Hop Hat Brewing Co.

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Well worth a couple minutes of your time to read about the latest budget announcement 📚

I have thought long and hard about writing this, as we don’t usually bring politics into our little corner of the world… but I just thought I’d write a note regarding today’s budget given all the headlines that are currently flying about.

If you don’t want to read it all, here’s the summary. This will not positively impact the small and independent pub or brewer that we cherish so much, nor will it result in a cheaper pint for you. Sorry.

Still with me? Ok… buckle up, here we go.

Why’s that, I hear you cry, you’re wrong!? He’s cut the amount of duty paid by the brewer significantly!

Well, yes, I can be wrong (and indeed often so!) but the key bit of this duty cut is the sentence “served from containers of 40 litres or more”.

But hang on, real ale is saved - it comes in both 18G and 9G barrels… and last time you checked, 9G is 40.91 litres! We’re saved! Thank the lord Rishi…

Well yes, that may be the case, but there’s still a lot of real ale put into pins, or 4.5G barrels, so what does a small brewer pay if they need to put some in 18G casks, 9G casks and some pins? Why should they not get duty relief on the whole brew length, rather than everything except the smaller pins? Will you be willing to pay more for a pint of beer just because it comes in a smaller barrel that allows a venue to keep it in better condition? But, let’s get the calculator out, and assume the brewer can claim the new relief. This works out at about 3p a pint less in beer duty, which will mean a 9G cask could be a whopping £2.16 cheaper before VAT at a wholesale level. A small brewery, typical of those that we will typically buy from, makes a couple of thousand pints at a time, & maybe, on that sort of volume, be able to claim around £100 a time back. Assume they brew 3 times a week every week, that half goes into casks that can hold more than 40l, & this *could* result in a duty saving of £7-8k per year from 500,000 pints. All good for the brewer, maybe they’ll take a wage from the business next year… obviously those that are bigger and more regional will have longer brew lengths and therefore, could see bigger savings. But the point stands, it’s not massive amounts of money we’re seeing here.

Let’s move onto keg beer. Almost 100% of the craft and small/independent breweries that we buy from package the vast majority of their keg beers into 30 litre steel or plastic kegs, or 20 litre keykegs - yep, that’s right, these kegs are under the 40l threshold and are therefore disqualified from the duty benefit. These smaller, independent, family owned, quality-focused breweries WILL NOT currently benefit from this duty cut.

Almost all of Big Beer, these large & multinational breweries we know so well, use containers bigger than 40l, the most popular ones being 50l kegs, for the vast majority of their beers. Carling, Fosters, Heineken, Guinness, Carlsberg, John Smiths… the list is both long and depressing. All of these breweries, the ones turning over hundreds of millions of pounds, WILL benefit from this duty cut.

What that means, is that without completely overhauling pretty much all of these craft/small/independent brewery’s business plans, their operating systems *and* see them having to make significant investments in equipment, vessels and re-pointing the market (craft pubs and bars like ours) to the fact that a 40l or bigger container can still be turned over quickly enough to provide a constantly moving offer, no small, independent brewery will feel any benefit at all. Zero. However, for Big Beer - your Carlsberg, Heineken, Molson Coors, AB-Inbev et al... where the majority of their draught beers are packaged in +40l vessels… well, they are laughing.

If you take Molson Coors who make Carling for example. According to their own figures, they brew somewhere in the region of 3 million pints of beer a day, 1.8 million pints of which fall under the Carling brand. I’ll say that again. They brew, at Burton on Trent, 3 MILLION PINTS OF BEER A DAY!

If I’m generous, and suggest 50% of their Carling output is kegged in 40l+ vessels, today’s duty cut will have a cash saving to them of 3p per pint. Calculators out again folks, 3p x 0.9m = £27,000 saving on duty PER DAY. If they brew Carling 7 days a week, the benefit to Molson Coors courtesy of you & I as taxpayers, is over £9.8 MILLION PER YEAR.

Leaving that little number hanging there for a moment, do you honestly think you’ll see that 3p reduction on your pint? A 50l keg (which holds 88 pints) may see a £2.64 decrease in wholesale cost due to lower duty charges (assuming the brewery passes them on!), but what with the rapidly increasing cost of energy & transportation costs, national living wage increases etc etc, *and* given the ties and pricing schemes set by PubCo’s for landlords for these Big Beer brands, I’d be very surprised if it is translated into lower pump prices. Anyone seriously see any pub (Wetherspoons aside, as who knows what Tim Martin will do next!) moving the price of a pint of Carling from £4.00 down to £3.97....???

You may not be paying for it on the pint (again, making the assumption that Big Beer will pass that saving on to the Pub Co's and then in turn the big Pub Co's will pass it on to the consumer) BUT we will all pay for it in the lack of funding for social support schemes, healthcare, education, transport etc etc. Remember, that £9.8m/year is only from 1 beer brand, from 1 multinational brewery. Imagine how much they will all save from the Treasury if they brew similar volumes to Carling……

This one single aspect of the budget today is wrong on every level - whilst it may sound good for “the man on the street” it's really an impediment to sustainability & growth of small & independent breweries. Make no bones about it, this is a cleverly designed tax break for Big Beer, meaning they can then cut costs and further price out the smaller breweries. Yet the headlines will trick people into thinking the politicians in charge have done a good thing. The reality is that they have no interest in either small business, or you the average drinker.

Well done Chancellor... you have shaved 3p a pint off (mostly) s**t macro beer duty. Happy days for Big Beer and another kick for small independents.

PS, this photo opportunity was taken after the budget today at FourPure’s brewery, (a former craft brewer that can brew 14m pints/year), who was bought by Lion Little World, (who also own Magic Rock Brewing Co, who can brew 2.7m pints/year), who are themselves a company who are owned by Kirin Holdings Company Ltd, who have been part-funding Myanmar’s military, who have been accused of many years worth of human rights atrocities. They’re also holding 30 litre kegs, (which as we’ve worked out above), aren’t eligible for beer duty relief… just in case you didn’t understand how spectacularly crap these people are.

Cheeky little drop from Red Willow Brewery
A nod to old English style IPA's. Letting this rest in their impressive Foeder to develop some complex malty woody flavours 👍🍻

No-one has missed this right? 🍻
A fresh cask pint...
Strangers laughing and chatting...
The sun on your face...
Not sat in your house...
A publican being supported...

I think a lot of guys will be trying to take small steps today ... 😉😉😉

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY YOU FILTHY ANIMALS 🥰

  Three Hills Brewing

Blackjack Brewery kicking off the weekend with the start of the Six Nations rugby 🏉

Unconditional Love - West Coast IPA - 6%. Loving the new artwork and can't wait for the new Black Jack brewery to get up and running in full swing 😀

Friday is here! No one really knows what day it is do they?? Let the zoom quizzes commence, maybe the first drink after dry January, virtual pub meet ups or just chilling out.✌

We're starting the evening with a great Kviek IPA 4.6% from Twisted Barrel Brewery and Tap House with Azacca, Cascade and Sultana hops 🍻

We're still here! With lockdowns all around the world things can sometimes be tough. We decided to chill out on social media for a while but we are back and with a spruced up logo! 🤗
We've still been sampling a lot of beers and will start to catch up on posting again soon. 🍻

In the meantime, welcome to February! Stay safe and enjoy your beer 🍺

About the only way we'll be getting a pint outside of our homes any time soon!

Stay safe people and happy Lockdown 3.0 🙄🍻

Man down 😭

Well this can only mean one thing..🍾
The time we all love to hate! Our latest batch is hitting the bottle 🍻

Brilliant to see local guys Thirst Class Ale emerging into the foray of canning! What a great session IPA to fill it with too. With Simcoe, Amarillo and Comet hops yum yum 😋 🍻

When you can't travel ☹
When you can't get to Xmas markets ☹
Go for a 10mile walkabout and find what your local businesses can supply 👌🌭🍻

SATURDAY ✔
SABRO ✔
SIMCOE ✔
Cheers Red Willow Brewery for showcasing the Sabro hops wonderfully 👏

Why can't we have this in England 😭

Can't go to the pub for a beer but how about going to IKEA for one?!

Especially Omnipollo 🍻

A gloomy Sunday warmer. A gorgeous blended Chocolate Porter and Ginger from Marble Brewery and North Riding Brewery Ltd. Totally moorish, very smooth chocolate Porter blends well with the Ginger for a little fiery tingle. 👌🍻

Independent Salford Beer Festival

Gamma Brewing Company Amalgamator ✅

A lovely 5.5% IPA from Denmark - thanks to Breaking Glass Bottles - Shop for supplying some booziness 🍻

HOPS HOPS HOPS 😍

A small boil addition of Simcoe and then whirlpool additions at 79⁰c of Simcoe, Sabro and Ekuanot.

The Sabro smells amazing 👃

Big thanks to Andrew at The Mounting Stone for supplying the ingredients for this brew 👏

Time to transfer this baby into its warm bath...🔥

The importance of recirculating / vorlauf. First wort runnings, containing lots of draff and particles. 👎

Recirculating around 10 litres and the grain bed is filtering out nicely for some clear wort ready for the boil kettle 👍

Mash time! In the mash for this brew is Golden Promise, Crystal 60, Wheat Malt and Naked Oats. Plus the additions of Sodium Chloride and Gypsum to adjust the water profile for a softer and fuller mouth feel 👍

This can only mean one thing....BREW DAY! 😊😊😊

Who else is using this Saturday to make beer?? 🍻

Well this was a proper turn out 👌

A great collab from Thornbridge Brewery & North Brewing Co - North Bridge Mountain IPA 7.2% 🍻

A really well balanced mix of East Coast and West Coast styles, soft with a really moorish taste and hides the ABV brilliantly 👏

Bit of R&D tonight as we're thinking of brewing with the infamous yeast!💥

North Brewing Co - Session Kviek IPA 4.1% 🍻

How many of you have used kviek yeast with your homebrew? How have you found it while bottle conditioning??

Any tips and tricks always welcome in the comments 🙌🙌🙌