The select few

Richard Croasdale catches up with the new beer brand bringing SAS discipline to the world of British lager.

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Richard Croasdale

Photos: Selection Beer

Saturday 22 August 2026

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This article is from

Italy

issue 134

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As so many dreams do in the world of beer, Selection Beer began its life a few pints deep, in a typical London pub. Three men – between them representing more than sixty years of service in the SAS – surveyed the taps in front of them: Moretti, Staropramen, the usual continental suspects. Nowhere, they noted, was there a British lager that could call itself premium with a straight face. “We could do this,” one of them observed, and unusually for a beer mat business plan, it was a thought that survived contact with the following morning.

There are more important things that set Selection apart though. For a start, you won't learn the full names of those three guys at the bar. The operations they undertook during their careers mean their identities remain protected decades later, so they go simply by Jay, Dinger and H. Jay was awarded an MBE, while Dinger holds the Military Cross, one of the highest decorations in the British military.

The brewery name is taken from the notoriously brutal SAS entry assessment, which takes place over 28 gruelling days – the same length of time as it takes to brew and lager the beer itself – and the founders have been explicit that the values they lived by in their military careers should be applied to their brewing: patience, discipline, no shortcuts.

Managing Director Johnny Wood (I didn’t dare ask if that’s his real name) joined the business around nine months ago, off the back of five years running Duvel Moortgat's UK business and a stint at Molson Coors. He is frank about what his experience taught him, and his priorities for Selection, namely that "it doesn't matter what the story is if people don't taste it”.

To that end, one of his first moves was to find the beer an appropriate brewing partner. His search led to Hall & Woodhouse in Dorset, a family brewery in continuous operation since 1777. In a conspicuously neat coincidence, the brewery’s John Woodhouse not only served in the SAS, but was the principal architect of the modern selection process, joining the family firm after his military career. The beer named after selection is now brewed by the brewery of the man who invented it. “I wish I could say we planned it that way, but it's better to be lucky than good,” observes Johnny. “And that link with the Woodhouse family is just wonderful.”

The beer itself, Spec-Ops, is a premium lager hopped entirely with Herefordshire Goldings – a deliberate nod to the county the SAS calls home, and an unusual choice for the style. "I know it's not exactly typical," says Johnny, "but it gives it a slightly different taste to your continental lagers, which is exactly what we wanted." Every ingredient – hops, barley, water, yeast – is British, a real point of distinction in an industry where provenance claims tend to be a little superficial. The finished lager certainly delivers: the samples that appeared on my desk were clean and crisp, with bready malt cut through by crisp bitterness that was notably more floral than you’d find with continental noble hops.

A portion of Selection’s profits from every pint goes to Sentinels, the SAS Regimental Association's mental health initiative, which provides confidential peer-to-peer support to serving and former members of the regiment and their families. "That's a big reason why the guys set this up," says Johnny. "Everything we do, we give a percentage back. It underpins the whole business."

The beer is great and the story behind it is genuinely compelling, so the final step is to get it behind bars beyond the business's ’s local area. It’s a combination that, going by the lineup of early stockists, is already working: since its official launch on 30 April, Spec-Ops has earned space in the fridge at Tom Kerridge's Michelin-starred Coach, across Paul Ainsworth's Cornwall estate and, as you'd expect, in most of the pubs in Hereford. The on-trade is now the priority, with distribution through EeBria intended to broaden wholesale reach. Spec-Ops comes in 330ml cans and bottles alongside 50 and 30-litre kegs, and interested pubs can get in touch via info@weareselection.co.uk.

As for ambition, there's no exit fantasy, or talk of empire. Selection's aims are to keep supporting Sentinels and to make the case for British grown-and-brewed beer. "You don't click your fingers in this industry and – hey presto – you're in a thousand pubs," says Johnny. "But with consistent effort and slog, if you've got a good, authentic story and a great beer, you tend to be successful.”

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