Being a brewer means being a team player.
For a brewery our size, you have to rely on multiple people to get the product made, out of the door, and into the pub. And every single one of us is important to the end product – from whoever is washing casks that day (we share!), to the people who create the wort, guide the beer through fermentation, and sell, market and deliver the beer. Oh – and quality control too of course!
You have to be a good multi-tasker.
It’s a job that requires you to be such a jack of all trades – cleaner, plumber, welder, beer teacher and advocate, bar staff, and occasionally a brewer of course! No two days are ever the same, and doing this job never gets old.
Pretty much all beers will have been made before, so it’s a real challenge to come up with an original idea.
I’ve put in bacon, pastries and biscuits over the years (to varying degrees of success!). Who knows what could be next?! A key passion of mine is working alongside other local independent businesses; you can learn so much about flavour from working across industries and with those who are absolute experts in what they do. I’ve made beers with coffee from Frazer’s and Cafeology, both Sheffield-based, as well as tea from the amazing Birdhouse Tea Co. (The bacon was local too, from Whirlow Hall Farm Trust!).
Long-standing recipes rarely stay exactly the same.
Beers like Moonshine have all changed slightly as the raw ingredients change. Beer is a natural product – hops are affected by the climate they’re grown in, and the weather can have a massive effect on the quality of your malt, so it’s important to adapt and keeping a beer consistent can mean actually needing to change what goes in it!
Brewers drink crap beer too!
Obviously I love trying new and exciting things (I’m a big stout fan) and keep my finger on the pulse of what’s going on across the industry, but sometimes nothing beats kicking back with a supermarket lager stubby!
abbeydalebrewery.co.uk
