded Scottish Brewery for the last three years running!

https://www.fiercebeer.com/

Dave and Dave wholeheartedly recommend teh following fine Aberdeen establishments...

https://hopshopaberdeen.com/about/

https://www.sixdnorth.co.uk/ 

Donncha has crammed a wealth of experiences, both good and bad, into his past decade, in and around the Craft Beer Scene. As he moved from Head Brewer roles at Dig Brew, at the ill-fated Evolution Beer Co, and most recently at Tap It, Donncha has built himself a reputation as one of the most talented Craft Brewers in the UK. This has culminated in the launch of his own commercial brewing project Crop Beer in June 2021. At Crop Beer Donnach doesn't plan to brew by the rules, but rather bend them to the limit and make new ones that suit him.

https://tapitbrew.co.uk/

https://www.cropbeer.co.uk/

Donncha wholeheartedly recommends the following fine establishments:

https://www.facebook.com/TheGateCraftBar/

https://www.fouraletaproom.co.uk/

Since launching in early 2018 Pollys have grown and adapted to form a small but tight-knit team of six running the day to day operations of the brewery. Their motto is to never stop improving; always learning and tweaking the beer designs to create the best beer they possibly can.

https://pollysbrew.co/#beer

Arron wholeheartedly recommends https://www.facebook.com/MoldAlehouse/timeline

Squawk was founded in Manchester in 2013. At its heart is a love of beer, the people that drink it and the people that make it.

Since the early days they’ve been brewing progressive, hop-forward beers with traditional roots with a passion for quality, experimentation and ingredients. Their principles were created around our shared ideas of ethical business, sustainability and community.

https://squawkbrewingco.com/

Oli wholeheartedly recommends https://www.melthamconveniencestore.co.uk/

Drop Project was launched in 2019 by Joe, Will and JT, inspired by their love of the outdoors and enjoying nature to the max. Drop Project brew fantastic modern Craft Beers with an Eco conscious mindset, attempting to create as little a negative impact on the world as possible when brewing.

https://www.drop-project.co.uk/home

Joe wholeheartedly recommends the following fine establishment

https://hopecarshalton.co.uk/

Top Rope Brewing began way back in January 2015, when Ben and Neil met at Brewdog Liverpool's homebrew club.  Bonding over a shared interest in beer and pro wrestling, the guys set to homebrewing, before transitioning to Ben's back-garden, and then on to a Brewery in Sandycroft North Wales.

Like many of the guests on this podcast, the guys scrambled and ultimately prospered under COVID, and opened their brand new Brewery and Taproom in North Liverpool in February of this year.

https://www.topropebrewing.com/

Neil wholeheartedly recommends the following fine establishments:

https://www.aigburthtap.co.uk/

https://www.thebowleggedbeagle.co.uk/

https://www.deadcraftybeercompany.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/79604295723

VAUX has been a beloved name in Sunderland for almost 200 years. From the earliest incarnation of 'C. Vaux & Sons' in 1837 the brewery was an important part of city life in Sunderland until its sudden closure in 1999.

In early 2019, Steve and his business partner Michael set about relaunching this iconic brand to make it a source of pride once more for the people of Sunderland.

https://www.vaux.beer/

Steve wholeheartedly recommends the following fine Sunderland establishments:

https://www.facebook.com/Bluesmicropub

https://thelittleshop.uk/

https://portbierhaus.com/

https://www.facebook.com/fatunicornkitchen/

O'Brother was the brainchild of 3 brothers, Barry, Brian and Paddy O'Neil, who in 2014 swapped the 9-5 jobs for beer 24/7, setup the brewery and haven't looked back since!

https://www.obrotherbrewing.com/

Barry wholeheartedly recommends the following fine Irish Beer Businesses:

https://www.facebook.com/UnderDog-Dublin-812139445602353/

https://www.brickyard.ie/

https://craftcentral.ie/

https://www.obrienswine.ie/

https://theharbourbar.ie/