 |
| Tiny Rebel's bear. Photo - Beer Lens |
When was Tiny Rebel started and what was the inspiration for founding the brewery?
Me (Gazz) and Brad began our brewing career as keen home brewers, who started taking our beer a lot more seriously.We then started creating beer that was better than what we were currently drinking in pubs around South Wales. We became so passionate about our hobby that we then, back in 2010, decided that in 2012 we were going to launch our own microbrewery. We spent the 2 years continuously research and development brewing on a 50 litre system, creating our branding and doing all the bits in-between.
What are the beers in Tiny Rebel's core range?
Our Core range consists off FUBAR 4.4% , Urban IPA 5.5% (both being our flagship beers) Cwtch 4.6%, Billabong 4.6%, The Full Nelson 4.8%, Dirty Stop Out 5% and Hadouken 7.4%
What beers style do feel sums up what Tiny Rebel is about most?
Anything tasty! We don’t really concentrate on any particular styles or fashion beers. This year we'll be releasing a few continental classic styles as well some barrel ageing.
Tiny Rebel's branding and marketing is very distinctive, what inspired the look of the pump clips and labels etc?
Tiny Rebels branding for us is just as important as the beer! With me and Brad being 31 & 25, we wanted an image that portrayed us and our interests.
A lot of breweries are exploring European styles like hefeweizen, wit beers and kolsch to name just three. Are there any European styles of beer that you would like to produce at Tiny Rebel?
 |
| Tiny Rebel's brewery bar. Photo - Beer Lens |
How does it feel to be a part of the brewing resurgence in the UK?
The UK brewing scene is very exciting at the moment with all the new microbreweries around. The never ending choice for the consumer is fantastic, its what beer is all about…Choice! It also pushes breweries to different levels in order to stay at the top of their game, which again is great for everyone!
What do you feel is the style that defines the craft beer scene?
Craft? What's Craft? We find the most popular beer styles at the moment are IPA's and US Pale Ales. Saisons do seem to be becoming ever more popular along with a small but strong following for the lambic styles. Oh and anything that can go into an oak barrels!
You guys have recently opened a bar at the brewery. How's the bar doing and what does it mean for you to have the punters come to you?
Making our brewery as accessible and as welcoming as possible has always been important to us. We feel that we can use it to help educate people and help them appreciate the hard work that goes into producing beer on a small scale. We love holding tours & open days, but with small breweries like ours there isn’t much to show after the brew area. So we thought that there was no better way to fully experience a microbrewery than to be able to chill out on a mezzanine bar area overlooking the whole brewery while drinking brewery fresh beer.
What has the growth in specialist beer bars like The Craft Beer Co and other meant for Tiny Rebel?
 |
| The brewery's set-up. Photo - Beer Lens |
Tell us about a an exciting new development at Tiny Rebel
Expansion, new beers & an Ice Cream Van!!!
What are your plans for growing the brewery and getting Tiny Rebel's beers into more bars and shops?
Back in April 2012 we set up the brewery with 2 FVs (fermentation vats) and 2 CTs (conditioning tanks) and now 10 months down the line we have 3 FVs 4 CTs with 2 more FVs on order that will bee arriving in the about 6 weeks time. We currently have a great customer base that we unfortunately struggle to supply week in week out due to demand so the 2 additional FV's will help our stock levels massively by allowing us to not sacrifice our cask production as we continue to develop our bottle and keg products.
Which beer festivals will you be attending this year?
We will have a bar as usual at the Great Welsh Beer festival this June, with a few more surprises than last years!
What do you think the use of American and new world hops has meant for the UK beer scene and more specifically for Tiny Rebel?
Massive effect! Again it comes down to the more choice the better. All 4 types of hops: English, Noble, US & Aus/NZ have their place to make certain styles of beer. All as good as each other in their own unique way.
English hop production hasn't been going so well in recent years. Do you feel there is space for a super hoppy pale ale or IPA using only English hops?
Like any hop, they can be overused if not careful. If you're looking for a huge citrus floral hop slap in the face, then its US hops and this style of hoppy beers seem to be the most popular at the moment. Great beers are being made with English hops but they are much more subtle & refined compared to the US. New styles of British hops are being introduced, so hopefully this can pick their market up.
There seem to be a lot of collaborations happening between breweries at the moment. Do you have any plans to make collaborative beers with other breweries or is it something that you would consider doing?
We have not yet collaborated with any breweries at the moment due to being so busy. There are a few out of the ball park collaborations in the pipeline but it's all tight lips at the moment.
And Finally... I recently tried your Smoked India Ale 'Hot Box' and thought it was great - might this be brewed again in the future?
Our 'Tiny Batch Editions' are specifically created as one offs but we'll never say never.
A massive thank you to Gazz and Brad for taking the time to answer my questions. Next up, I'll be speaking to Justin from Moor brewery.
No comments:
Post a Comment