As with most great ideas – it all began in a pub. Or rather, a wedding, to be precise. Dan Rowntree, one third of Big Hug, met our secret brewer five years ago as he was about to do a degree in beer-making. They had similar aspirations of owning their own brewery – and it all started from there.
Meanwhile, I jacked in my job working for a soft drinks brand and re-mortgaged my flat to get my share. The third guy is Chris Bayliss, who had started the Craft Beer Rising events in 2012 with Dan because the two of them realised there was nothing to showcase talent from London’s brewing scene.
Where do you brew?
In a few places actually. I like to use the term ‘hobo brewers’: we brew in Ramsgate with Gadds, Wales with Celt Experience and Austria for our Pilsner. We don’t own a brewery right now, but one day we will. We always brew the same beer or format in the same place though so the consistency is always there. That’s really important. As a business we’re based out of King’s Cross.
So why this area?
Dan and Chris were already based here, the area’s really well connected for meetings, and it just made sense for us all to share the same office space. There’s still loads of regeneration going on which is always a good sign. As much as we’d love to, there’d be no hope of setting up a brewery here, however. Not with us self-funding and rates being what they are.
LOCAL ADVERTISING
Whole Foods stores, Wine Rack and Borough Wines. Our popular beer Slow Loris and our new Hibernation cans were available at the Solomon’s Yard winter pop-up in Camden Market, Bloc Bar on Kentish Town Road, as well as Big Chill House, the Crown and Shuttle in Shoreditch, Stokey Bears and The Culpeper in Whitechapel. In January we go into fifty Greene King pubs for one month with Hibernation. That’s a pretty big deal for us.
What do you think of London’s craft beer scene?
It’s pretty immense to be honest. I can’t even tell you how many breweries there are at the moment but it’s got to be ninety or more. When you think that about seven or eight years ago there wasn’t even 10% of that it’s incredible. The influx of American craft beers and the likes of Yeastie Boys and others from New Zealand shows how keen people are for the stuff, how drinking habits have changed and it’s only going to keep growing.Â
On a personal note Beavertown have nailed it from both a beer and branding perspective. But then a lot of the smaller guys like Hammerton brewery, Hackney Brewery and One Mile End all make great beers.
Camden Town Brewery have a really strong brand. In such a short space of time they’ve gone from strength to strength. It always helps being one of the first to market in a sector and they’ve certainly ridden the craft beer wave. They smashed their crowdfunding campaign target so it’s exciting times ahead for those guys for sure and all the best to them. One to watch for me would be Mondo Brewing down in SW8: the guys are ex-London Fields, know their stuff and it seems like they’re set up for business.
Tell us a secret.
Our brewer has to remain nameless because he brews with someone else. Someone pretty big, in fact; and we obviously can’t offer him a full time job right now as we don’t own a brewery.
What of the beers?
Our second beer was Spirit – a pale ale, less hoppy and more of a traditional style.
The aim was always to produce really accessible beers that weren’t too in your face so we needed a lager. We brew our Pilsner in Schremser brewery in Austria, a 600-year-old brewery that is steeped in tradition and been in the same family for over 150 years.
Our winter seasonal is a Rye Red Ale called Himalayan. Its quite a complex beer with loads going on but really well balanced.
Our latest beer is an all day IPA called Slow Loris: we’ve used loads of Sorachi Ace which gives it an earthy, nutty flavour profile as averse to the fruity, citrusy style IPA.
Follow Big Hug on Twitter @ BigHugBrewing
