How does the beer industry navigate a cost of living crisis? In a panel discussion recorded at IndyManBeerCon 2023, Jonny Hamilton chats to Phil Sisson from Glasgow’s Simple Things Fermentation, Julie O’Grady from Neptune Brewery in Liverpool and Toby McKenzie from RedWillow Brewery in Macclesfield to find out how the financial squeeze is affection small breweries, and their customers.

I’m sure most of you have felt the pinch by now: you want to get a big haul in from that local bottle shop, but instead you opt for a couple of specials and a case of something reliable from the supermarket. That expensive third of DIPA looks tempting, but it’s your round and you’ll settle on a pint of something lower in ABV, and much more affordable.

The cost of living crisis has most of us feeling the squeeze. Rising energy bills, the cost of groceries, and the general expense of merely existing has had most of us making small changes to our lives, sometimes consciously, sometimes not.

Small breweries, too, are feeling the pinch. For many it’s simply too much and since the Covid-19 pandemic close to 200 small breweries in the UK have either shut down, or found new investment, or even new owners to help them steer through the financial mire. This has a knock on effect for customers, not simply pushing up the cost of beer, but shattering the amount of choice. You only have to step inside your nearest hostelry to see that a handful of mass produced brands occupy the taps.

There’s hope though, which can be heard in the tone taken by our host and three panellists in this episode of our podcast, all of whom own and work at small breweries in the UK. Sure, there’s a sense of realism throughout, but there’s also a sense that if they’ve made it this far, they might as well keep on going. For beer’s sake, as much of their own.

We were deeply saddened to hear that our peers at Good Beer Hunting would be closing their publication. In this episode Matthew shares some thoughts on GBH's significance, and why its more important than ever to support independent beer writing.

Like beer, whisky has always fascinated me. Maybe it’s because, like beer, it’s brewed, and before distillation the resulting wash (the distilling term for wort) undergoes a period of open fermentation, not unlike a wild or mixed fermentation beer. Or maybe it's because it’s simply delicious. Enough so to pique my curiosity and to discover more about how it’s made, and the people who make it.

At White Peak Distillery in Ambergate, Derbyshire I found another beer hook from which I could hang my hat—that it uses brewers yeast sourced from the nearby Thornbridge Brewery. Not just any yeast either, as every Tuesday they collect several tubs of the same yeast that’s used to produce the brewery's flagship IPA, Jaipur. The hope is that using this yeast will produce lots of interesting esters during fermentation, adding fruit notes to the wash, which is then further amplified by whatever else gets in there during the open fermentation.

The goal, as I learned when chatting to Max Vaughan, who founded White Peak with wife Claire in 2016, is to pack as much flavour into its distillate as possible, so that when it begins a long maturation in oak, it's already packed with character that will slowly, steadily evolve for several years until it’s ready to be called whisky. Tasting the results of what White Peak has released so far under its Wire Works range of whiskies, I genuinely think that this English whisky maker—one of about 50 in the country—could potentially be one of the most exciting drinks producers in the country at this moment.

Recorded in the tasting room at White Peak Distillery, in this episode I chat to White Peak founder Max Vaughan about why he decided to open a distillery to the edge of the Peak District, at the water’s edge of the River Derwent. In it I learn about how the brewery is constantly pushing for more interesting flavours through the use of heritage grains and through the use of many different types of barrel. We chat about sustainability, about the state of English whisky in general, and I learn how White Peak sources potentially the freshest bourbon barrels in the UK, direct from Kentucky, thanks to its partnership with US bourbon brand Never Say Die.

It’s a fascinating conversation, and if, like me, you’re more of a beer person than a whisky one, I promise there’s plenty of interesting stuff in here that may well pique your curiosity, just like it did mine.

We’re able to produce The Pellicle Podcast directly thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and our sponsors Loughran Brewers Select. If you’re enjoying this podcast, or the weekly articles we publish, please consider taking out a monthly subscription for less than the price of a pint a month.