AF Beer Club Virtual Beer Festival Day 2 part 2
The second day of the alcohol free beer festival finishes with Robin being joined by Sam from Bristol Beer Factory and Ben from Talk Club, followed by Matt (@guiltfreepints) hosting Matt from Big Drop.
Bristol Beer Factory - Clear Head
Host: Robin (@AFbeerclub)
A great beer. A better cause.
Sam Burrows is one of the directors at BBF. Clear head all started after meeting with Talk Club and letting them hold meetings at the brewery. BBF had no idea, didn't have the right kit and the skills required were unknown - but the idea kept being raise by Ben. Lots of trial and error, poured about 5 brews away. Brewed with a different yeast strain and mash build up to their normal process. Soft launch for mental health week in September 2020, after some consumer testing it was formally launched 3rd December 2020.
Ben Askers is one of the founding members of Talk Club in Bristol. Ben was keen to be part of a beer launch, it had to be alcohol free! Talk Club is about mental fitness, preventing suicide and mental illness. Men love pubs, but there are known problems with alcohol and depression. Ben had thought of a great name, but needed someone to brew it. He really wanted BBF to make it because they were so much part of the fabric of talk club.
They have been blown away since it's been launched. They're a small charity but now able to get their message out there in a really special and unique way.
How are you out of ten today? That's the question behind Talk Club. Awareness is one thing, but mental health action is another step, owning your feelings. Starting a conversation about how we feel today and what's making us feel like that. It's about getting people talking and looking after people. They're doing a simple thing, but it's so important.
As blokes, we're not great at taking about feelings. It's okay to feel crappy for a bit - but how do you get over that hump and get back to an 8?
Bristol Beer Factory began back in 2004. The brewery site used to be Aston Gate brewery. The site has a lot of history and they wanted to resurrect brewing into Bristol. They made traditional cask beers and stumbled upon the original milk stout recipe that used to be brewed at the site. In 2010, some new brewers into the company meant we tried new things and since then we've gone from strength to strength. Sticking to their core values in what they want from a beer - a beer you can enjoy, 3, 4, 5 of them in one sitting. Clear Head is now part of their core range. A creation born during Covid, it's been available online, and now they driving draft Clear Head. Creating something that makes you feel part of the theatre of life in a pub.
There's a bit of a stigma if you're not drinking in the pub. Having AF on draft makes you part of the group again, nobody's thinking about what you're drinking. BBF have been enlisted with the Lounge group. The original Lounge site is just down the road from the brewery, but they now have over 140 venues in the UK (I'm pretty excited about this as there are at least 3 Lounges in Cardiff, one less than 2 minutes walk from my house).
Talk club is continuing to grow. Take a look at their website to see if there are any clubs near you or how you can engage with them. Ben crowdfunded a documentary about his friend Steve, who sadly took his own life. He led a tour across the UK to watch the documentary with people and have an open conversation afterwards. Ben learnt that showing your own vulnerability allows others to open up. Ben, with the help others, is starting a new film looking at the mental health of children - continuing the conversation with the younger generation.
Big Drop - Wildtrack APA
Host: Matt (@guiltfreepints)Guest: Matt - Big Drop
Big Drop were the first dedicated alcohol free brewery in the UK, starting in 2016. They really are the big boys for AF in the UK, and now further afield. They have recently launched in the States and their beers can be found in many many countries. I'm not going to go deep into the history of Big Drop, if you are interested there you can find this on their website - I'm much more interested in the future of Big Drop and AF beers in general.
Big drop, like many now, focus on creating a good beer. It's not about AF, it's about creating great tasting beers that you can enjoy anytime anywhere. A great line from Matthew today, "you may not care about alcohol free beer but one day someone you love will". This is so true, very much highlighted just an hour ago by Bristol Beer Factory and Talk Club.
Big Drop want to understand what customers want and want to continue to produce high quality beers to meet those demands. This has meant collaborations with several breweries now, with more on the horizon. Customers are out there and in 2020 we have seen the demand is still out there. It's been a tough year and learning curve. Pubs are reopening in the UK and we'll be there talking to pubs and trying to get an AF option in as many pubs and bars as possible.
People are fed up of drinking soft drinks in pubs. The new Wildtrack is a vegan craft beer, meaning it's easily accessible for so many people. The joy of being able to include someone, whatever the reason for not drinking, is fantastic. It's a growing market and the trend is a positive one. It's an area that has continued to grow during 2020. Over recent years, especially the last one, we're all a lot more conscious of our health - but drinking booze doesn't align with that. The world is changing, and so are our habits.
What's next - Big Drop want to continue creating top AF beers. They also want others to be part of that to drive the community and increase the options, increase the inclusivity and increase the excitement of the market. The truth with AF is that it can be difficult. It's not something that every brewery is setup to produce, but Big Drop would love to see more breweries giving it ago. Big Drop have more new beers coming up in 2021, including another collab. Not much given away at the moment, but exciting things in the pipeline... literally.
The three C's used in this new Big Drop beer; Chinook, Columbus and Centennial hops used to bring a deep resin pine flavour, complemented with grapefruit.
Matt (guiltfreepints) brings up Good Things Irish Stout... *rubs hands together*
This was launched after the failed Guinness 0.0 release towards the end of 2020. The can had a few nods towards Guinness, very tongue in cheek. For more on this take a look at Tim's review here.
Are we expecting to see Big Drop on draft? In short, yes. Matt says that there has amazing support in London for kegs. Kegs are being filled and it's very exciting. It's a new challenge for the trade, with more table service looking to be the norm. The truth is that reopening, whilst welcome is scary for the industry. Tap beer is the best for margins for a pub, but Big Drop still expect to see their can sales being a big part of their market. There is no crystal ball, but the expectation is that the AF market will continue to grow - Big Drop hope this is the case, I hope this is the case and I hope that you are wishing for that as well. The bigger the market the bigger the variety and the better the market becomes as far as I'm concerned. Here's to another successful year for AF beers and for all those fantastic breweries that are doing such a great job to bring us the AF beers we enjoy so much.
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