Liquid Light | Thirsty Games 2018 Winners Q&A

As we near IMBC 19 and the reveal of The Thirsty Games 2019 brewery line up, we catch up with Liquid Light ~ the winners of The Thirsty Games 2018…

Congratulations on winning The Thirsty Games 2018! How was your experience pouring at the festival? 

Thank you! We had the most amazing time at the festival! We’ve been attending the festival for years now as punters so it was a real honour to be pouring our own beer!

How was the response – both from the public and industry – to you winning the competition?

Immense! The day after it was announced we had won, our stock was decimated! It definitely helped our exposure nationwide too, getting a win from such a highly regarded event as IMBC. From the general public, it was also great to get direct feedback from people trying and enjoying our beers at the festival. From an industry perspective, we met so many incredible people brewing outstanding beers over the weekend. We’re now lucky enough to call many of them friends and have taken part in some awesome collaborations over the past year.

Was there a particular beer that you brought to IMBC 18 that you feel brought the trophy home?

IMBC was one of the first showcases of our Blueberry Gose ‘Cosmik Debris’ which we are really proud of and sold very quickly over the course of the weekend! It has now become Grace’s favourite of all the beers we brew!


You recently collaborated with fellow Thirsty Games alumni Donzoko and Yonder – can you tell us about that beer and it was like sharing the Thirsty Games bar with those two in 2018? 

Meeting Reece from Donzoko and Stuart and Jasper from Yonder was great. At the festival, before the result was announced we all agreed that we should meet up for a collaboration brew. Doing a brew with them was a real melting pot of ideas as we all brew such different beer and all have our own specialities. In the end, we settled on a continental red ale using foraged gooseberries and pineapple weed, and fermented with a mix of saison and wine yeast. We’ve just released a small amount of the brew as a clean, unsoured version and will be putting the rest of the brew in red wine barrels! We can’t wait for you to try it!

OH…was there anything else interesting that happened at IMBC 18 that wasn’t strictly beer related? 

WE GOT ENGAGED! Even before we started brewing, IMBC was a trip we made together, so it seemed like the perfect setting to pop the question on the balcony overlooking Room 1.

What is your current brewing setup and what are your plans for the future?

We are still cuckoo brewing 10bbl batches at the moment but hope to have our own place and tap room in the not too distant future!

Tell us about your oil projections and how they compliment your beer

Our name and all of our artwork is based on the psychedelic liquid light projections which started appearing in the 1960s. We’ve always had a deep love of the music and artwork of the 60s and 70s so it was just the natural direction our branding went in. We use a unique blend of oils and dyes mixed with water, projected through vintage equipment. Photos of these projections then become the base for each design.


Where can we find Liquid Light beers?

Far and wide! Since IMBC we’ve exported, however closer to home we have great customers in most major cities. In our hometown, we even have some permanent lines installed in a few pubs!


How is the Nottingham beer scene? Where should visitors to the city head?

We love Nottingham and are so proud to call it our home! It also helps we have so many amazing breweries making delicious beers and everyone is so friendly. Our recommendations for anyone visiting the city centre would be the Canalhouse, Barley Twist, Junkyard & Brew Cavern to name just a few!


Thanks for taking the time, we look forward to seeing you at every session of IMBC 19!


Posted on 27th August 2019

Ones to Watch | IMBC 18

Soon we shall be depositing the full beer list for IMBC 18 – both in written form and in actual physical BEER FORM at Victoria Baths. In the meantime, we asked IMBC 18 beer pickers James, Matt and Scott to pick THREE beers each that they’re particularly looking forward to at this year’s festival. Feast on…


Matt Gorecki, IMBC

The Veil x Cloudwater – Chubbles III The Promised Land

Chubbles is pretty much what this style aught to be, BIG and complex and hoppy as hell and juicy as nobodies business. So many NEIPAs are very one dimensional and are kinda getting boring but I expect great things from this as the previous iterations have been tip-top. 

The Kernel – Bramling Cross Wet Hop Table Beer

I love Bramling Cross and seeing a UK based green hop beer on the list is a great sign as they’re still pretty rare in the UK and rly aught to be less rare, Kernel are an all time favourite of course and are kinda the go to brewery to find out where stuff is heading and what the best use of particular hops is. Always killer beers and always super chill/anti hype. Their tasting on Sunday shouldn’t be missed!

Buxton – Keller Bier OR Jester King Snorkel

Whuut – Buxton have forged forwards recently with a raft of new beers alongside the established bangers and ice cream omni-pillow crowd pleasers, seeing a new kellerbier on the list kinda gets my attention bc I’ve had a fun time this year rediscovering lager and you know Buxton are gonna smash it right??? Soft murky keller bier yes pls. Oh and OK I’m breaking the rules but Snorkel was a stand out beer when we last had Jester King over (Ed: IMBC 2016) – smoked sea salt and oyster mushroom?? VERY IndyMan as some would say…

—

James Moffat, IMBC

Pomona Island – Second Toughest In The Infants

Pomona Island have been making some of the best beer in Manchester (they’re technically from Salford but shhh) this year. They’ve been a mainstay on the taps at Port Street since starting up and have simply been getting better and better. This is a light, simple Table Beer thats been heavily hopped with Simcoe, Mosaic and Chinook, it’s the perfect way to start a session at IMBC. Probably the best named beer on this years list too.

Verdant – Don’t Fear The Ferryman (Bourbon Barrel Aged)

I was lucky enough to try this straight from the barrel when we went down to brew Armbands (Ed: IMBC x Verdant 2018 collaboration) earlier this year. It’s absolutely spot on! A big old imperial stout thats picked up loads of vanilla and tobacco notes from the barrel. Verdant are obviously more known for their hoppy beers but this is proof that they can turn their hands to anything.

Wylam – The Shape

Wylam head to Haddonfield. I had to pick this beer, it’s named after one of the best film antagonists of all time. I’m hoping Wylam are planning on playing a load of John Carpenter soundtracks while it’s pouring. Anyway, the beer, The Shape is a DDH IPA with Idaho 7, Centennial Cryo and Chinook BBC, pouring for the first time at IMBC alongside their new DIPA Freak Magnet. Both will be excellent, get one, queue up again while drinking it and go straight in for the other.

—



Scott Kenneth Jackson, IMBC


Jester King – Fēn Táo


When Jester King first came to Indy Man back in 2016, the whole team was struck, not just by how great their beers were, but also by how genuinely lovely these guys are! We’re all super looking forward to having them back this year, and to drinking some more of their top-level sour beers. For me, though, it’s all about this guy. Fēn Táo is a barrel-aged wild ale which has been refermented with three different varieties of Hill Country peaches, which were taken straight from the orchard, macerated by hand and added straight into the base beer (Das Überkind) in an effort to embrace as much of the terroir of the fruit as possible. I’m so excited about this beer that, when the doors open on Thursday, you’ll find me at Jester King’s bar, first in line, glass in hand, “One third of Fēn Táo, please.”


Squawk – Barrel-Aged Series


Squawk are absolutely killing it at the minute. The cask champions of Manchester, everything they do, regardless of the container, is absolutely brilliant! One such beer is Corvus, which is not only the best stout I’ve had in a long time, but also a strong contender for one of my top 5 beers of 2018. With that accolade under their belt, and my expectations through the roof, I’m particularly keen to see what the brewery’s recent foray into barrel-ageing has produced. At Indy Man, you’ll find a Bourbon Barrel-Aged Chocolate Milk Stout and a Red Wine Belgian Dubbel, each dropping at different points during Squawk’s four-day occupation of Room 3. Mark these beers on your app, turn on your push notifications and get ready to throw some shapes in the Party Room as you sink third after third of these (semi) reasonably percentaged BA bad boys.


Other Half – Double Sunset Imperial Stout


And speaking of “reasonably percentaged” it wouldn’t be a list of SKJ recommendations without at least one stupidly strong, potentially festival-ending imp stout. On this list, that slot is occupied by Double Sunset, a mysterious (and completely un-Googleable) offering from New York dank masters, Other Half. Anyone who attended last year’s Indy Man will remember the hype around these guys – people queuing around the block of their Brooklyn-based brewery, just for the chance to walk away with a tinny of double-dry-hopped, dank, juicy goodness. So why Double Sunset? Why not one of their already established and much-loved double or triple IPAs? Well, I’m not going to lie, the fact this this beer has zero Internet presence is part of it – at this point it’s appearance on Untappd is rarer than than a Kanye follow-back. The main reason, though, is that I already know Other Half can do big, flavoursome IPAs. We all know that. They’re great. Instead, let’s see what these guys can do with this equally big, equally flavoursome style. Something amazing, I’ll bet.


—


IMBC 18 

4th – 7th October 2018, Victoria Baths, Manchester

TICKETS for Thursday 4th and Sunday 7th sessions are available HERE.




 


 




 

				

			
							

					Posted on 28th September 2018				

							
			

					

																	
				
				
Verdant Q&A | IMBC 18

				
				

					
VERDANT return to IMBC for their third year at Victoria Baths. This time Verdant commandeer the Turkish Baths as official IMBC 18 room sponsors. We spoke to Adam Robertson, Verdant co-founder, about life in the juice lane. Read on…




You guys are constantly revisiting and updating the recipes of your core range – how is that process? Do you ever feel like you achieve the perfect rendition of say Headband or will it always be a case of fine tuning and adapting?


We have revisited the core range continually and mainly down to the fact they are all still brewed into our original flat bottom fermenters, which restricts us to using dried yeast. We are now happy with all iterations of these beers and even to the point now that we feel moving away from these FV’s would change the beers again and maybe too far away from what they are now. Headband for in stance is tasting perfect right now, Pulp & Bloom have never been messed with and as for Lightbulb, well that’s an ongoing battle and mainly down to the fact that subjectively we all like different things. But, I’m pretty sure that we are very close to having that nailed too.


Have you noticed any particular trends in drinking habits this past year? Lower ABV stuff seems to be much more prevalent than it was amongst UK breweries than it was last year for instance. 


Lower ABV beers for sure and fruited sours, the triple fruited Gose we collab’d with North Brewing on definitely seemed to hit a sweet spot with people. I think the brewers have driven the low ABV trend, last year at beer festivals was brutal with all the DIPA’s floating around. There is also a definite trend towards the Brut IPA, an IPA fermented out with Champagne yeast, still fruity but with an incredibly dry finish. 


How is it meeting the demand for Verdant beers? You’re bringing out new beers most weeks – it is exciting times. You recently increased your brewing capacity. What are your plans moving forward?


We brew to capacity each week, we have filled our space to capacity so we simply can not grow any more in our current situation, so yeah that is exciting. We create new beers each week and we release them via our online store, the Experiment in Hackney and via distribution and then on Monday we start all over again. It’s really fun times but we look to the future and we try to understand how sustainable that is, the UK beer scene doesn’t look to buy the same beer twice, everyone always wants something new and I wrestle with how healthy that is for a business. It works whilst we are this small and still have a large portion of the market to attract, but how sustainable is it when we grow to be larger brewery…


Our plans are to grow for sure, but we are so limited in finding suitable space in Falmouth. We are working hard to solve these problems and have a couple of options. We will be looking to putting some plans in place later this year.




Seafood tapas and beer! Name a more iconic duo. How are your plans for the Seafood Bar going? 


This space really excites all of us. We know it’s late and it’s taking too long but it will be so very worth it. Current plans are to open over the weekend of the Falmouth Oyster Festival on October 16th. The space we have taken on has been the Falmouth Seafood Bar for nearly 40 years, we want to continue this tradition but bring Verdant beers into the mix also. It’s quite an important space in Falmouth and although very small will be a great place to spend an afternoon or evening when visiting the town. Expect the freshest seafood along side the freshest beers.


Are you finding drinkers are making the pilgrimage to Falmouth more often these days? Where should any prospective fans visit in Falmouth?


Most definitely! We find the shop at the brewery is very busy with people suggesting day trips to Falmouth via the stop off at an industrial estate. It’s really very exciting to have the drinkers from around the country drop in and buy fresh cans. We always get to here where they buy our beers outside of Cornwall. If coming to Falmouth you need to visit HAND Beer Bar – 8 years a craft beer, The Working Boat stunning location and good food, The Star & Garter for finer dining, The Seaview Inn for a pub with a panoramic view of Falmouth. You can’t really go wrong for food in Falmouth, the Kitchen is fantastic, The Wheelhouse if you can get a table and Provedore (arrive early with cash) are all great options.




You’ve been at IMBC the past two years. What for you, as seasoned festival pourers, makes a good beer festival? 


A man dressed as Mario playing an 8bit keyboard 🤣 (Ed: if you know you know) 


But seriously it’s down to the organisers. When an event is well organised the brewers pull out all the stops and bring their A game. A well organised festival provides everything that the customer would need. Beer, Food and Conveniences often; layered with music and good vibes at value for money. The location for IMBC is worth the ticket alone.


Tell us about The Experiment! How did your partnership with Pressure Drop come about? Any plans to link arms with those guys at IMBC?


In the true name of collaboration, we were invited to brew with PD and we bit their arm off. For us they had been the catalyst to drinking better beer in the UK so it had to happen. When we there Graham had mentioned their old site and that it was laying dormant. We took a visit together and the plans were hatched. It was a simple decision and it’s a very softy launch. We have some more work to do there but it’s working out really well, we are very excited to have such a place in London – we get the freshest beers up there each week. We hadn’t considered an Experiment at IMBC 🤔


Lastly, what are Verdant going to bring to the Turkish Baths? Any exciting plans you can leak? 


No leaks, but expect some beers never poured by us before, when I say never poured… beer that has been hanging around for a while that we need you guys to taste. Music naturally as we are all huge fans, a photo booth is being lined up so that visitors can remember their time at IMBC and we can post you all onto the internet. Expect fun times!


CHEERS ADAM!


Follow Verdant on Instagram, Twitter, and on their website.


—


IMBC 18 / 4th-7th October 2018. Victoria Baths, Manchester

Tickets for Thursday 4th, Friday 5th day session, and Sunday 7th October are available HERE. 

				

			
							

					Posted on 22nd August 2018				

							
			

					

																	
				
				
Meet Burning Soul / Thirsty Games 2017 Winners

				
				

					




Ahoy! The second annual Thirsty Games competition was a smash this year. Thirsty Games finalists Affinity, Burning Soul, and Little Earth Project poured beers side by side on The Thirsty Games bar throughout IMBC 17. Burning Soul lifted the Thirsty Games trophy (made by Manchester artist Pascal Nichols) on Sunday evening after winning the public vote. We caught up with Burning Soul to congratulate them on their victory and to see what they’re up to now.






As part of The Thirsty Games prize, Burning Soul are the first name on the brewery team sheet for IMBC 18. You’ll find them in Victoria Baths at IMBC 18 at every session. Thirsty Games sponsors Lallemand have also gifted Burning Soul £500 prize money as well as kindly supporting The Thirsty Games and new breweries throughout 2017.Let’s see what Burning Soul are saying…


Firstly, congratulations on winning The Thirsty Games! How was your experience at IMBC 17?














Cheers man, yeah we had an absolute blast. Everyone has always told us how awesome Indy Man is, we always planned to go but always tried getting tickets too late. To go for the first time taking our beer along was epic and it did not disappoint! From the general vibe, to everyone is there to have a great time, the setting is such a great building, to the ridiculously high standard of beer made us feel very honoured to be pouring there.


Photograph by Jody Hartley














You lifted the Thirsty Games trophy at 5pm on Sunday – was there an immediate reaction once news spread?












It was a great moment with people at Indy Man who we’d met over the weekend and the social media went a bit crazy with people congratulating us, we were buzzing.












You guys brought three of your beers along – can you talk us through them? Was there a standout beer that punters reacted especially favourably towards?












So we brought along…


Belgian IPA which is a personal favourite of ours. It’s brewed with Summit, Chinook and Citra then fermented cool with a Belgian yeast. It just works really well with the citrus hops giving it a real depth of flavour.






Citra Amarillo Sour which is a new one we have been trying lately from our pilot kit and it finished fermenting just in time and was tasting great so we brought it along to see what people thought. It’s clean smooth sour with a hit of citrus from the dry hop. Really happy with how it went down at the fest and we have just started brewing up a batch on our full kit yesterday excited to see how it comes out.




And last but not least a lightly Barrel Aged Coconut Porter, this was the most stand out beer people were really enjoying, including Logan Plant who came over to check out the Thirsty Games. This is the first beer we have put in a barrel but it’s definitely not the last. Its only been in the barrel for 1 month. We were originally going to bring our normal version but after having a taste we knew we had to sneak a little out early just for Indy man and were glad we did. It’s a dark rich chocolatey porter enhanced with toasted coconut then the Jack Daniels Barrel added lush smooth vanilla notes.












How did you find feedback in general? Did it seem like there was a lot of interaction from festival goers with the Thirsty Games bar?














Yeah the interaction was great, lots of people would come up intrigued so we would tell them what its all about get them to taste all the beers and buy their favourite.


Photograph by Jody Hartley












You were up against stiff competition in the shape of Affinity and Little Earth Project – did you enjoy pouring alongside those two? The standard was excellent this year










These guys are the reason we had such a great time. We couldn’t have asked to spend 4 days with a more lovelier bunch of people and their beers were great. Even though we were technically in competition it never felt like it. We were just a group of people, who love beer, hanging out at Indy man, having a great time. All of us singing along to queen at the end of Friday is one great memory in particular.












What were you beer highlights from IMBC 17?












It has to be getting to meet Logan and getting to talk beer with him. He was telling us about when he started out and how he went about things. He was really digging the coconut porter and was generally interested asking about the process for getting the coconut flavour into the beer. We got his vote which made our day.












What kind of kit are you working with at your brewery?












We have a 4bbl brew house that’s completely self built (after a lot of auction hunting, some quick lessons in metal work and ordering a lot of piece’s of stainless steel off the internet).




When we got the keys to our premises it was particularly terrifying as we suddenly had overheads and nothing but a pile of parts and tanks (that was a long way from being able to brew beer) After 3 months hard work it actually worked which was the biggest sigh of relief. We have since had some upgrades in the form of 2 new shiny conditioning tanks. We also often have our 100l pilot kit running, testing out new recipes that we put on in our taproom to see what our customers make of them.












If anyone is on a Burning Soul pilgrimage, where should visitors to Birmingham head?










Our brewery tap is located by the Jewellery Quarter area of Birmingham City Centre, we’re based at 51 Mott St B19 3HE. You can actually get a tram from New Street Station to St. Paul’s for £1 which is 3 mins round the corner from us. We’re open Fridays 4-8 and Saturdays 1-8. We have 8 rotating taps plus take out bottles.






We sell our beer to many local pubs and bars including the Wolf, 1000 Trades, Wellington, Post Office Vaults, Clink, Cotteridge Wines, Wildcat Tap, Cherry Reds.










What’s next for Burning Soul?












We just want to keep perfecting our beers. Now that we’re starting to really understand our kit and how to get the best out of it, we can start scaling up a lot more of our small batch recipes and getting them outside of our taproom. We’re all about experimenting, that’s what makes brewing exciting so we hope to have a lot of new beers out in the next year.












Where can people pick your beers up?










At the moment mostly in bars in and around Birmingham. We have just started selling on Eebria trade so we should start getting kegs further afield . We have done some bottle runs  which can be found in local bottle shops such as Cotteridge Wines, Connellys Wines and Clink (although limited stock at the moment). We were chatting to the canning guys We Can at Indy Man so this is an option we’d definitely like to explore so watch this space!


Thanks Burning Soul!


Follow Burning Soul: twitter, instagram, facebook










Thirsty Games 2017 winners BURNING SOUL!



				

			
							

					Posted on 11th October 2017				

							
			

					

																	
				
				
IMBC 17 Photos

				
				

					
IMBC 17 is a goner! Luckily we had Jody Hartley down to photograph it. Here are some choice visuals! Enjoy!


		
		
		

				

			
							

					Posted on 4th October 2017				

							
			

					

																	
				
				
IMBC 17 App

				
				

					
Welcome to 2017, we now have an IMBC app!


It’s coming to Android VERY shortly but meanwhile, Apple customers, you’re in luck. The IMBC app is now LIVE and ready to download on the App Store. Search “IMBC” to locate it or find it HERE.


You’ll need the app for the online beer list for IMBC. Expect that to drop Wednesday 27th September 2017. The beer list will be updated LIVE as beers go off and on throughout IMBC 17. Wowee.


You’ll also be able to sign up for notifications to specific breweries so you are alerted when their beers change.


Other handy features include a link through to Untappd, a map so you can get around and find breweries, and the full run down of our IMBC 17 Fringe line-up.


Big thanks to Patrick Cavanagh for designing the app and to Steve Hockett for adding the illustrative touches.


Shout out to our app and connectivity supporter Telcom too!






				

			
							

					Posted on 14th September 2017				

							
			

					

																	
				
				
Meet Beer Merchants / IMBC 17

				
				

					
I’m sure you need no introduction but allow us to introduce you to BEER MERCHANTS, our glass sponsor for IMBC 17. Beer Merchants will also be bossing a bottle shop at Victoria Baths for all your takeout needs. They’re always busy blighters, check out who they are and what they do below…


Hello Beer Merchants! Who am I speaking to?



Jonny Garrett, marketing manager at Cave Direct and Beer Merchants. And the Craft Beer Channel, for my sins.

Beer Merchants are our glass sponsor for IMBC 17. You’ll be in everybody’s hands in Victoria Baths. Can you tell us a little about Beer Merchants?



We’re one of the oldest online beer shops in the UK, specialising in beautiful British and Belgian beers, but with delicious stuff from all over the world too. Usually we’ve got over 1,000 beers (and the odd gin!) live at any time and we try to have the widest, most eccentric list on the internet. And thankfully being an importer too means we get the best prices too.

You’ll be operating a bottle shop at IMBC 17 for all our takeaway needs. What can punters expect?


An absolute whale fest. Cantillon, 3 Fonteinen and some incredible Belgians you’ve never heard of but have to try; loads of carefully selected bombers from the US plus the absolute best the UK has to offer next to beers from all the brilliant breweries at IMBC. On top of the rare bits we’ll also have everything you need to keep the party going at home (road beers!) and lots of amazing merch from breweries too.


Are you looking forward to locking horns with Lervig at IMBC this year?



If by locking horns you mean pouring ourselves all the 3 Bean and Tasty Juice then hell yeah. We import their beers so we’ve worked really closely with them to create an experiential space that will be unlike any sponsored room has been at IMBC before – but that will pale in comparison to the beers they have on. We’ve always thought Lervig were world class and that’s why we partnered with them 3 years ago, but what they have put out in the last 12 months has been nothing short of show-stopping. It’s going to be a great event for them.


You lot are doing a couple of talks / tastings at IMBC 17. Lip smackingly titled “So much more than sour”. Can you give us a spoiler as to what that might entail?



I’m going to try to end this awful term “sour beer” as a catch all for a whole bunch of styles. Like the term “lager”, it just doesn’t do justice to all the amazing sub-styles within the category – geuze, kriek, wild, berlinerweiss, oud bruin, gose – that are as distinct from each other as IPA and stout. It’s not all my own personal mission though – we’re gonna be trying some seriously rare and exciting beers while I get ruddy in the face and tell you all about them and the adventures we’ve had with the Craft Beer Channel and Beer Merchants discovering them.


What have Beer Merchants got in the pipeline? I know there’s exciting plans underfoot with Unit 101. Amazing that you guys are doing the Zwanze Day this year!



There is so much in the pipeline with Beer Merchants I don’t know where to start. We’re launching an aged beer section soon, with lots of stuff we’ve been cellaring for years, our beer club has relaunched to be better than ever, and we’re doing events up and down the country to get rare beers into the hands of people that don’t usually get a chance to try them. Meanwhile our pub pop-up Unit 101 in Manchester has been great since it opened and its an honour to host such an iconic event in Zwanze Day. People should keep their eyes and ears open as we have a HUGE bit of news about a new venue coming soon.




Where should visitors to the city hit during the festival? (Asides Victoria Baths, obviously)



Oh my well we’ll be holing ourselves up in Café Beermoth or Port Street every chance we get but we’re also big fans of Cane & Grain and Cottonopolis – maybe some vegan food at V Rev to balance the bad out. Then obviously we’ll be at our Unit 101 afterparty on Friday for some crafty beer pong. This time around we might not do it with Lervig Sippin’ into Darkness. No one wins when you do that.


Lastly, where is best to keep up with what Beer Merchants are up to?


Follow us on twitter @beermerchants as that’s where we get involved in fights and pedantry. Oh and news, sometimes we do news. It’s also worth following @cavedirect our trade arm, because most things go through there first so you can get the skinny on the rare stuff before it hits the site.


Thanks Beer Merchants! We all look forward to drinking from your cup at IMBC 17.


—



Not got your ticket for IMBC 17 yet? No challenge! Thursday and Sunday tickets remain. Pick up your ticket for the opening Thursday 28th September or closing Sunday 1st October sessions HERE. 

				

			
							

					Posted on 1st September 2017				

							
			

					

																	
				
				
Meet Beavertown / IMBC 17

				
				

					
MEET BEAVERTOWN

IMBC 17


Beaverwho? Said nobody ever. You can’t have turned a craft beer corner in the last however many latelies without happily stumbling into a new trick from the prolific Beavertown. We stole a precious moment with Nick Dwyer of Beavertown to find out the inside track on what’s really going on chez Beaver. Beavertown are the sponsors of the Pineapple Room at IMBC 17. Here’s Nick to take it away…


Hey Nick, tell us a little about your role at Beavertown – because it’s a goodie!


It sure is.  Im “Creative Director,” a title I was given when no one knew what it meant but it stuck and sounds really grand and I love it. Basically I look after anything and everything visual at Beavertown, from designing our printed cans, labels, keg badges, merch and “POS” stuff through to deciding finishes, knocking up posters, beautifying the brewery, to liaising with production facilities and manufacturers to get all that stuff to us in time for events, beer launches and trips to other countries. I don’t think I’ve ever actually written that down before. Other little bits and bobs too, but that’s the jist of it. It’s by no means just me though, everybody will have input in one way or another too.




You guys are always busy beavers, what have Beavertown been working on lately?


Prep for our fest, The Beavertown Extravaganza in a couple of weeks! I’ve been on call for making signs and banners and other visuals etc, alongside an unrelenting list of collaboration artworks to do. These are my favourite, as I get to work with some really brilliant artists that work for other breweries, Trillium’s Kevin and Stillwater’s Mike being the most recent ones. Everyones really excited about it but its been manic! We also released our huge Firestone Walker collab, “Beavo”, recently, the first time we’ve had such a quantity of a collab beer made in the USA over here.  Other than that we’re continuing our rebranding of much of the core range, working with as many brands as possible to improve our merch and not being able to brew enough beer to satisfy the thirsty masses so all in all not much HBU?


Are you hyped for Beavertown Extravaganza? We certainly are! I’m guessing you’ve had a big role in the aesthetics of it?


Absolutely. It’s a massive undertaking that I can take only a very small amount of credit for. Sam and Kieran are the real dream facilitating one-two-punch, alongside the rest of the guys like keeping the wheels turning and everyone sort of half smiling half crying. Smying. Criling? But we are getting there, ticking things off the list by the minute!


Last year at IMBC 16 Beavertown killed it in Room 1 – you were pulling so many Tempus Project beers out of the hat alongside so much more, spaceships and spacemen, all that jazz. This year Beavertown are taking over the Pineapple Room – can you tell us a little about what to expect?


I would say bright colours, brilliant beers and good times. Kieran has just said we are going “Uber beaver” over my shoulder which is a worrying statement out of context. Every year we have whittled the playlist down via trial and error so hopefully this year we will have 100% approval!.. Also, hopefully, Logan in that super flattering Gamma Ray man costume again. “I promise that’s just my phone”




Last year as part of the IMBC fringe, you had an exhibition of your work up at Common as part of a Beavertown bar takeover. Magic Rock are up at Common this year for a bar takeover throughout IMBC 17. Hopefully Rich Norgate will be peppering the walls with his art. Who are your some of your favourites when it comes to beer artwork?


Rich is up there in that list and is also a solid dude which helps. Recognizable from a distance but really intricate up close – perfect. I have always admired his talent for making abstract shapes have so much personality. Similarly, Karl Grandin of Omnipollo with his ability to make the simplest concept so visually appealing, but when he really goes for the colours and shapes… look out retinas there’s a new sheriff in town. Like I mentioned I’ve also worked with Mike Van Hall (Stillwater), Kevin Cimo (Trillium) and Nana Gulbaek (Lervig) who are all really damn good at what they do. Also just been told I’m working with Keith Shore of Mikkeller himself (again) which is always the best news so watch this space. Im really lucky to work in an industry with such exciting artists involved. Hopefully we get to work together at some point, Dave! Donut Boy meets…well, probably skeletons.


What’s your Beavertown beer of choice? (Tricky question, I know)


Humuloid. Our first crack at one of them hazy ones the kids love so much and we knocked it out the park. I can say that, having nothing at all to do with the brewing of it. Skullwater, our Belgian pale with Stillwater is also a firm favourite of mine at the moment, as it’s something a little different to what we usually do.


Quick! I’m in London! Where do I go?


The pressure is real… Walthamstow! Massively biased as I live there but Yardsale Pizza, Sodo Pizza, Eat 17, Clapton Craft and a choice of about 10 pubs all within walking radius means I absolutely love it up there. More centrally I usually find myself at The Mermaid or The Clapton Hart as both have outside spaces and I’m a sucker for a beer in a garden.




I know you’ve got a soft spot for Manchester, if you manage to make it up for IMBC weekend – where are you hitting in town? 


You know exactly where Dave, let’s not do this. (Ed: I’ve previously sighted Nick in Manchester in Common, Port Street, Kosmonaut, Heaton Hops, and Manchester Piccadilly Train Station) 


Lastly, what was your gateway into craft beer? 


The burning desire for people to see my work. I did the initial bottle labels for Black Betty and Gamma Ray as a freelance illustration gig (paid in “exposure”,) but getting a bit of insight into the passion within the beer world led to asking for a job in Dukes, then Beavertown’s home by day, and gaming it so Logan saw more of my sketchbook and designs than he otherwise might have. Through mutual interests we became close / I became employed. Long story short I offered as much help as I could, and here I am.


Anything else to add? 


I already feel hungover thinking about Indyman 17


Thanks Nick!


Independent Manchester Beer Convention

Thursday 28th September – Sunday 1st October 2017 / Victoria Baths, Manchester

Tickets available HERE. 

				

			
							

					Posted on 23rd August 2017