{"id":4532,"date":"2024-05-28T15:10:58","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T15:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=4532"},"modified":"2024-05-28T15:14:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T15:14:22","slug":"great-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2024\/05\/28\/great-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Great Beyond Brewing Company has a lot in common with other London breweries. It was founded by friends, it is based in a railway arch and it strives to make great beer! But what strikes you when you visit their tap room and brewery in Hoxton is their boundless enthusiasm and their wish to delight and surprise their customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brewery was set up by Ollie Parker, John Driebergen and Nick Walsh, all of whom have a pedigree in the beer industry. Ollie used to brew at One Mile End and John was involved in beer technology in New York before joining Meantime and the three of them came together while working at Fourpure. They began to talk about starting their own brewery in 2018. Ollie said, \u201cIt was when Covid happened that we seriously commenced thinking about where we were with our lives and what we wanted to do next. So we put together a business plan and thought about our business model<\/em>.\u201d John added, \u201cAbout this time, we started to look for premises but we didn\u2019t find anything to inspire us. We didn\u2019t want to be on the outskirts of town. We wanted to concentrate on margin and community, supplying to local traders. We were keen to invert the usual business model of a brewery on a trading estate. It took months to find premises<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Dave, Ollie and Nick (left) with the tasting panel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Along with finding the ideal premises to reflect their branding, the friends thought that the brewery\u2019s name had to do this too, reinforcing their values of sustainability and community. This attitude also extends to the staff; all of the employees have shares in the brewery. They eventually settled on the name Great Beyond. Unfortunately, and not unusually, there was a long delay in getting permission to start the brewery. John explained, \u201cThere was challenge from a local property developer who thought it would impact on their ability to sell their flats. They had a lot more resources than we did but we reached out to the local community and hired lawyers to address the opposition<\/em>.\u201d Great Beyond eventually started brewing in November 2022 and opened their tap room in January 2023. \u201cThe arches were a shell when we moved in and it took us four months to get the premises sorted. We had no money in the bank when we opened<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their sense of humour was reflected with their first birthday party. \u201cWe decided to do a kids\u2019 birthday party for adults. We had peanut butter and jelly, pizzas and pass the parcel. We invited regulars, friends, family and industry. We were packed<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gleaming new brewery is next door to the tap room. It has a 15 hectolitre (9 barrel) brew length with seven 30 hectolitre fermenters. Usually, they brew about twice a week and transfer their bigger sellers, Hoxton Fresh session IPA (4.0% ABV and Hoxton Lager (4.4% ABV) into tanks situated in the tap room. \u201cIt\u2019s not unusual for some customers to mistake the tanks for the brewery itself<\/em>,\u201d said Ollie with a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The tap room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The team like to innovate and create interesting beers alongside the staple beers. The Hoxton White has added lemongrass and elderflower, alongside the more usual orange peel and coriander. Ollie explained, \u201cIt\u2019s to appeal to a younger audience. The botanicals meeting the typical wheat beer flavours.\u201d This creativity is truly reflected in the PB & J Sour (4.4% ABV). The initials stand for peanut butter and jam, although in this case the \u2018jam\u2019 is raspberry fruit. This is a three fermentation beer; alongside the usual saccharomyces (brewers\u2019 yeast), there are lactic bacteria and then raspberries added to the tank. Peanuts are added at the end. Ollie expanded, \u201cWe add 280 grammes of raspberries to each litre of beer. It\u2019s not getting the raspberries in that is an issue, it\u2019s getting them out! We buy the raspberries directly from a farm who flash freeze them. We believe in encouraging the next generation of beer drinkers: giving them the same beer with a difference. It\u2019s great to see the surprise and delight on people\u2019s faces when they taste the beers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what of the future? John said, \u201cWe want to continue to grow and make our tap room a destination venue. We hold quiz and music nights, we partner with local suppliers and we are dog friendly. And, of course, we want to continue making interesting beers<\/em>.\u201d The tap room is at 416 Union Walk. The nearest station is Hoxton on the Overground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information, see www.greatbeyond.beer<\/a>. For the London Tasting Panel\u2019s tasting notes on Great Beyond\u2019s beers, go here<\/a>.
Christine Cryne<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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