Maximum Horse Power

“As a brewery, you’ve got to be about the beer. That’s all that matters,” says Dave Faragher, founder and head brewer of Wild Horse Brewing Company in Llandudno, Wales. “Well, it’s not all about the beer, but that’s what people come here for, so anything we ever do has got to be beer-centric.”

North Wales isn’t exactly known for their craft beer scene, so much of the Wales native’s plan is to educate the locals while providing veteran craft beer drinkers with quality beer. Shortly after they roll open the large steel door, there’s a line of local loyalists ready for their growlers to be filled, proving that Dave and wife Emma’s plan is working well.

Following these loyalists are visitors to the area, sipping tasters and asking questions about the beers before buying a case. Chris Wilkinson, who joined the team in 2016, expertly describes how and why each beer is made and which characteristics to be on the lookout for.

No one leaves looking dissatisfied.

Part of this customer satisfaction is the natural rapport these two have with customers, but another part is fueled by the intelligent beer styles that Dave and Chris brew for the region. “We wanted to start with three great beers and to make them all very different from each other.” Dave says of the core lineup consisting of the Buckskin Blonde, Palomino Pale Ale, and Dark Bay Porter.

“We started with the Buckskin Blonde because we didn’t know many people locally who drank craft beer and wanted to ease them into it. Blondes are a great introductory craft beer for people who are just getting into it. Then we have our pale ale, because we had to have something hoppy; it’s now the go-to beer of everyone who works here. I mean, we’re a craft brewery, we’ve got to have something hoppy! And then the porter is for the people who like the chocolatey malts of darker beers. It’s our modern interpretation of a traditional London porter, really.”

By balancing its core offering in such a way, Wild Horse has ensured its appeal to a large audience of beer drinkers. But a love of experimentation has ensured it hasn’t stopped there.

“Obviously we love brewing our core beers, but we’re beer drinkers; we want to experiment and try new flavors and we want our customers to understand new styles,” explains Dave. “That’s why we started our Experimental and 10 Barrel series.”

The Experimental series begins with a half barrel of something brand new and, if it’s well received, ten barrels are made for the 10 Barrel series.

“We’re currently doing a Vienna Lager and a Schwarzbier,” says Dave, “Most people around here don’t experience those kinds of styles, it’s quite new for them and it’s really great fun to brew them. One of our exciting upcoming challenges is going to be brewing a great Session IPA. It’s really cool as brewers to come up with a low alcohol beer that’s just packed with flavour.”

“We obviously have to focus on wholesale for bottleshops and pubs, as that’s where most of our business comes from,” says Dave. “But we want people to come by the brewery, to visit us, see what we’re doing. People love to come and have a beer in a place where they can see it’s literally travelled from just over there” he says, pointing between the tanks in the back of the room and the front of the bar.

 Soon, there will be even more reason to come visit Wild Horse. Although they currently hold occasional live music in the venue (on a stage amongst the towering tanks in the back), there’s a bit more planned.

“We’ll do the pop-up restaurant thing for a few weekends and see if people really get into it around here,” Dave says. “If you did it in Manchester or something, it’d be a no-brainer. You’d be packed out every Friday or Saturday. In North Wales, this sort of stuff is a bit new and no one’s really doing it, so we’re just going to kind of test the water a little bit.”

“Everyone who works here is really passionate about beer and we brew beer that we want to drink.”

Slowly but surely, as the residents of North Wales hear about this little spot in Llandudno, they’re wanting to drink that beer, too.