The issue of beer pricing at the other end of the spectrum is another bugbear for Plant, too. Beavertown’s incredibly popular 7.2% Blood Orange IPA, Bloody ‘Ell has been a sought after beer since its initial launch in 2013. Coupling Amarillo and Citra hops, a tropical hit and excellent packaging designs once again from Nick Dwyer, the beer has become a modern classic.

While people are happy to pay a fair price for good beer, some bars, in this writer’s experience were charging upwards of £9.00 a pint for the drink in question. Seasonal or not, it’s a big price to pay for a beer made in London, and drank in a London pub.

“I know from our end and we charge what we charge, and as a result I know the make up they are making on that and that is incredibly unfortunate and not something I’m happy with. I guess people have built up something with Bloody ‘Ell as in the past the releases were super limited but now, as we can brew ten times more now and the last time, we brewed 20 batches, it has been distributed more widely. We pretty much bought pretty much all of the batches of blood oranges coming to England, bringing it in by the tonne having a company process it for us. It’s a great beer, and a popular one, but the prices others set can be an issue,” he laments.

Timeline

December 2011: Setup by Logan Plant in the kitchen of Duke’s Brew and Que, in De Beauvoir, Hackney, London. The brew house, which is situated opposite its two Smokers of the BBQ restaurant, runs at 4BBL per brew (650 litres – 1150 pints).

March 2013: Moved out of its home at Duke’s Brew & Que and into its new brew site at Unit 4 Stour Road, Fish Island, London E3 2NT.

May 2014: Moved to its  new 11,000sqft space in Tottenham Hale and upgraded to a 30BBL (50HL) brew house with new 120HL tanks to be up and running by the end of 2015.

Looking at the bigger picture for Plant and his team at Beavertown, there is an affinity with London, the brewing scene, and the distribution and retail network that supports it. But central to Plant’s goals for the brewery were to have its beers, and its message, reach a broad audience. Something he is proud to have achieved.

”I started brewing in my kitchen, and then at Duke’s Brew & Que (his barbecue and bar in Haggerston, London). And now, in 2015, we are a world brewer, distributing into 20 different countries. We’ve been expanding as our journey progresses and once we these new tanks come in we will be at another landmark point at this site,” he explains.

And when does he see Beavertown hitting capacity at it’s current site?

“When the new tanks touch the ground!”

People are of paramount important to Plant. His team, he regularly points out, are everything but finding people on the same wavelength and a perfect fit for Beavertown is a tough challenge.

He says: Finding individuals that suit our culture and our vision is so, so important. We look for experience, flare, passion and someone who is a believer in what we are doing and wants to make a name for themselves. Somebody that wants to take ownership, which is also down to the individual.