How Great Teams Build Great Beer with Dominic Driscoll of Thornbridge Brewery

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 It's still a blend of sort of five, six hops, very chinook and a tarnam, that's a very nice

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 piney sort of classic hop flavour. It's a bitter beer, you know, we don't let it drop

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 under 55, 60 IBUs, you know, we've never softened it, it's never dropped an ABV.

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 Hello and welcome to the Beer Rep chats with a happy new year to everyone. I hope you

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 had a lovely time over Christmas and celebrated New Year's Eve hard. Great to be back and today

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 I'm delighted to be joined by Dominic, he's a brewer at Formbridge Brewery. Dominic, thanks

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 for joining the show. You're most welcome, good to see you. Youself as well. Let's kick things

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 off with how you first got into brewing and what drew you into being a brewer as a career.

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 I suppose we'll come from Blackburn, which is a brewing town. The town always smells like

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 a brewery because we have the big, the weights brewery there, which is sadly no longer there.

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 But I always enjoyed going into a pub from the age of about 15, probably should, I mean

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 now 18, so it was a lot of getting used to being sat with pints a bit and I loved the

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 whole culture of being served a pint. Eventually when I'd finished university

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 I was running a bar in Manchester and I could, I could, I knew I enjoyed it but I knew it wasn't

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 quite for me and the thing that I was really interested in was beer so I thought I'd give it

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 a shot. So yeah, so I applied to the 20 odd different breweries in Greater Manchester at

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 the time and eventually got a start at Marble Brewing so that was 2005. So you was doing a

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 bit of home brewing I guess before that or? No, never home brewed. I'd been to visit

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 the weights brewery with my team at the brewery, we'd have like a staff night out there and

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 I just fell in love with the whole, it just seemed so exciting and just full of possibilities

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 basically at the time so and I just thought start at the bottom and work my way up.

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 Awesome. It's unusual for brewers to start with no kind of home brewing experience so

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 it just goes to show that you can take it on as a career without any kind of home brewing

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 knowledge like yourself. Yeah I think back then as well there was very, the internet hadn't

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 really got going with like you know how good the malt miller is and the other online home

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 brewing shops, they weren't really around so there was no liquid yeast backs, it was all

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 just three or four different dried yeast backs and the kit was pretty basic and I just thought

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 well if I can get in a small five barrel, ten barrel plant, work harder than everyone

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 else I'll eventually get a shot and I'll just learn as quick as I can basically

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 and for whatever literature I could get hold of at the time so. And for your hard work you was

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 named Brewer of the Year at the British Guild of Beerwriters in 2024, that must have been a

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 really huge thing for yourself. How does that recognition mean to you? What does it mean to

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 you personally and professionally to get that award? It was quite, it was good fun I'll say.

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 The team had worked really hard with the Union set and we were balancing, we'd come out of a

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 really difficult time in terms of inflation and coming out of Covid and the challenges that that

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 brought and it was nice just for, not for me really, just for the team to get some recognition

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 for the hard work and the success of getting the Union going basically. I mean Garrett did a

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 lot of work, Garrett Oliver did a lot of work getting us to the set but you know we had

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 planned it and make it work and it was nice to sort of get some recognition that we'd done that.

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 Yeah what was it like working on the Union set? It was like being the new brewer again you know

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 scratching our heads and right let's see what happens if we do this sort of thing so.

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 Yeah definitely, we'll talk about the Union set a bit further down but it's really

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 interesting and definitely we'll learn a bit more about it. The thing about being a brewer

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 though you know we're not a one-man band, there's a whole team of people who never get any

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 recognition like the accounts team who you know they bend over backwards to get my ingredients

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 for me you know there's the logistics team and there's never like sort of packaging supervisor

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 of the year or anything like that and those are the guys on the ground doing, guys and girls

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 on the ground doing the real hard work so it's a bit sort of silly saying no brewer of the

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 year and I understand that it's nice to have a figurehead for the industry to sort of promote

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 but it was a team that really won that award in 2024 yeah I'll always accept that.

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 Yeah I mean it'd be great to be recognized as a team and a brewery as a whole for the hard

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 work you do and you know everyone's involved in making the great beer that you guys do.

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 Yeah definitely so obviously someone who's you've seen the craft beer world or you

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 know the beer world change over the last two decades or so you know what's been the biggest

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 shift that you've noticed and what's been the most challenging?

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 So funnily enough when I started there wasn't really craft beer knocking around I always say

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 because there was only about 300 400 breweries in the UK at the time in 2005 and craft beer

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 hadn't really got going it was obviously going well in America we could use American Hots

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 but it wasn't really until sort of Thornbridge came along and and had Chai Paw it's the

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 higher ABVs really everything was sort of 3.9 to 4.2 you know you probably have a 5% IPA

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 and that you didn't sell a lot of and the odd winter strong ale and that was about it and

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 it sort of normalized you know people drinking you know a two-thirds pint of

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 a really good 7% IPA that it just didn't happen back then and that was a real nice

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 change that you know it doesn't have to be in a pint pot it doesn't have to be 3.9%

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 and that that's the thing that really that really changed but there's there was such growth a few

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 years ago in the craft beer world when London finally latched on and you know the kernel was

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 launched it was such an exciting time and it was a brewer's world you could have picked and

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 chosen any sort of brewery to work out at the time things are really contracting now and

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 or they've have contracted and it's become quite a challenging environment again

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 so yeah it's been like a wave that we've sort of ridden and coming out the other side of now

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 obviously your access to market is becoming even more of a challenge as well I mean I know

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 you guys I mean I remember I worked in Wetherspoons years ago Jai Paw was always

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 always around in Wetherspoons how influential was was having Jai Paw in a big chain like

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 Wetherspoons important? It was definitely something that when I spoke to the directors

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 it's something they always wanted to happen you know we would when we first started bottling we

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 had the bottles in Waitrose and the cask in Wetherspoons and it's sort of two ends of the

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 sort of society sort of the markets really and lots of free houses but it's nice for everyone

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 to be able to taste what we're doing and it's not reserved for sort of a certain section

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 of craft beer geeks or anything like that we try and make beer for everyone and Wetherspoons

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 certainly provide us with that opportunity I don't really go in Wetherspoons because

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 in Chesterfield in the Peak District we've just got some incredible free houses and obviously we

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 get we've got our tap room here in Bakewell as well so but there's lots of places in the

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 country that that don't have good free houses and good pubs and Wetherspoons really sort

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 of provides them with an opportunity for them to drink our beer so this year we've been

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 doing up to 1200 casks a week with Wetherspoons and we scale that back down again now to try

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 move the beer around a little bit more but it was quite good fun at one point I think we were in

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 every Wetherspoons in the country at one point this year so yeah yeah definitely wherever I

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 used to to go or you know it was always available when I was ordering it and I used

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 to work in Wetherspoons it's going back about four years ago I think I left Wetherspoons

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 I was with them for like 15 years and I remember when Jaipur first came out it was

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 everyone was raging about it like everyone was going crazy you know this is amazing beer

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 you're going to get Jaipur and when you're going to get Jaipur in yeah it was quite

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 it's quite a high ABV beer as well so yeah it must have been exciting for the customers

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 you know a nice change from the norm so just as it was back in 2005 and we all tasted it

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 for the first times yeah 100% so what's your personal perspective on on you know what beer

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 that you you brewed and what you're most proud of what beer are you most proud of

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 you brewed at Funbridge? That's a good question as production manager I'm sort of proud of all of

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 them sometimes our technical brewer will take the lead on beers you know like the hazy stuff

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 like Green Mountain and you know the hazy IPA specials sort of Rob our head brewer he'll take

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 take charge of a few a couple of the union ones like the Dark Mile that we did with

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 Garrett and the Burton Ale I sort of looked after them and last year and the year before

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 those were the ones that really got me out of bed and thinking you know just how to absolutely

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 nail it but we make a lot of different beers here we did sort of over 100 different beers

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 in 24 I'm not entirely sure how many we did last year but um yeah it's always probably the

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 last one that we're most proud of when I'm personally brewing I always make sure I try

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 and hit every single spec and everything's perfect for you know the next next brewer

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 take over so just to sort of set an example and but they're obviously a lot younger than me a

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 lot faster these days so whippersnappers yeah yeah definitely I mean obviously when I'm

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 when I'm home brewing you're proud of the the one that you brewed last and then you want

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 to go on to brew another beer and if that turns out great you're like oh yes my new

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 favorite beer but then you go and brew another one and it's this continuous the more you

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 brewed that the last ones always seems to be the the one that you're most proud of

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 probably because you're you're kind of improving as a as a brewer on your on your skills and

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 hitting your specs like you said you know um so you become more proud of of that beer

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 yeah I remember I think it was a craft beer co event in London years ago and Mikkel from

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 Mikkeler um he was sort of talking about his journey from home brewer to um starting

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 his business and he said he started with a pale ale and he just kept trying to make it

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 better and better until he was until he could basically improve it no more and I really like

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 that attitude it's not something we get a chance here you know we're brewing 22 24 times a

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 week on the big kit here eight times a week on the smaller 10 barrels there's you know there's

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 not the opportunity to to get things wrong really and experiment you know we need to

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 get it right first time yeah do you not like have like a do you not like have a

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 a small batch kit where you can do like test recipes and the things well it's actually easy

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 to do small like those sort of test recipes on the bigger kit because because it's automated

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 we can dial everything in and we know it so well um yeah you know we're not we're sort

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 of dealing with a kit that we we know inside out we know exactly what mash temperatures and

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 how fast everything's going to move around and what's going to happen when we add different

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 hops and you know um we've got a lot of information stored in our brains and on paper

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 so yeah it is a different thing to sort of brewing on a smaller kit and um

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 I just feel like if anyone could throw a beer style at us and would have a damn good shot at it

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 from day one basically but that that's taken 15 years of practice yeah and knowledge and

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 working on working on the equipment and knowing inside and out yeah exactly you know exactly

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 what you're going to get yeah um so we talked about a bit a bit about formbridge

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 the breweries in itself yeah it started in 2005 yeah is it that yeah buildings at formbridge

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 hall i believe yeah they all moved around the back yeah and you moved to your new

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 new unit in riverside yeah so that happened like 2009 um the chairman sold his gaskets

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 company and sort of provided the the boost so he could the team could open riverside at

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 the time um so i joined at the end of 2010 along with rob lover who'd came from well

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 he was at meantime and then he'd set up camden brewery with jasper we were then joined six

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 months later by ben who's now our technical brewer and between the three of us we just

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 have us like a solid base in the brewing team so ben's really good at numbers spreadsheets

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 keeping an eye on technical details and so i look after a lot of the more people side

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 of things and and production and packaging and rob just sort of oversees everything so

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 between the three of us we've just been able to build a really good brewing team

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 time and time again and just provide an environment where the brewers can just

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 thrive really but thombridge has always been about good people so over the years we've

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 added very you know we've added a brilliant logistics manager who's very clever and remember

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 when we added simon walkton who's the coo just made everything a lot more professional

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 you know we just got some great people working here i think that's the real key

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 to the brewery success yeah a good team and a good working environment yeah it's

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 toxic and horrible so exactly yeah um what we've done with the shift brewers a lot of

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 the time is they'll get to a certain point where they can't really learn anymore

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 you know and it's then their time to move on so we've got will and brad who moved

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 to kirkstall and various other brewers who've left us and moved on and gone on

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 to be production managers and head brewers themselves so almost like a training ground

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 for people and yeah that's that stepping stone so say do four or five years at

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 home which and then move on above sort of things so yeah that's great 2025 last year

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 yeah march your 20th anniversary yeah can you can you share can you share a moment from that

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 year that really you know calculates what thombridge means to you and the team

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 that's a really good question because it was it was such a busy year you know in terms of

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 i think some of the meetings that we have on a monday with the sales team and then a

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 where we we've sort of looked back on some of the old recipes and brought them back and

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 just things like killy darlings the old vienna lager it was so nice to bring those back and

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 see and and having some of the younger team some of the packaging team and some of the

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 younger brewers who never a never tasted vienna lager and b didn't didn't taste it the

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 first time around anyway and go you know what's this this is a great beer says you know you

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 know we've got we've got a hell of a back catalogue and it was just really nice to

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 just some of those those moments that was felt really nice and made us proud to be here so

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 yeah um so when you're developing new beers um what's you know what's your start point

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 where do you where do you go from is it you want to capture the flavor or do you go with

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 style first or um is it like your ingredients sometimes it can be sales led when they want

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 we want this style of beer produced to this abv um get on with it and you know we'll just

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 bang our heads together see what we've got see what the brewing team want to make

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 um other times it can be you know a list of 12 different beers for the year that we want to

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 do on keg and just release one each month and then we'll go to the brewing team and say

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 right what guys what you know what do you want to what do you want to make and they'll

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 come back with some ideas and we'll we'll then go back and discuss them uh get the

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 brewer to put together a recipe and then we'll tweak it if we feel it needs tweaking basically

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 um if that makes sense it's not usually um ingredients led because we can get hold of

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 pretty much anything we have extensive hot contracts um simpsons malt you know do we

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 get marisota from those guys we can get german malt belgian malt anything we want really

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 it's always about we are quite style led as a brewery so but it's always about nailing

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 that style to the very best of our abilities so we don't want to take any compromises you

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 know making a lager and all let's just use some pale malt rather than pilsner malts yeah

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 um do you ever like um uh use like experimental hops you know the ones that you know that

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 haven't been named and not been classed as a hop variant as yet yeah we've used um pretty

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 much everything we've got such great relationships with our hop merchants so when they'll come and

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 visit they'll tell us about you know things that they've got in a pipeline a lot of these

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 hop oils have been quite interesting to use and yeah they've been absolute crap for years you

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 know they've always been associated with big family brewers saving money um but what we've

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 found is using these newfangled hop oils a lot better quality than they've been in the past

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 but using them with hops so combining them with t90 pellets and and whole cone hops to

193
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 really good flavours um yes we've not done a single hop brew for a while but um

194
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 we've definitely started looking at you know all options in the

195
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 in the hop oils as well yeah what what stage do you use the the hop oils uh just yeah you can

196
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 add them at the end of end of boil just before whirlpool you can add them on casting

197
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 we often dry hop on casting so we'll be casting beer into a tank and we'll get the

198
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 hops in at that point so it's warm and then traditionally we do our west coast at sort of 12

199
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 so sorry we'll ferment the beer at 22 chill it down to 12 for maturation purposes and at that

200
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 point we can add some more dry hops and add things not oils so um yeah they just give you

201
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 some uh some variability and some different options to use basically yeah definitely i've

202
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 not used any hop oils yet but i'm definitely would like to explore it um just to see what

203
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 you can get out of it on the dry hops to go or on the whirlpools well we've got some samples here

204
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 so just come and visit us and i'll fill you up i'll take some home go raise your storage

205
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 yeah so um done a collaboration project with northern monk called

206
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 dry poor faith yeah how did that influence your approach to to recipe development with

207
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 with that it's really interesting work because they're obviously they're a little bit bigger

208
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 and a bit younger as well really ambitious i've known brian for for donkeys like before he was a

209
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 brewery really good old friend of mine um really nice bloke so we we'd start with some email

210
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 saying right how we're going to do this um but it was more about because brian had been to

211
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 thornbridge quite a few times but we'd never been to northern monks it was about visiting

212
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 those guys and seeing how they put together a beer which is a slightly different way you

213
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 they really nail hazy beers probably you know you know consistently so it's the great in

214
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 they can be great in the beer shop um you know like their hop festival or

215
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 or in the supermarkets they are consistently brilliant at making hazy beers and so it's

216
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 looking about how they did that and so it's really interesting picking what is the you know

217
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 the essential parts of faith as a beer um you know same with jai poor and combining them into

218
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 something that people are actually going to enjoy and we just got brilliant feedback from

219
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 their version and what we did i think it's something we're going to continue and have a bit

220
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 of a spin on in the next six to 12 months as well so yeah yeah we like working with those guys

221
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 is it um you know good to see when you when you visit other breweries and see how they

222
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 how different they do fins compared to yourselves and the differences is it do you kind of

223
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 take fins back to the brewery and go we could implement how they do things there and

224
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 into our brewery even with small breweries you know yeah we do a lot of collaborations i think

225
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 we did 23 last year and it's often i'm often the one who'll do the ones out you know going

226
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 to visit other breweries i think i've dug more mushrooms out than anyone else in the

227
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 lucky man i just enjoy it you know it's always nice to go and do but even how

228
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 say breweries like solopian how they've they've got a very big kit big 60 barrel and they

229
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 brilliant cask beers you know how breweries like that um approach their brewing and then

230
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 i was at brolly brewing down for the collabageddon project and their two and a half barrel which

231
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 is a lot smaller i was saying you know what time we're mashing in tomorrow and i was like

232
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 six seven o'clock in the morning like no about half tens grand you know it's totally

233
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 different but they're making fantastically hoppy beers you know and anything that we can

234
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 you know how they're bringing those flavors out is always great people's brains and you know when

235
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 people visit thomas we can give them a lot of technical help as well so it's still a very

236
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 friendly industry yeah 100 100 um so we we touched on a bit about you know your the union

237
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 system that you you got in 2024 so you know you rescued and installed it can you talk a bit

238
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 about through the talk us through the system and how it differs from differs from you know

239
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 modern kits that you use yeah so normally we'd ferment in a cylindro conical vessel

240
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 which you can pressurize or you know will hold pressure this is an open fermentation system

241
00:21:14.610 --> 00:21:20.410
 and before it was sort of brought into main use you would have barrels on the floor

242
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 the beer would ferment out of them because they were used for fermentation vessels

243
00:21:25.370 --> 00:21:32.750
 and someone would wander around with a jug and top them up from bearded scooped off the

244
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 quality and this was you know there was there was other systems like the union system in play but

245
00:21:37.650 --> 00:21:46.590
 this was eventually the model that became standard um so we we i'll try and explain

246
00:21:46.590 --> 00:21:51.790
 the system we move the beer down from the main brewery 150 meters down the road the day

247
00:21:51.790 --> 00:21:58.150
 after we've brewed it so it's about 14 to 16 hours afterwards goes into a receiving trough

248
00:21:58.150 --> 00:22:03.170
 then fills the barrels because they're in connected with side rods and they're in union

249
00:22:04.410 --> 00:22:10.530
 the beer ferments in the barrels any excess yeast sort of flies up the co2 being produced

250
00:22:10.530 --> 00:22:14.450
 and that carries some wort and that will sit in the top trough above these barrels

251
00:22:15.030 --> 00:22:28.110
 the excess yeast will stay there and the wort will slide back into the receiving trough which

252
00:22:28.110 --> 00:22:32.310
 so there's different concentrations and different of the yeast different

253
00:22:32.310 --> 00:22:34.810
 temperatures in each barrel so there's just that variance

254
00:22:36.290 --> 00:22:40.230
 it's a lot more difficult to control than the beer just being in

255
00:22:40.230 --> 00:22:44.870
 yeah but the yeast seems i can imagine if the if the temperature is up and down

256
00:22:44.870 --> 00:22:48.050
 yeah so there's some control we have with sort of cold water in

257
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 sort of can flow through a copper insert in the barrel it just feels a lot more

258
00:22:53.190 --> 00:22:59.150
 hands-on than it does staring at a cylinder or conical vessel on the computer screens

259
00:22:59.150 --> 00:23:04.830
 yeah definitely but i mean it must be quite rewarding to to do a brew on the union kit

260
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 to do because you're hands-on and it's more exciting more manual and just fills up it

261
00:23:09.990 --> 00:23:14.890
 the rewards of it as well when you make a really good beer from the kit it can be

262
00:23:14.890 --> 00:23:19.470
 quite satisfying i'd imagine yeah i mean sales have really let us lead on whatever we've

263
00:23:19.470 --> 00:23:23.770
 made in it you know they're not really they know whatever we make is is going to be

264
00:23:23.770 --> 00:23:27.850
 you know very sellable and you know we're not going to be able to keep it in stock at all so

265
00:23:29.350 --> 00:23:32.970
 you mean a couple of the beers that we developed like the union ipa the

266
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 british ipa was a round robin say this is going to really celebrate

267
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 you know the best of british brewing and that sort of then we realized we needed to make a

268
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 slightly lower gravity sort of beer so we made the 1838 which was the year it was

269
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 patented and that's a really good english pale ale but i mean next month we've got track

270
00:23:52.270 --> 00:23:56.090
 coming we're going to make an american brown and nice you know we've got various other

271
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 co-labs planned for this year so it's all very exciting and when we're still learning

272
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 about the different sort of flavors and character the union sort of brings

273
00:24:05.070 --> 00:24:11.710
 so yeah it's just it's been somewhere for 15 years making beers like jaipur time and time

274
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 again wouldn't say it was boring because brewing is always going to be more exciting

275
00:24:14.930 --> 00:24:22.750
 sitting in an office and dealing with hr or whatever but you know you can get very familiar

276
00:24:22.750 --> 00:24:28.650
 with it and so he really did sort of wake us up again and sort of realize you know there's

277
00:24:28.650 --> 00:24:32.770
 there's more possibilities different flavors different beers we can make here so it's been

278
00:24:32.770 --> 00:24:38.210
 really challenging yeah definitely yeah i think you know so obviously you've you mentioned

279
00:24:38.210 --> 00:24:44.330
 about track coming down to do a brown in the new kit is there any other kind of

280
00:24:44.330 --> 00:24:49.210
 or styles of beer that you're going to be brewing after that it's difficult for me to say

281
00:24:49.210 --> 00:24:54.910
 i don't know how to sort of reveal but we've definitely got some very big names coming i mean

282
00:24:54.910 --> 00:25:00.250
 we've had theextons fullers we had garrett oliver we've had the kernel we've had oakham

283
00:25:00.930 --> 00:25:04.330
 burning sky you know there's we'll eventually get through every brewery

284
00:25:05.050 --> 00:25:08.770
 but we've definitely you know we've got some small people coming in some bigger people

285
00:25:08.770 --> 00:25:13.670
 coming in we're just going to keep it interesting and keep pushing pushing what we

286
00:25:13.670 --> 00:25:18.630
 do all right so i'd love to tell you who else we've got going but i can't at the moment sorry

287
00:25:18.630 --> 00:25:25.210
 oh okay well we got tracks that's that's a so that's an exclusive kind of yeah so we're

288
00:25:25.210 --> 00:25:30.730
 going that one so um obviously we mentioned about you know brewing jaipur how has that

289
00:25:30.730 --> 00:25:36.110
 defined formbridge you know since since it you first brewed it all those years ago

290
00:25:36.110 --> 00:25:43.350
 and why do you think it continues to be so successful um well just thinking back to when

291
00:25:43.350 --> 00:25:48.130
 i first tried it at the national winter ales festival when i was brewing for marble one of the

292
00:25:48.130 --> 00:25:54.230
 camera ladies she thrust a glass of beer around and said try this it's fantastic and i was like

293
00:25:54.230 --> 00:25:59.950
 yeah that is that is pretty you know bitter exciting beer it's great um and i used to

294
00:25:59.950 --> 00:26:03.730
 order the beer for the marble arch at the time so we would constantly be ordering thornbridge

295
00:26:03.730 --> 00:26:10.410
 beer in as our guests alongside five or six marble beers and we jaipur we couldn't even

296
00:26:10.410 --> 00:26:14.450
 hold of it then sometimes i'd be like oh no we don't have any in i'm like what are you talking

297
00:26:14.450 --> 00:26:19.830
 about how can you not have it in but you know we're making that was when they owned the small

298
00:26:19.830 --> 00:26:24.770
 kit and obviously they got the we got the bigger kit in 2009 and we're making more of it now

299
00:26:25.450 --> 00:26:29.390
 than we ever were you know particularly for the weather spoons and for 500 mil

300
00:26:29.390 --> 00:26:34.150
 which is my favorite sort of version of it i think is we haven't changed the recipe we

301
00:26:34.150 --> 00:26:41.670
 haven't um it's still a blend of sort of five six hops um very shinok and a tarnam that's a very

302
00:26:41.670 --> 00:26:47.590
 nice piney sort of classic hop flavor it's a bit of beer it's you know we don't let it drop

303
00:26:47.590 --> 00:26:53.450
 under 55 to 60 ibu's you know we've never softened it it's never dropped in abv

304
00:26:53.450 --> 00:26:59.350
 um the malt is is a key to it as well really good low color marisotta and i just

305
00:26:59.350 --> 00:27:03.210
 think it still excites people when they see it on the bar it's this oh brilliant you've

306
00:27:03.210 --> 00:27:08.830
 got jaipur on and you know you know you know you've drunk three pints of it you really do

307
00:27:09.810 --> 00:27:13.150
 um it's not something you can have a pint and then sort of drive is it so

308
00:27:13.810 --> 00:27:19.590
 it's always like an occasion almost when jaipur's on the bar even for us even for the

309
00:27:19.590 --> 00:27:23.490
 brewers we still like to see it so just never get bored of it it's still an exciting

310
00:27:23.490 --> 00:27:28.050
 chunky beer you know you can taste some american pale ales and they've obviously been

311
00:27:28.050 --> 00:27:34.050
 softened and gone hazy or whatever but yeah i think we've got no plans to change it

312
00:27:34.050 --> 00:27:38.070
 it's bizarre that a 5.9 percent beer is such a big chunk of what we do

313
00:27:38.070 --> 00:27:43.290
 and you've released a alcohol-free version as well yeah that was it was pretty challenging

314
00:27:43.290 --> 00:27:49.250
 in terms of because it's such a distinctive beer yeah um and we don't have a de-alkalization

315
00:27:49.250 --> 00:27:54.510
 plant so there's like the the now peculiar and the ghost ship they're done on a

316
00:27:54.510 --> 00:27:59.010
 de-alkalization plant where they they just make the beer and send it down in the tanker and

317
00:27:59.010 --> 00:28:02.870
 removes the alcohol but we just don't have that opportunity basically so

318
00:28:03.550 --> 00:28:09.050
 we're basically using like an arrested fermentation style um trying to match the

319
00:28:09.050 --> 00:28:14.210
 malt characters is difficult um making it bitter enough letting it hold that sort of

320
00:28:14.210 --> 00:28:20.970
 the alpha acids um but i think we were really getting there actually um alcohol-free

321
00:28:20.970 --> 00:28:25.510
 low alcohol beers is not something that i personally i just have a lime and soda or

322
00:28:25.510 --> 00:28:30.510
 a pint of vimto at the bar or something but it is a big thing for other people so

323
00:28:32.090 --> 00:28:36.090
 um it's definitely something we're going to be doing more of yeah definitely i think it's um

324
00:28:36.090 --> 00:28:41.430
 for me i think it's heading in the right direction with flavor and stuff but it's very

325
00:28:41.430 --> 00:28:46.510
 hard to get a beer that's known for say instance where it's big body big hazy big

326
00:28:47.450 --> 00:28:54.950
 it's very hard to recreate that um and keep that body um speaking to quite a few people and

327
00:28:54.950 --> 00:28:59.990
 and body like getting that body of mouth fill in an alcohol-free beer is is very very hard

328
00:28:59.990 --> 00:29:06.010
 so when you've got alcohol-free lagers or um bitters that are low in body and mouth

329
00:29:06.010 --> 00:29:10.990
 fill it's it's a lot easier to recreate that recipe because the body and mouth fill is quite

330
00:29:10.990 --> 00:29:17.150
 anyway yeah yeah but you can you can see why that because i can see why um you want a gypo

331
00:29:17.150 --> 00:29:22.690
 because it's got the brand and it's recognizable for people you know so definitely yeah it's

332
00:29:22.690 --> 00:29:27.030
 definitely even a carry-on work you know yeah it's interesting we'll be seeing how it how it

333
00:29:27.030 --> 00:29:32.930
 develops over the course of two or three years you can see how it improves and might even be

334
00:29:32.930 --> 00:29:38.230
 some new you know new things come out new new ways of brewing alcohol-free beers to make

335
00:29:38.230 --> 00:29:42.450
 it easier exactly and things have moved on hugely in the last three or four years with

336
00:29:42.450 --> 00:29:47.170
 different yeasts and all sorts so yeah definitely um and if they keep that body of mouth well

337
00:29:47.170 --> 00:29:52.610
 that's the key for me absolutely so yeah so is there any any upcoming releases or

338
00:29:52.610 --> 00:29:57.550
 experimental projects that you can give us a bit of a teaser for this year um and

339
00:29:57.550 --> 00:30:01.630
 now you mentioned track that's why there's any more kind you can do one more well i've just

340
00:30:01.630 --> 00:30:07.690
 i've just received a an email whilst we've been talking from tnt with italian chestnuts

341
00:30:07.690 --> 00:30:13.010
 arrived so we've got another we'll have a batch of brats here coming out at some point this year

342
00:30:13.010 --> 00:30:19.530
 and nothing probably sure when but uh that was that's pretty exciting um what else have we got

343
00:30:20.050 --> 00:30:25.530
 um yeah we've got another full list of colabs to come um kind of thinking we've got coming

344
00:30:25.530 --> 00:30:29.910
 up we've got a batch of st petersburg that we've just fermented on the union that'll be

345
00:30:29.910 --> 00:30:37.510
 released shortly that's very exciting because we've not brewed that for a long time so we're

346
00:30:37.510 --> 00:30:43.010
 first joined the duty banner change so it dropped from 7.7 to 7.4 but it's now back up

347
00:30:43.010 --> 00:30:48.470
 at 7.7 so uh full strength i didn't have any smoke tomorrow so i had to run to red willow

348
00:30:48.470 --> 00:30:54.570
 brewery and get a couple of bags the other day raid their stock room yeah exactly yeah um

349
00:30:54.570 --> 00:30:58.590
 but yeah we will definitely be having all sorts of fun things coming we've got a full

350
00:30:58.590 --> 00:31:03.770
 release of different keg beers we've got an alt beer coming up shortly so we've been

351
00:31:03.770 --> 00:31:07.690
 talking to the guys at zoom we were eager um about how they put together an alt beer

352
00:31:08.910 --> 00:31:14.270
 um so yeah we've got all sorts coming up definitely still excited to be here so it's

353
00:31:14.270 --> 00:31:20.690
 great awesome um moving on to the final we got the final two questions you know if there

354
00:31:20.690 --> 00:31:25.090
 was a piece of brewing wisdom that you've picked up during your time at formbridge

355
00:31:25.090 --> 00:31:30.950
 that you could pass on to a home brewer or even a shift brewer what what would that be

356
00:31:31.770 --> 00:31:38.130
 probably that it's it's very often you know the recipe is only a small part of the success of a

357
00:31:38.130 --> 00:31:43.270
 beer um certainly when you start home brewing you realize that it's cleaning this the most

358
00:31:43.270 --> 00:31:48.850
 important part and then before you even start changing the recipe for things and that's even

359
00:31:48.850 --> 00:31:52.750
 true at thornbridge you know we have to make sure that all the processes we have a team of

360
00:31:52.750 --> 00:31:57.010
 seven brewers who we're all have to sing off the same hymn sheet and do everything exactly

361
00:31:57.010 --> 00:32:02.830
 the same as we get that consistency and that's really important for us um the process is is far

362
00:32:02.830 --> 00:32:08.230
 more important than the recipe itself for a successful beer and i just wish you know making

363
00:32:08.230 --> 00:32:14.270
 sure the yeast is healthy the the pitch is consistent in terms of its volume those are

364
00:32:14.270 --> 00:32:18.950
 the things that really change in fermentation temperature and giving beer time to mature that's

365
00:32:18.950 --> 00:32:23.190
 that's also really important those are the bits that are more important than you know what

366
00:32:23.190 --> 00:32:29.590
 you can get hold of and that will determine how successful your beer is time and time again the

367
00:32:29.590 --> 00:32:34.970
 basics right absolutely and just making sure you're consistent and try and really nail your

368
00:32:34.970 --> 00:32:40.650
 process down but not just a brewing day but certainly fermentation and yeast health making

369
00:32:40.650 --> 00:32:45.490
 sure it's a good viable crop of yeast so these smack packs the white yeast white labsa just

370
00:32:45.490 --> 00:32:49.390
 brilliant you know they didn't exist and i would say i had it done a long time ago

371
00:32:49.390 --> 00:32:54.690
 because it just provides the homebrewers and small brewers is such a breadth of different

372
00:32:54.690 --> 00:32:59.630
 beers styles they can make yeah definitely and like the beer that homebrewers can make these

373
00:32:59.630 --> 00:33:04.050
 days is just better than some commercial breweries these days i mean the kits that they

374
00:33:04.050 --> 00:33:11.390
 they even get to use is like quite amazing as well absolutely we have a team of homebrewers

375
00:33:11.390 --> 00:33:15.110
 around here in the midlands as well and we often get sent samples and they're like

376
00:33:15.670 --> 00:33:19.450
 don't suppose you mind sharing the recipe for that one you know

377
00:33:19.450 --> 00:33:25.230
 you know what they're doing you know yeah definitely yeah it's a it's become really

378
00:33:25.230 --> 00:33:30.550
 really big homebrewing recently in the last i would say what five five years or so it's

379
00:33:30.550 --> 00:33:35.990
 really picked up and improved last question before we shoot off what excites you most

380
00:33:35.990 --> 00:33:40.110
 about brewing beer today compared to when you first started i think it's just a breadth

381
00:33:40.110 --> 00:33:44.810
 of different beers that we can make it really is you know but back at marble we used to

382
00:33:44.810 --> 00:33:48.970
 make about four different beers and we loved every one of them you know we'd make it a cask ale

383
00:33:48.970 --> 00:33:55.210
 ale pale ale and you know a porter and that was about it and it would have to be a special

384
00:33:55.210 --> 00:33:58.910
 occasion for a new beer to come out because now we can be brewing three or four different

385
00:33:58.910 --> 00:34:02.730
 new beers a week and they'll all disappear off to different markets where you know we

386
00:34:02.730 --> 00:34:07.810
 might make one for for norway or you know one that just goes into into a pub company

387
00:34:07.810 --> 00:34:11.050
 or something like that but it's still great to get your teeth around all these different

388
00:34:11.790 --> 00:34:16.989
 recipes we've got we've got these series now where people can sign up for the cask and keg

389
00:34:16.989 --> 00:34:22.290
 release of the year so we've got to come up with 24 different beers anyway and we're going

390
00:34:22.290 --> 00:34:29.330
 to be selling big numbers at least 150 to 200 of each you know cask or keg so that's still

391
00:34:29.330 --> 00:34:33.850
 exciting it's you know making sure that it runs like clockwork here at thornbridge everyone

392
00:34:33.850 --> 00:34:38.370
 knows what's going on and if anyone's got any ideas to get them into us and we can

393
00:34:38.370 --> 00:34:43.790
 cooperate it is you know there's a big fun operation making beers it's a great job i

394
00:34:43.790 --> 00:34:49.409
 wouldn't still wouldn't swap it for anywhere else so yeah i couldn't imagine how good it

395
00:34:49.409 --> 00:34:54.489
 would be to work in a brewery but it also is very very hard work especially you're cleaning

396
00:34:54.489 --> 00:35:01.050
 keeping on top of things making sure everything's consistent that is is what what key is key to

397
00:35:01.050 --> 00:35:05.370
 you know a successful brewery like yourselves um you know is that consistency and getting

398
00:35:05.370 --> 00:35:10.370
 everything right yeah i just think when people are paying money for beer and you know it's not

399
00:35:10.370 --> 00:35:15.190
 getting any cheaper is it so certainly isn't don't want anyone to be disappointed you want

400
00:35:15.190 --> 00:35:20.310
 people to still be as excited as we are so and that's what we owe them as our customers

401
00:35:20.310 --> 00:35:26.010
 so yeah yeah definitely um well dom it's been absolutely amazing talking to you and learning

402
00:35:26.010 --> 00:35:35.350
 a bit about thornbridge and your past and how you got to where you are um and yeah i'm

403
00:35:35.350 --> 00:35:40.930
 the new union track uh collaboration that definitely can't wait to try that brand out

404
00:35:40.930 --> 00:35:44.790
 when that comes out we're always welcome up here so make sure you come and visit us

405
00:35:44.790 --> 00:35:49.010
 um i might even pop over we never know i have a little little weekend trip away somewhere

406
00:35:49.010 --> 00:35:54.530
 near bakewell and i'll definitely pop in it's great yeah i'll definitely be be visiting at

407
00:35:54.530 --> 00:35:59.370
 some point um yeah it's been great to have you on um we'll be stocking some of the

408
00:35:59.370 --> 00:36:03.610
 thornbridge beers um in on the beer rep store so um do have a look and check them

409
00:36:03.610 --> 00:36:09.030
 out and um yeah until our next episode um we'll catch you later and thanks again for dominic