Focus on: Harbour Brewing

Rhys and Eddie from Harbour

In the space of just over a year, Cornwall's Harbour Brewing have established themselves with an instantly recognisable brand and more importantly, an excellent range of beers. 

I spoke to Eddie Lofthouse from the brewery about their inspiration, future plans and how he feels about being part of the UK's brewing resurgence. Here's how he answered...


When was Harbour founded and what was the inspiration behind the brewery being started?
I was first introduced to ‘craft beer’ years ago in the States, drinking Pete’s Wicked Ales and from that point on, I always wanted to drink interesting beers. I was running my family’s pub and all we could get locally was really traditional British beer. Rhys was working just up the road at Sharp's and we had talked about wanting to put a brewery into the pub for ages. Then one day we both just decided it was the right time. A few beers later and Harbour Brewing Company was conceived.

What are the beers in Harbour's core range?
Our core range is still developing but at the moment it consists of:
Light Ale 3.7% (hoppy golden ale),
Amber Ale 4% (malt driven ale),
IPA 5% (British style IPA).

We are also just about to release a 5.5% Pilsner, which will be a permanent fixture in our core range. We wanted to make a traditional style Pilsner - so we have used all the traditional malts and hops you would expect and special yeast that we had propagated just for the job. It’s been maturing for just over 3 months and we are really happy with it. It’s going into keg and bottle next week, so keep your eyes open for it very soon.

What LTD edition beers are Harbour brewing at the moment?
We have been brewing Porter No.1 over the winter and a couple of different pale ales, but with spring in the air we have our minds set on our summer releases. We have Pale Ale No.4 going into bottle very soon, and it is easily the best pale we have brewed to date. Dry hopped with Citra, Simcoe and Centennial it has the bases covered when it comes to hop aroma and flavour, but it is really well balanced.

We have IPA No.2 coming out in March. Our core range IPA is really a session IPA, not too bitter or hoppy but IPA No.2 is designed to be a different beast. Higher IBUs and double dry hopped with some of our favorite American hops. We also have the first of our barrel-aged beer being released at the moment. Chocolate and Vanilla Imperial Stout aged in Jack Daniels’ barrels is now kegged whilst Aji Limon Pale Ale from Jim Beam barrels is due to be bottled at the end of March.

We have plenty of other casks aging some really interesting stuff, but it is ready when it is ready and we won’t be rushing it. I think the ones I’m really excited about are the Bordeaux barrels, which are nurturing a Lambic number we have been working on for a while.

What do you feel is the style that most defines what Harbour is about? 
It’s hard to say really. Rhys is all about dark beers, while I’m a pale ale man. Both of us chat about what we want to achieve with each beer and then we brew it. I think more than a certain style of beer, we are better defined as brewing well-balanced beers whatever the style.

How does it feel to be part of the resurgence in British brewing? 
Amazing!

It makes me really proud to be part of such a fantastic industry. It’s the people that make it special. We are all in it because we are passionate about beer. If you weren't, you simply wouldn't put up with the early mornings, late nights, general hard graft involved in brewing. It’s not just a job, it has to be a lifestyle choice and that takes a certain kind of person. Pretty much everyone we meet from the ‘craft beer’ industry is really friendly, massively passionate and always willing to help.

I love it when I go to a ‘craft beer’ bar, and hear people talking with passion about what they are drinking. I truly believe British brewers are creating some fantastic beers to rival anything in the world.

Harbour Amber Ale and IPA

American IPAs and Pale Ales have come to define the craft beer scene. Where do you think brewing innovation is likely to go next and are there any styles that you feel are likely to catch on in the near future?
It’s difficult to say if there will be another beer style that will be as well received as pale ales have been over the past couple of years. I think there is so much variety within the pale ale style that it will always be really popular. Year on year hops are getting better and just as importantly British brewers are getting access to the best hop growths. So I think you’ll see pales at the forefront of the industry for a while yet.

That said, consumers are becoming more willing to try different styles, which gives us the option to try more of a variety. Sour beers seem to be becoming more popular as are darker beers. I had real doubts about the viability of a Porter but it has been our second best seller over the past 4 months. Our Imperial Chocolate stout has been sold weeks before it is actually released. So to be honest I have no idea where the market is going, but if I had to put a bet on I would say Saisons.

What do you feel has been the impact of American and new world hops on the micro-brewing boom in the UK?
The impact has been huge. They are giving us the flavours we want and more importantly the flavours our customers want. I would love to support the UK hop growers, but as yet I’m yet to be convinced by any of the new hop varieties I have seen coming through.

More and more UK breweries are beginning to brew European beer styles such as Hefeweizen, Saisons and Vienna style lagers etc. Are there any European styles of beer that you would like to have a crack at brewing at Harbour? 
We are about to release 2 different Pilsners, originally named No.1 (4.9%) and No.2 (5.5%). We also have some Lambic beer aging at the moment. We will be releasing a Berliner Weisse in the summer.

Our new brewer is from Sweden and she has been working on some interesting new ideas with Rhys. She has a different take on things than we are used to, which is great.

What are the plans for growing Harbour and getting your beers into more bars and shops?
We are pretty stretched at the moment so we are just trying to keep up with demand. Export is going crazy for us right now with beers heading here, there and everywhere…from Sweden to Australia

Can you tell us about one new and exciting thing happening at Harbour at the moment... 
Everything is exciting. We have only just celebrated our first birthday so the novelty is still there in everything we do, with the exception of racking! But, I imagine you mean something more like the fact we are putting in our own bottling line so we can bottle more of our small batch beers. Almost forgot, I’m really excited we have been asked to brew a new beer for the Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular. I’m just not sure what we are going to brew yet!

Harbour's branding and label designs are instantly recognisable. What do you think is importance of a strong brand to go along with your beers?
I think it is really important to have a brand that gives an impression of what the brewery is all about. Something people can immediately recognise is a must, as long as the recognition is a positive one. We tried to make our branding clean and clear, stripped back but with subtle detail. We are really happy with our brand, but like all things we are contantly trying to develop it and make it better.

What do you feel are the beer styles that define the craft beer scene at the moment? 
Pale ales, Saisons and smoked beers

Do you have plans to be at any beer festivals this year? If so, which ones? 
We’re taking our beer out to the Washington DC Craft Brewers Conference at the end of March. We’ll be at the GABS festival in Melbourne in May, and we have been talking about the Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival in the autumn but we’ll have to see about that one.  Closer to home we’ll be heading to the Edinburgh Independent Beer Festival, and we have been talking to the IndyMan guys, so hopefully we’ll be able to get up there towards the end of the year. There are some really great festivals popping up all over the country, but time is precious these days. If we feel the festival is right for us, we’ll make every effort to get there. So who knows…

English hop production isn't doing so well at the moment. Do you feel that there is space for highly hopped beers to be produced using just British hops? 
Yes, we just haven’t found the right hop for it yet.

Lots of breweries seem to be doing collaborations at the moment, do you have any plans to make any collaborative beers in the near future?
We have done a couple so far (Bristol Beer Factory and Arbor). They were great fun and also being such a young brewery, we learned huge amounts from brewing with more experienced brewers. We have some good friends in the industry and I’m sure we’ll get together with some of them at some point. There has been talk of something really exciting, but at the moment it is just talk.

A big thank you goes out to Eddie from Harbour for taking the time to answer my questions.

Focus on: Wild Beer Co

Andrew Cooper and Brett Ellis of Wild Beer Co

Wild Beer Co are a pretty new brewery, but they've quickly excited beer heads throughout the UK with their innovative and exciting beers. I spoke to Andrew Cooper from the brewery about their inspiration, their plans for the future and making sour beers. Here's what he had to say...

When was Wild Beer Co started and what was your inspiration for founding a brewery?

October 2012. We worked in the industry and wanted to do our own thing. We felt there was an opportunity to explore using yeast strains and ingredients that not many others were really using in the UK beer industry.

What are the beers in your core range?

We haven't decided on our core range yet, it depends what gets drunk, where demand is.

What limited edition beers are you producing at the moment?

We have lots of beers being aged at the moment.  There will be some interesting one-offs coming out through the year including Spellbound, a 100% brett fermented spelt beer that is currently being packaged. A very exciting collaboration is coming up very soon with a summer release for the beer.

What style of beer do you feel most defines what Wild Beer Co is about?

Our 'Modus Operandi' is an Old Ale aged in oak for 90 days with brettanomyces - that beer really defines us. The time, the oak ageing and the wild yeast.

You've brewed a number of Belgian style Saisons, what is it in particular that you love about producing this style of beer?

The character of the yeast excites and intrigues us, we think it works well with other flavours, making interesting complex beers. 

A fine selection of Wild Beer Co brews.

Alongside yourselves, lots of other UK breweries are branching out into other European styles of beer including Saisons, wheat beers, Doppelbocks and in some cases sour beers. What do you think is the influence of European beers styles on current brewing innovation in the UK, and are there any other of these styles that you'd like to produce?

Our first proper sour will hopefully be out in the summer. I think with so many breweries in this country now, you have to look for your own niche in the market. When we create a beer we don't start talking about styles of beer, we look at what flavours we want to create. We will then look at sourcing the ingredients we need to achieve that and the style it ends up falling into is fairly irrelevant to us.

What do you feel has been the impact of the increased use of American and new world hops on the beers produced in the UK?

The evidence is out there... Little more than 5 years ago there was hardly a big flavoured IPA being brewed in the country and now they are everywhere. It has helped bring with it more excitement in the industry, more choice, more breweries, more competition, more creativity, more beer retailers and really good beer-centric bars. It's all been very positive.

What plans do you have for growing the Wild Beer Co and getting your beers into more bars and shops in the future?

We want to work with people who get excited about our beer. There are no plans for supermarkets or to flood the market. Our beers are niche, that will keep our growth in check. We may well export some beer and we'll see how the demand grows - it's very early days for us.

Wild Beer Co has a very distinctive and striking brand. What do you think is the importance of your brand to communicating to drinkers what you're all about?

We felt that generally speaking, beer branding in this country leaves a lot to be desired. We believe consumers buy into the whole package. With so many beers to choose from standing out on the shelf branding is important, but it is ultimately taste that makes people buy a second or third beer. By using a costly screen printing technique for our bottles and a strong logo, it shows a level of care and creativity that hopefully follows through with the beer. 

What do you think can be added to a beer by using an additional flavour or a 'wild' fifth ingredient?

Complexity, intrigue, difference. When we think of the concept for a beer we start with a flavour profile, and then we try to work out how to get to those flavours. We believe in using the finest ingredients, as you taste what goes into the beer. With Wildebeest, we could have used bog standard cocoa nibs and vanilla essence, but we spoke to people who are experts with these ingredients and ended up scraping out 500 vanilla pods and sourcing the finest Valrhona cocoa nibs. When we taste it, we feel we can taste the difference.

What for you has been the impact of the growth in specialist beer bars such as Craft Beer Co, The York Tap and The Euston Tap etc?

It has raised the profile of the smaller esoteric brewery, taking beers from all over the country to a growing market of consumers who want to try new and exciting flavours in their beer. 

Tell us about an exciting development happening at Wild Beer Co at the moment...

A lot of our time at the moment is being taken up by oak and sour beer. Hopefully in the summer the first results will be available to taste...

Our Beer & Cheese Festival at the end of April is also going to be the first of many such events.

British hops seem to be in decline at the moment. Do you feel that there is a place for hop-heavy beers made using British hops?

It's a complicated topic and it's easy to blame the brewers for not using British hops, but we need a wide variety of flavours available to us or we go back to the time of endless best bitters.

The industry has moved a long way very quickly, and the number of varieties and range of flavours in them is quite small compared to foreign varieties. Other varieties are being developed but it takes a while and the hop industry might have been a little slow in reacting to what was happening in other parts of the world. We need to work together to develop hops and beers that will both use British hops but excite the drinker as well.

What does it feel like to be part of the micro-brewing resurgence in currently happening in the UK?

It's an exciting time. I love how close an industry we are. I am excited to see and hear what our contemporaries are doing, and they seem to be pretty excited about our project too.

What do you think is the continuing influence of the American craft beer scene on brewing innovation in the UK?

I think there is influence from all over the world, not just the US. We personally take influence not just from other breweries but from other food and drink producers and chefs as well.

Are you likely to be at many beer festivals in 2013? If so, which ones?

As we only do kegs and bottles, we are unlikely to be at that many festivals but we are looking forward to going back to IMBC this year. We will let you know the ones we will be at on wildbeerco.com

Lots of breweries are doing collaborations at the moment. Do you have any plans to collaborate with other breweries in the future?

We are honoured to have Mark Tranter (from Dark Star) and Kelly Ryan (formerly of Thornbridge, now brewing in New Zealand) joining us for an exciting brewday in March. We are using techniques and ingredients that are new to all of us, and in true collaborative style, it's all about learning and experimenting.

A massive thank you to Andrew from Wild Beer Co for answering my questions. Next up: Harbour!

Bar of the Month January: The Holborn Whippet

The Holborn Whippet is a relatively new bar, having only existed on Sicilian Avenue near Holborn tube station since mid 2012. I'd been wanting to visit the Whippet for while, having heard good things about the selection of cask and keg beers and I've got to say, it doesn't disappoint.

The selection is constantly rotating and consists of up to eighteen cask and keg beers and a couple of decent ciders too. I opted for a London Fields Shoreditch Triangle IPA, before going dark and having a Kernel Export Porter and a Magic Rock Dark Arts stout. 

When I popped in, their selection included Harbour, Moor and many other great breweries alongside those mentioned above. It also featured a number of other interesting brews such as Camden Town's Rye Mild and Magic Rock's collaboration with Brodies, a mango pale ale called The Great Alphonso.

Slightly blurry Iphone pic of the bar!

The bar has a stripped back and beautifully retro feel. You could almost believe that it has been there forever. In an area with lots of pretty ordinary bars, The Holborn Whippet stands out for the breadth of its selection and its knowledgeable staff. 

It clearly attracts people that care about their beer. As I waited at the bar, I heard the staff field a number of questions about the brewing processes used for particular beers and the hops contained within them. 

London has become a top place for craft beer. Alongside The Rake, the three Craft Beer Co Venues, the Brewdog Bars and many others, the Whippet is becoming a real go to bar for good beer. It is also my first bar of the month. 

Whilst some of our craft beer bars in places like London are thriving, a lot of traditional pubs are going to the wall. I thought it would be a nice idea to pick a bar of the month throughout this year on the blog. I want you guys to send me your ideas. Please either comment on this post or contact me on Twitter (@thehoptimist1) and use the hashtag '#barofthemonth.'

So that it's not too London-centric, it would be great to have suggestions from all over the UK - what's the best bar in Leeds or Bristol or Edinburgh? What makes a particular bar great? Is it the beer selection alone? The general atmosphere? The friendly and knowledgeable staff? Please get in contact with suggestions for my February bar of the month.

We have great beer bars throughout the UK, so lets celebrate them. It would also be nice for me to know of a few great bars in places I'm not so familiar with, in case I'm ever in your neck of the woods! The Holborn Whippet has kicked things of nicely, where next?...