The Tun Room at Fuller’s Griffin Brewery in Chiswick was packed full of brewers from around the world on 10 September. Why? Last year Fuller’s released Fuller’s & Friends, a unique collection of six beers which were the result of teaming up with six regional breweries. Fuller’s Head Brewer Georgina Young and Global Ambassador John Keeling decided that this year was time for round two and invited friends from breweries in both the UK and further afield to Chiswick to kick off the new collaboration.
Each partner brewery is paired with a brewer from Fuller’s to brew a delicious beer that celebrates the type of beer that both enjoy the most. Each team is free to make decisions from the beer’s style to its flavour, name and design.
The six beers will be packaged together and stocked exclusively by Waitrose.
Georgina Young, Fuller’s Head Brewer, said: “I’m so excited about this new project and these new friendships. Last year’s beers were a really eclectic mix of styles, which made an interesting pack of beers. This year, we’re going to work on even more beer styles – embracing trends and flavours from our international colleagues."
"Waitrose is a great partner for this project too, they understand the excitement it creates in all the brewers and that there is opportunity for some wild and wacky brews to be concocted – Waitrose has given us brewers free reign on creativity when it comes to beer styles. We’re still at the early stages of this, so there are a lot of conversations to be had and beers to be drunk before we finalise plans and I look forward to every step of this project."
So, who are these new friends?
Pilot, Scotland
Pilot was started by two friends who met at Heriot-Watt University in 2012 studying for their master’s degrees in Brewing & Distilling. They do everything themselves - from brewing to brand design to website build. With a view to create beers that pair well with food, Pilot brought along some of its 750ml bottles of Blush Unfined to the collaboration meeting which was beautiful to drink - so beautiful, it was easy to forget that it had an ABV of 10.3%! More here.
Tiny Rebel, Wales
Based in Newport, South Wales, Tiny Rebel is an award-winning brewery which started from just two men in a garage, who have seen incredible growth fuelled off the love of tasty beer. Many may know Tiny Rebel for its award-winning Welsh Red Ale, Cwtch. In the brewers’ eyes, naming a beer is like naming a child. Dutty, a Vermont Session IPA, was named on the Jamaican Patwah word for ‘Dirty’ (that and the team were listening to a lot of Sean Paul at the time). More here.
Magic Rock, England
The home of Magic Rock Brewing is in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. Its beautifully designed cans are fantastic representations of the beer inside, such as the Salty Margarita, a Tequila Barrel Aged Margarita-style gose which is a barrel aged version of the favourite Salty Kiss (made with sea buck-thorn, fruit and sea salt). Salty Margarita is barrel aged in tequila barrels with the addition of loads of lemon, orange and lime pith, followed by salt post maturation. More here.
Mack, Norway
Mack is labelled as the World’s Northernmost Brewery, where beer is produced at 69 degrees north. Renowned for not only loving good beer, Mack brewers also love music and play vinyl rock and roll music to its beer. As a result, fermenters at the microbrewery are named after musicians and every beer brewed gets a playlist created in its honour. More here.
Woodstock Brewery, South Africa
The founder of Woodstock Brewery, Andre Viljoen, decided to open a brewery back in South Africa whilst he was living in Korea. A brewery was considered the ideal combination of business, science and art. In fact, Andre bought the building off the Internet using Google Street View! More here.
Stone & Wood, Australia
Stone & Wood is based in the beautiful region of Byron Bay in Australia, started by three friends with the dream of building a village brewery. Stone & Wood create a range of hand crafted beer such as Stone Beer, a wood fired porter brewed only once a year using wood fired stones which are added to the kettle to caramelise the brew. More here.
Collaboration is not just about agreeing a recipe then brewing a beer, it is a great way to make friends.
Last year, Global Ambassador John Keeling said “Collaboration is not just about agreeing a recipe then brewing a beer, it is a great way to make friends”. This still holds true for the team at Fuller’s, and exciting new updates on this collaboration project can be followed on social media using the hashtag #FullersandFriends.
