Fuller’s brews with Stone & Wood Brewing Company

Fuller’s recently welcomed our brewing far-away friends from down under, Stone & Wood Brewing Company, Australia, to the Griffin Brewery in Chiswick to brew our special collaboration beer for our 2019 Fuller’s & Friends mixed pack!

The Fuller’s & Friends project sees Fuller’s partnering with six breweries from around the world to create a unique mixed six-pack of beers. Each partner brewery is paired with a Fuller’s brewer and given full creative freedom – including the style of beer, the flavour, the name and label design. The beers are packaged together for launch as a mixed pack for Waitrose.

Stone & Wood Brewing Company Co-founder Brad Rogers flew all the way from Byron Bay, Australia, to kick-off the brewing process on 23 January.

We asked Brad a few questions about the beer he’s co-created with Fuller’s Brewing Manager Guy Stewart – a London brewing scene champion! 

Q&A with Brad Rogers from Stone & Wood Brewing Co, Australia

Why did you say yes to taking part in the Fuller’s and Friends project?

“I was really excited, humbled and proud to be asked to brew at Fuller’s, it’s probably the most iconic brewery of London. I’ve brewed here before so I was stoked to be able to come back and do another brew, this time with Guy, he’s such a good fella. It was an easy decision to say yes! Sure, it’s a long way to come but I will make the most of it.”

Tell us a bit about your brewery and your brewing story. How did you start out, and why beer? 

“We’ve just celebrated our 10 year anniversary in Byron Bay. Ten years ago, I was brewing solo, Ross was out selling and Jamie was masterminding our brand, today the team has grown to a little over 100 co-workers.

"I started in wine before the move to brewing and that’s where the three of us met after many years collectively in the brewing industry. We were three work mates, who chose to set up a brewery in Byron Bay in 2008, inspired by the idea of creating a village brewery, with the hope of building a conscious business. It was meant to be!

"Much like Australia's craft beer industry, the company has grown a bit, but the vision we had when we first sat around my kitchen table dreaming up the original Pacific Ale hasn't changed. We are still a small fish in a very large global pond… We make up less than 1% of the Australian beer market.

"Byron Bay is our spiritual home and the birthplace of Stone & Wood. At our brewery, you can drop in for a tour and try our beers, in our new tasting room. Byron is where we produce some of our limited releases and all of our untried, experimental pilot batch releases.

"In 2014, we opened our second brewery just up the road a little, in Murwillumbah, to try and meet the growing thirst for our beer. It was important to all of us to remain in the Northern Rivers and invest in our local community. A community that continues to support our beers. Let’s make sure we get some of our Fuller’s and Friends beer home to enjoy, please!"

What was the first Fuller’s beer you tried? Do you have a favourite?

“I’ve been lucky enough to judge beer all over the world, and in 2006 I was in Denver, Colorado, for the World Beer Cup. Fuller’s London Porter was on the hand pump at Falling Rock. It was a great beer and remains one of my favourite beer memories to this day.”

What type of beer did you choose to make for the Fuller’s & Friends project?

“I wanted to put together an Australian ale, with the help of our hop growers in Tasmania, HPA. Our beer is brewed using three HPA hops – Vic Secret, Enigma, and a special hop that is so new it doesn’t yet have a name. We’re looking forward to seeing how the combination of these three unique hops, being very fruit forward and floral, play out together in this beer.”

What did you name your Fuller’s & Friends beer?

“Our beer is very much about the provenance of its ingredients. We’ve brewed this beer on the other side of the planet, to showcase these Tasmanian hops. We unashamedly wanted to celebrate that!  We named our beer Way Down Ale because when people think ‘down under’, people think AUSTRALIA. Now, you can’t get more down under than Tasmania.”

Did you face any challenges during this project?

“Bringing over this new experimental hop from Australia was something we wanted to brew with. This proved to be our biggest brewing challenge, but well worth the effort! I’m very much a proud Australian, so, another small challenge was the weather. When I left home it was 32 degrees Celsius, when I arrived in London it was snowing! Small price to pay to be on the other side of the planet brewing great beer with great people. Love it!”

Fuller’s & Friends is brewing… 

Fuller’s and Stone & Wood Brewing Company’s collaboration beer “Way Down Ale”, will be available as part of the Fuller’s & Friend’s mixed pack launching in Waitrose later in 2019.

Read more about the Fuller’s & Friends project: Fuller's & Friends Round Two.

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