The Kernel Brewery sits at the heart of the Bermondsey beer community alongside a number of other producers including cheese makers, bakers, butchers, coffee roasters and honey makers. Evin O’Riordain, the founder of The Kernel, has not only built a great brewery but a sense of community amongst these local producers.
I sat down with Evin over a few of their amazing beers to hear his story and came away with a better understanding of the philosophy of the man behind The Kernel.
Welcome to Episode 10, with Tom Palmer from Mondo Brewing Company.
One of things I love about doing this podcast is hearing the story of how people got into beer. I am lucky to sit down and talk, usually over a few beers, about how people began their beer journey. For some it’s a pub idea that they just run with. For others its more considered. They make a conscious, deliberate decision to do it differently, exactly the way they want to do it.
Tom and Todd at Mondo Brewing Company took the considered approach. Two Americans, they ended up in London for personal reasons, started working together in a brewery and began talking about how they would it differently.
This is the story of Mondo Brewing Company as told by Tom.
Welcome to Episode 9 with Sam McGregor, Co-Founder of Signature Brew.
Beer and music are a great match. But they aren’t often presented well together – why is the beer always terrible at gigs and festivals?
This was a question that Sam was trying to answer when exploring the concept of their brewery. We explored this and more in a very candid chat.
Sam was honest, philosophical, engaging and not afraid to give his opinion, which makes for a great conversation. Listen in.
Matt Curtis is a thinker, an obsessive, and envelop pusher. He’s also one of the best and busiest beer writers in the country. Whether its commissions in magazines, beer events or more impressively the fact he was handpicked by Michael Kiser to be the UK storyteller for Good Beer Hunting.
Matt is also a talker and in our time we covered a lot –his days in a band, the story behind why he’s known as Total Curtis, his journey to beer writing, his take on CAMRA and the opportunities and challenges for the industry.
I also found out about what he’s really interested – an emphasis on modern beer culture in the UK in addition to the beer itself. In that respect Matt is one of the thought leaders in the UK beer scene.
Enjoy.
It’s fair to say the UK has always had a home brew culture. Many craft brewers started out as home brewers and with the beer revolution we’ve seen more and more people take an interested in brewing.
Sometimes taking the first step can be intimidating. Luckily, there are more and more places to obtain advice and materials, either online or instore.
Then you have a concept like UBREW. Inspired by modern work share environments, it allows people to try brewing for themselves – with modern equipment in a social setting. The reaction to this concept has been incredible and for me is a great example of beer related entrepreneurialism.
I spoke with Wilf about the story of UBREW – still only a very new company – including their recent crowd funding and their future plans – watch out for an exclusive during the conversation.
Welcome to Episode 6 with Jonny Garrett, Co-Founder of the Craft Beer Channel on YouTube.
All the best ideas are thought up in the pub. It takes a special person or group of people to see that pub idea through. That’s exactly what Jonny and his Co-Founders did. Since launching in 2013 they now have over 33,000 subscribers.
I sat down with Jonny to find out more about how it all started, how it has grown and their exciting plans for the future. It was fascinating to hear how to build a successful YouTube channel about beer.
Their aim is to make their videos entertaining first and educational second, which is exactly how he approached this conversation. Enjoy.
Welcome to Episode 5. Something different for todays podcast. I did a feature on the London Brewers Market. Saturday 2nd April saw the first of three markets for the year. I wanted to understand the story behind it and what it means to the brewers who attend.
I sat down with Doreen Barber, Co Founder and Organiser in Chief of the London Brewers Market to find out more. I also spoke to a number of founders and brewers on the day.
I hope you enjoy my special episode.
I sat down with Mark and Steve from the Beer O’Clock show – the UKs leading beer podcast. The Beer O’Clock show podcast started just under 4 years ago – It’s rise in popularity seemingly mirroring its subject matter.
In that time Mark and Steve have a built and large and loyal audience and an even bigger following on social media. They have used this to great effect – driving conversation about beer and the industry in general with their Hop Topic feature – plus the occasional charitable drive too.
You could argue they have become opinion leaders or trend setters when it comes to beers and breweries. As Steve says on the show “where we lead others follow”.
As you would expect we caught up over a few pints of IPA no less. Hope you enjoy my conversation with Mark and Steve from the Beer O’Clock show.
Welcome to the BushCraftBeer podcast Episode 3 with Tom Hutchings, Co-Founder of Brew By Numbers.
Over the next hour you’ll hear about how Tom and his Co-Founder Dave Seymour started Brew By Numbers including how they ended up in Bermondsey, arguably the centre of craft beer in London.
You’ll also hear how they decide what beers to brew, including their recent Double IPA 55|01, what their numbering system means and the story behind their branding.
We covered what makes a good beer festival, the BrewDog investment in Brew by Numbers via their development fund, the United Craft Brewers, the challenges of starting and running a brewery including hopes for the future.
Grab a beer and listen to my chat with Tom Hutchings.
Welcome to the BushCraftBeer podcast.
This is episode 2, where I sit down and chat with Phil Harding and Charlie Poutney from Boutique Bar Brands.
We sat down with a few beers, at their new hot desking cum micro bar, out of office in Battersea, started doing a sound check and just kept chatting so it’s a real fly on the wall conversation and means we didn’t formally introduce ourselves. So allow me to that now before we roll the tape.
Phil Harding is the co-founder of Boutique Bar Brands and has worked in the trade for many years including a stint as manager of the famous White Horse in Parsons Green, south west London.
Charlie Pountney met Phil at a Beer Event and over a year later, left his career in banking to join him at Boutique Bar Brand after completing a Beer Sommelier course at the Beer Academy.
We covered a lot of ground: 21st century careers, their careers in beer, beer in restaurants, beer and food matching, beer branding including their work on the Island Records beer, a discussion on who’s doing well in terms of branding in the industry and spreading the word of good beer through education and training.
If you’re an interested in building a career in beer, or have an interest in branding or just fancy listening to a conversation about beer listen in. It starts slow but bear with it.
Hope you enjoy my chat with Phil and Charlie.
BushCraftBeer 