Hopulist issue 5

This success has got Frank and the team working
on trying to get other top international brewers
involved via Skype – although an idea in the
making at the moment, it’s this kind of innovative
and cutting-edge thinking that have made HBC so
popular this far.
The Club attracts an average of 30 to 40 members
to each meet and that figure is steadily growing. One
reason could be the friendly atmosphere – as we
mooch around chatting to people on the evening we
attend, it’s clear that people have made some very
solid friends at these evenings and love nothing more
than debating and sharing ideas. There’s brewers
at all stages in the journey here – from complete
novices, to those who Ritchie believes have the
potential to make a business out of their skills, and
everything inbetween.
“Speaking personally,” says Frank. “I have got so
much out of being involved with this Club. I walked
in a stranger and left with a handful of friends and
couldn’t wait for the next meeting. It has a really great
community feel and everyone helps each other out.”
One of the key features of the Club is its monthly
brewing challenges – each of which has a theme that
makes it more of a challenge. On the evening we
attend, the theme was budget brew – where members
had to make 23 litres of beer for under £7.50 using
Twisted Barrel’s reduced-price ingredients. But
other challenges have or will include a restricted
ingredients challenge, a Twisted Barrel clone beer
challenge and the innovative Buddy Brew. This
pairs members up so they have to brew together,
encouraging them to learn from each other and share
techniques and knowledge – it is one of the more
popular ones according to Frank.
Marcus
Pendleton:
“I’ve been coming to HBC
since the very first meeting in
August 2015, and I had only
started brewing in the January
of that year. I actually got into
it when I decided to brew a
beer for a friend’s wedding,
which went down really well.
The Club here has evolved
over the last year or so, it’s
now much more structured
as it’s got bigger. We have
great and varied speakers
and a great variety that we
couldn’t have attracted when
we first started.”