Hopulist issue 5

“The four of us being involved in the running of
this Club came about when, after attending the first
couple of sessions, I realised that Ritchie was run off
his feet. While what he was trying to do was a great
idea and there was appetite for it, he just didn’t have
time to make it work properly – it was obvious it
needed more structure. So myself, Matt and Simon
stepped in to help.”
Frank wasn’t looking for a job at the time, but with
a background in event organising and journalism, he
quickly helped HBC start evolving.
“We put together a format for the Club that works
really well – Running the club is a team effort, but we
share roles of general organising the night, booking
speakers, keeping our club Facebook info up to date.
Simon is generally MC as he’s best at that and we
report all our ideas and proposals to Ritchie who
imparts his advice. He also offers members cheaper
prices for many core ingredients.”
One of the first things the four muskateers decided
they needed to have, was varied and insightful
speakers. By having a guest speaker each month,
members of the Club would be getting great advice
and inspiration from sources outside themselves and
subsequently improve their brewing.
“We have had a wide range of speakers so far and all
of them have been excellent,” explains Frank.
“A few of our members have been able to hold their
own talks based on the things they specialise in, we
have also managed to get people from other major
brewers outside Twisted Barrel. One of the best Was
David Munro from one of America’s top craft brewers
Bell’s. David is originally from Coventry, so he was
delighted to pop in and share his experience with us
while on a trip back to the UK.”
Mark Ol|ver:
“I’m a novice brewer really,
I’ve been brewing casually
with a friend for a while.
Tonight at the HBC is only
my third brew ever so I
am still learning. There’s so
much knowledge here from
so many different types
of brewer. The different
challenges have helped me
think outside the box a
bit and I have also picked
up plenty of tips from the
talks. It’s a nice community
to improve your skills in,
whatever your ambition with
brewing.”