Lockdown not only temporarily deprived Bethnal Green of Infinite Bliss (4.8% ABV pale ale), but also Old Street Brewery (OSB) of its entire revenue. As a small brewery housed in a single railway arch that doubles as its taproom, the sudden forced closure at the end of March left OSB without an outlet for its beer. Happily, after getting hold of a couple of hand seamers for cans, and the government recognising that breweries are essential, the brewery was back in business as a takeaway at the start of April.
Adam Green, owner and co-founder of the brewery, along with Andreas Wegelius, said, “We went from thinking we’re going to shut down in the next month or two to brewing at the same capacity.” Margins are obviously down, given the extra costs of canning and the lower price charged for cans compared with tap, but the brewery got back into the black around the end of June.
Before lockdown, other than a small number of kegs being sold to craft beer outlets such as Craft Beer Co, Mother Kelly’s and All Good Beer, around 95% of OSB’s sales were from its taproom. While this meant that OSB didn’t have problems with bad debts from outlets that were suddenly unable to settle invoices, the brewery was faced with other overheads, mainly associated with bar staff who were unable to work. Fortunately the furlough scheme helped to prevent any redundancies. Adam commented, “The government grants and the Bounce Back loans obviously helped to keep us afloat. There was never any fear that we were going to go under but, you know, losing money is always a pain.”
Now, with its new capability to make off-sales in addition to distribution direct from the tap, OSB, in common with similar breweries that found themselves in the same situation, will come out of lockdown even less reliant on third party distribution. Adam noted, “What we’re seeing in the brewing industry is that a lot of brewers have seen this ability to sell direct to the consumer without the need to go to wholesalers or to pubs. Obviously the margins are better.” At least for the craft beer industry, Adam thinks that brewers will ‘stop putting beer into kegs for bars; they’re just going to go direct to the consumer’.
Old Street Brewery moved to its current location, a railway arch along an uninviting narrow alleyway just behind the Salmon & Ball, close to Bethnal Green underground station, in April 2018. The premises are a good half-hour walk from Old Street where Adam and Andreas first started home brewing. Within a year, capacity had expanded from two hectolitres using an improvised kit to the current ten hectolitre setup. To allow Adam to concentrate on growing and managing the brewery, OSB recruited a new head brewer, Josh Billington, in February this year.
August should see the premises expand into the neighbouring railway arch, allowing for a doubling of fermenter and bright tank capacity, as well as the addition of more seating. The extra space will also allow the brewery to go ahead with earlier plans to brew cask beer. They hope to begin this around October time. A Biscoff biscuit stout at around 12% ABV will be on the menu. Currently, their two core beers are Infinite Bliss (pale ale, 4.8% ABV) which is OSB’s best seller, and Vlad the IPAler (a 7.2% ABV IPA). They also have a seasonal sour, Blackberry Sour Grenade (3.5% ABV) which was due to be followed in mid-July by a New England style IPA of about 7.5% ABV.
Lockdown, combined with OSB’s imminent expansion, has turned Adam’s attention to marketing. He observed, “The market’s saturated and so, for better or for worse, marketing branding does play a massive role. Back in March we were just a bar that happened to make beer. Now we have a bit more of a brand identity, through the fact that we get cans out there and the visibility of our artwork.” A ‘super-awesome’ marketing initiative will accompany OSB’s expansion next month, although Adam would not be drawn on the details.
Stephen Tarlton
(Brewery Liaison Officer)