3 wise men

In the nativity, we are told of three wise men who travelled a great distance, following a star that would lead them to a newborn king. With them (as we all know) they brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

It’s surely no coincidence that we never hear about these ‘wise’ men again. This (in my humble opinion) is all down to the gifts they brought; why didn’t they pick up some delicious craft beer instead? I mean, what is myrrh anyway? I’d much prefer a saison, thank you very much.

Fast-forward to modern day, back here in Blighty, where we’ve tracked down our own wise men: Stuart Ross of Magic Rock, John Driebergen of Fourpure, and Andy Smith of Partizan Brewing.

These three brewers are ‘wise’ enough to make beer for a living, creating liquid gold, with aromas more beautiful than that of any old frankincense or myrrh.

So, let’s follow these wise men like the stars they are, find out about their craft beer journey, and see where they think the UK scene industry is heading.

Stuart’s origin story is very simple; he was working as a groundsman, when a friend of his who was Head Brewer at Kelham Island Brewery asked him if he’d like a job in a brewery. It sounded like a great idea so he said yes. 

“The biggest trend in 2016 has been for very hoppy/fruity/juicy pale ales, IPAs, and double IPAs brewed with low bitterness and often very murky or cloudy. Clarity is certainly becoming less of an issue, hazy or cloudy beer is much more widely accepted as being the more flavourful option rather than being seen as a fault.

“Next year, I think we’re heading toward a higher standard of brewing process knowledge, the resurgence of keg packaged beer back into the craft brewing sector has seen the need for small brewers to improve their processing and invest in packaging machinery, lab equipment and the types of tanks they are using. In general, I think quality has improved and will continue to improve, there is much more competition in the market now so I do wonder if the brewers who don’t keep up will struggle to survive.  

“I think the smart investment has always been in the scale of production and quality. The brewers who stand out are ones who brew the beers they want to brew, produce those beers with good consistency, and believe in what they are doing. 

“I’d say at least 99% of good breweries are successful because they make high quality everyday drinking beer. Even the biggest beer geeks have a ‘go-to’ beer that’s probably an easy drinking pale ale or bitter or lager.”

Living in New York from 2006 to 2011 allowed John to be a part of the beer scene as it was really coming into its own over there. When he moved to London, craft beer was really in its infancy, so he jumped in.

“I think we’re beginning to see the market mature a little bit more, especially on the consumer side,” says John. “Drinkers are spoilt for choice, and also becoming much savvier. This is a great thing because it will help to improve beer quality across the board. It will be harder for new entrants to get away with quality and consistency problems.

“In 2016 we’ve seen some interesting experimentation from brewers pushing traditional styles to their limits in terms of hop loads, brewing with exotic ingredients, etc. I think we will see more of this in 2017, but with more breweries focusing on things like flavour stability, shelf life, and consistency.

“The market will continue to grow and to mature. Beer quality will hopefully continue to improve across the board, with breweries that refuse to adapt being left behind. We will see more interesting sour beers, and more breweries embrace the benefits of canning. I hope that we will see more good British lagers, and that a lot of the silly politics in the industry will become less relevant, and that we can all agree to just get along.”

While on sabbatical from his career as a chef, he worked a bar job at the White Horse in Parsons Green alongside Steve Grae (former BBNO head brewer and soon to open Affinity Brew co) Mario Canestrelli (Orbit beers) and Dan Fox (London brewing company). He’d been home brewing for a while, but working with those guys in that place got him even more excited about beer than he had ever been. 

There were fewer than 10 breweries in London back then, but he doggedly pestered his contacts for a few shifts. Finally Andy Moffat, who was running Redemption, gave him a break, showed him how to brew and paid for his IBC exams.

“The financial side of things seems to be a bigger focus this year for sure. I’ve done a few brewery tours where all they wanted to talk about was expansion plans and not much about the beer. A few very well funded openings, buyouts and also a few closures this year are probably adding fuel.

“Perhaps this is a result of the industry getting a bit more professional as a whole. To be honest though, I’ve gone back to reading home brewers’ blogs as I’m a bit bored by that stuff. Hopefully this year gets everyone financially set, so that they can buy their shiny new kit and we can all start talking about beer again.

“I see it becoming even more mainstream this year, and yet probably more niche as well. I think the quality will continue improving too, we’ll see the beer serving in pubs, bottle shops and restaurants become more sophisticated. 

“I also foresee fewer imports next year. Price is going to be prohibitive due to the exchange rate and also the quality and choice here is becoming so strong. Gone are the days of the bottle shop that has 50 different US IPAs all within two weeks of their sell-by date and pushing double figure prices for a small bottle (I hope). I think it’s going to be a really great year for UK beer as a whole, a lot of exciting places coming online (Alex Troncosos, Steve Graes and Phil Lowrys in particular) all going to do interesting and high-quality stuff. More passion, more collaboration, more hops. Bring it on!