There were a few sore heads in Arch 79 of the famous Bermondsey Beer Mile last Saturday morning. Friday evening saw the industrial rail archway filled to capacity with beer lovers and industry experts alike who had gathered to celebrate the success of two craft beer connoisseurs. The occasion: a fifth birthday party celebrated not with cake and pass the parcel but with 5.8% proof double-hopped anniversary Pale Ale to mark another stage in the craft beer revolution that is taking the UK by storm.
Tom Hutchings and Dave Seymour’s ‘Brew By Numbers’ is riding the craft beer wave.
They say you go traveling to find yourself, but this pair found each other. While rock climbing in China, they quickly bonded over their shared passion for beer and a bromance was born. They hatched a plan to don the lab coats and brew up a storm back in the UK. It was love at first pint. Upon their return, they began to experiment with small homebrews in a friend’s basement on Southward Bridge Road. The friends were determined to produce the most exciting and varied flavours and utilizing their newfound knowledge, they created their first three brews. Made with malt extract, a sprinkling of spices into a crude plastic bucket to ferment with the hops that added flavour and bitterness, their company ‘Brew By Numbers’ was born.
It wasn’t long before Tom and Dave started getting recognition in the craft beer world as they experimented with different yeast strains such as the French Saison and the Belgium Witbier. By drafting in the help of some crafty investors, the pair managed to upgrade their equipment to stainless steel and achieve their goal of selling their brews. ‘Brew By Numbers’ was officially in business and on the 1st December 2012, they hosted their launch party at The Craft Beer Co. in Clerkenwell. Five years later the party continues, this time in their very own taproom with a showcase of five special birthday brews to mark the occasion. One of these was the company’s first ever canned beer, a double dry-hopped Pale Ale which sold out in just a couple of hours.
Despite this, in the past decade the headline news about Great British Beer has been less than hoppy. According to City Hall, a quarter of London pubs have closed since 2001 and we Brits are drinking less alcohol. But don’t go and drown your sorrows quite yet for there is a light at the bottom of this pint glass. We are in the midst of a craft beer revolution with 64 per cent more breweries in the UK than there were five years ago, according to accountancy UHY Hacker Young. Floris de Graaf moved to the UK from the Netherlands to be the Taproom manager at ‘Brew By Numbers’ four months ago and could not be more excited to be part of the up and coming British craft beer scene: “It was the best decision I ever made in my life,” he says.
But why has there been such a shift in the British beer culture?
“People like the story. They like the narrative. I think that’s partly this socially conscious element to society now, certainly to the newer generations. People pay more attention,” says Ben Plumb who also works at ‘Brew By Numbers’.
Now that so many aspiring brewers are tapping into the craft beer scene, you would think it would be getting overcrowded. Ben Plumb sees it differently: “Everyone is competing for the same market but I think that if the whole industry does better and the whole scene does better, everyone benefits from that,” he says.
Floris de Graaf adds: “We all know each other and we are all friends. We help each other out and do collaborations.” You know what they say – great minds drink alike.
Neil Walker, a Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) spokesperson says: “The growth of breweries and importantly the diversity of styles being brewed in London – from traditional British porters to hazy American pale ales or Belgian styles sours and saisons – has pulled a new wave of enthusiasts seeking flavor, quality and provenance in the beer they drink.”
The decline in pubs and the increase of breweries has highlighted what seems to be a perceived generational divide between stereotyped old bearded men drinking Real Ale in dark pubs and young hipsters drinking craft beer. But Nigel Tarn, the East London and City press officer for the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), agrees that consumers’ needs are changing. “The younger market seems to drink less but drink better. They’re not buying lots of inferior products for less money but will pay a reasonable price for quality products that are made locally.” He adds: “Certainly the youth I speak to tend to acknowledge that they prefer craft beer.”
So, for talented brewers like Tom and Dave, the future looks pretty pitcher perfect. They are planning to expand ‘Brew By Numbers’ and are looking to get their own canning line and another location to give them extra space in 2018. In a thriving new scene where breweries are popping up every week, the craft beer world is only going to get more exciting. For now, it’s happy birthday to ‘Brew By Numbers’ and I think we can all say cheers to that.