As a long time homebrewer, Johnny Horn has been brewing professionally for some seven years. But prior to this he was an archaeologist specialising in the British Iron Age. He made the transition to commercial brewing in 2017 and have since worked at The Hanging Bat, 71 Brewing and Vault City, which he co-founded in 2018. Here, he tells us more about those early days in beer.

My homebrew journey started at a (probably too) young age, mixing a few liters of apple juice with some yeast I picked up from the local bakery, fermented in a Tupperware in my mums airing cupboard. The sulfurous result probably helped prompt the gift of the classic Woodforde’s Wherry homebrew kit for my next birthday. 

My interest in homebrewing developed along with my discovery of different beer styles, of which Belgian beers captured my imagination the most.

The diversity of flavours and imagination of Belgian brewers was an inspiration, and I would try and replicate and then riff on those styles as time went on.  

I recall my Belgian brother-in-law telling me about spontaneous fermentation for the first time and this blew my mind.

I soon set to try to replicate some of these extremely nuanced styles. My obsession with Belgian beers had reached its peak with the Lambic and Flanders Red styles.  

“My obsession with Belgian beers had reached its peak with the Lambic and Flanders Red styles,” Johnny Horn

Stouts were my other obsession, especially Imperial stouts, given their massive flavours and room for adjunct expressions.

One of my favourite recipes, and one that saw the most rebrews uses smoked malt for the entirety of the base. This is a beer I have since rebrewed twice with Holy Goat Brewing (Goatsmoker & Goatsmoker 2024). I include the original recipe below.  

My first (somewhat) commercial brewing job was at the The Hanging Bat in Edinburgh, which has a 50l pilot kit in the back.

My qualification to getting this job was dropping off a six-pack of various homebrews to the manager. Starting out on such a small kit made it quite easy for me to continue my homebrewing in a more professional setting.

This gave me room to experiment endlessly and subject the beer drinking locals to the results. Such an opportunity solidified my destiny in pursuing my own brewery ventures.