From Fashion to Brewing: Kate Hyde's Journey to Head Brewer at Hand Brew Co

In this episode, Martin speaks with Kate Hyde, the head brewer of Hand Brew Co., about her unique journey into the brewing industry, the ethos behind Hand Brew Co., and the importance of diversity and inclusion in brewing. Kate shares her experiences, challenges, and insights on the craft beer scene, particularly regarding the role of women in brewing and the need for greater consumer awareness of independent breweries. The conversation also touches on the future of the UK beer scene, the significance of community, and the signature beers of Hand Brew Co.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Kate's Beginnings
• 6:08 Being Inclusive in the Beer Industry
• 11:08 How To Be More Inclusive
• 14:47 Consumers Awareness of Diverse and Inclusive Spaces
• 17:03 An Inclusive Future in Brewing
• 23:35 Access to Market and Industry Challenges
• 28:10 Signature Brews and Brewing Philosophy
• 33:15 Favourite Beers and Brewery
• 35:08 New Beer Releases and Collaborations
• 37:08 Wrap up and Outro

Transcript

Martin (00:00)
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Beer Rep Chats with. Today I'm delighted to be joined by Kate Hyde, Head Brewer of Hand Brew Co. Kate, thanks for joining us.

Kate Hyde (00:09)
Thanks for having me, Martin.

Martin (00:11)
You're welcome. You can tell us a bit about your journey into brewing and how you got the job at Hand Brew Co.

Kate Hyde (00:18)
Yeah, sure. it was not ⁓ a typical probably, or what is a typical journey into brewing? There's so many stories out there, but mine was one of the atypical ones, I guess. My background is ⁓ I studied fashion design at university in Leeds and I went on to work in London in the fashion industry for four or five years in my 20s.

I moved to Australia and worked in publishing for four or five years. And then I moved to Paris with the hope of working in a very well revered English language bookshop on the left bank. But I turned up with very, very little of a plan and couldn't get a job there because I didn't have any jobs. I was very fortunate in that my cousin lived in Paris and still does live in Paris.

Martin (00:44)
Wow.

Yeah.

It's better same in England.

Kate Hyde (01:09)
And she and her partner ran a ⁓ English-ish brew pub group called the Frog Pubs. So some of your listeners might know the Frog and Roast Beef or the Frog and Princess if they've been to Paris. They're kind of quite baked into the culture there, particularly beer culture. They've been going since the 90s.

⁓ And they were like, look, you need a job and very much need a job. And I didn't, I didn't drink beer at all at the time. And I think I occasionally would have like a shandy if I was a bit hungover. And so I went to start working for them and their, big USP was they made all their own beer and served in these brewpubs, all of their beer on site direct from service tanks.

part of the training if you were going to work front of house was that you had to learn about the beers and you had to drink all the beers. You had to learn how to talk about them and how they were made and why they were different. And yeah, and so I kind of went on the, you know, mandatory. It's a bit like, I suppose, the first level of Cicerone ⁓ kind of thing, sort of looking through the kind of, what's the word, the syllabus for that. It's very, very similar content. And, ⁓

Martin (02:10)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (02:20)
Yeah, I just I sort of fell into it really, I became very interested. I read up a lot. I started hanging around. discovered I had a palette and just drank more different beers, learned more different beers, hanging hanging around with brewers working at a brewing company. I just sort of started home brewing and you know, after after not very long, I was very lucky to be working for a company like frog, they had a female head brewer as well.

I think Tory and Paul, the couple that ran it were really ⁓ just very good at spotting, ⁓ yeah, talent, ambition, anything that they could, if they could help promote, they could help teach you and train you. I think they recognised it was good for them, and it was good for you. ⁓

and it would promote better relationships and longer like lower staff turnover and things. So they they spotted very early on I was picking up on the beer thing and they put me through their in-house beer training to become a brewer ⁓ and I sort of carved myself a sort of a role within the company where I was sort of using previous experience in like marketing and publicity that I'd brought over from fashion and publishing, sort of storytelling. ⁓

Martin (03:22)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (03:35)
writing and then also the beer making. I was sort of working in this weird kind of hybrid job that I created for myself. There was a bit of marketing, a bit of brand ambassador, a bit of sales, a bit of brewing and a bit of all the festivals and beer tours and, you know, kind of trying to educate people, I suppose. And because the idea was if we can educate people and make them interested in beer, then we've got another converted customer.

that was my beginnings and I left Paris in 2019.

just before Covid came to Brighton with my now husband and we moved into a little flat that was just around the corner from the Hand in Hand which is a little brew pub, 200 year old corner boozer that's had a brewery in the roof of it for about 40 years like an old enterprising landlord sort of carved one into the building, dropped it in through the roof and ⁓

Martin (04:30)
Nice.

Wow.

Kate Hyde (04:36)
And yeah, and I kind of, started drinking in the pub and I got to know Jen, who's the founder and landlady. She's the founder of the brewery and landlady of pub and her husband Clark. And they, own the two businesses together and, and Jack, who was their founding brewer. So when they opened the brewery, they needed a brewer and Jack came in and wrote a lot of the initial core recipes for them and worked with them for five years. And yeah. And as they were growing.

at the time they were like we need to expand out of this tiny brew pub because we just don't have the space and so they were looking for a space to brew more bigger batches and I sort of happened to be in the right place at the right time making friends with the right people. A lot of my story is just me being in the right place at the right time.

Martin (05:20)
Yeah, I

think that's the most with most people, suppose, you know, who you know, and being there at the right time when when when they're looking, I suppose. yeah, and skill, obviously.

Kate Hyde (05:23)
Yeah, a lot of luck.

Yeah, a lot of luck. But I guess it's opportunity

and seeing it when you see it, recognising it when you see it.

Martin (05:36)
Yeah, 100%. So, um, yeah, what's the whole ethos Brew Co. you know, I know diversity is a big role within Hand Brew Co. So is that, was that what shaped the brewery's identity?

Kate Hyde (05:52)
I wouldn't say it shaped the identity as such. We were very pleased to win the Diversity Champion of the year award at BeerX last year, which I think the inaugural time they awarded it and it was just, you yeah, this year, this year. Yeah, they're exactly the same. So we're very thrilled to win it this year, 2025. I feel like this year is going very quickly.

Martin (06:03)
Yeah.

It was this year, wasn't it? March. I was there and I was like, I wasn't there last year, but I was definitely there this year when you won it.

Yes it is.

Kate Hyde (06:21)
So that was like a huge thrill for us and it felt very validating because we do a lot of work in that space. But I wouldn't say it's like a ⁓ founding principle in the sense that we're setting out to be a diversity champion. I think that probably coming out of a pub, pubs are places of kindness and inclusion and empathy and welcome.

Martin (06:38)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (06:47)
and they're places for people from all walks of life who look different from different backgrounds, who behave differently ⁓ and respond differently to different triggers. And I think we've always, as a sensible and responsible employer, sort of in the pubs tried to ⁓ employ a diverse range of staff so that when people walk in, they can see themselves reflected across the bar. ⁓ And I think that's just part of

Martin (07:10)
Yeah, 100%.

Kate Hyde (07:14)
part of smart hiring, be honest with you. It's sort of not necessarily like we're going out to be diverse. It's just like, I feel like you'll fit into this space and I feel like people coming into this space will feel comfortable talking to you. That's much more of our kind of hiring ethos than anything else. It's sort of not what's your experience. It's like, do we like you? Do we all get on? Are you an empathetic person? So I think that kind of pub background has probably fed into the way. So when you've got two people that run a pub running a brewery,

they're running it with that same mindset of is everyone included? Is everyone accounted for? Is there anyone sitting in the corner feeling left out? Is there anyone that's not coming in here because they feel like it's not for them? And I think that there's an element of that that carries into the way we think about Hand Brew Co. and run Hand Brew Co. But I don't think we sort of set out to be like diversity champions. it's just, I think this idea at the back of our minds is always, you know, you know,

Martin (07:44)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (08:09)
Can we make this gluten free? this, you know, everything is vegan? ⁓ Is this, you know, an enticing drink? Is it attractive? Is it innovative? Sure. But is it also something that is, you know, inclusive? Do people want to drink this? Is everyone going to want to drink this?

Martin (08:28)
And does it taste good? It's the main thing, isn't it?

Kate Hyde (08:29)
Yeah, that's a big part of it

Martin (08:34)
What kind of ⁓ what beer or brewery got you hooked in the early days?

Kate Hyde (08:38)
I mean, obviously it was the Frogpubs because that's where I learned beer. It's where I learned to love beer. And I think they had their take on an English bitter that they did called Insane, spelled with like S-E-I-N-E, because of the Seine River. And I really became very fond of that one. think that was like initially when I just like the three sip rule, like when I first tried it, did my first ever beer tasting on my first shift, I think I spat it out.

Martin (08:44)
Yeah.

You

Kate Hyde (09:08)
because it wasn't what I thought beer tasted like and it very quickly I think I learned to love the kind of complexity of it and yeah I think that was probably my first the first beer I became very fond of like and kind of really developed a relationship with I think the first beer where I thought oh I've got a palette it was it was a punk IPA but 2012 version

Martin (09:11)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Kate Hyde (09:35)
And I remember I remember trying it at beer tasting for the first time going, Oh, this tastes like this tastes like New Zealand white wine, what's in it? And there was like a sales rep there and they couldn't answer the question. So I was like getting all of their materials and going through them. And I found it had a New Zealand wine and New Zealand hop in it. The Nelson Sauvin I'd never heard of and I was like, Oh, that's cool.

Martin (09:36)
100%.

Kate Hyde (09:54)
And then I suddenly was like, my God, I identified that, I spotted that. And that was probably the moment, you know, like in Ratatouille where he has the strawberry and the cheese together and all the fireworks go off. That was probably my firework moment. It's good, isn't it?

Martin (09:57)
Yeah.

Iove that film. It's a brilliant film, Ratatouille.

Everyone should be watching Ratatouille. At least. So obviously, we touched a bit on diversity in the brewery and you took it over from your experiences in the pub and making sure that everyone feels welcome. Do you think, I mean...

Kate Hyde (10:10)
At least once a month.

Martin (10:30)
I think it's really important in today's beer industry that every brewery ⁓ can be diverse and welcoming to everyone. Where do you think it kind of some breweries getting it right and some breweries are getting it wrong?

Kate Hyde (10:46)
That's a really tricky question because, you know, they're all independent and individual businesses and I ⁓ don't really want to comment on the way other people run their businesses but I think, I could say that I think that the first step to getting it right is just really wanting to do it ⁓ and having it, understanding that it's not a box check, you know, it's your business.

Martin (10:51)
Mm.

Yeah.

Kate Hyde (11:15)
will be better if you open ⁓ your staffing up and your clientele up and you're thinking up to people with different life experiences, people from different cultures. ⁓ Just because it will foster creativity, it will approach problem solving in different ways, you will be speaking to different markets and you'll be speaking from identifiable voices that can speak to those markets.

Martin (11:45)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (11:46)
⁓ so aside from the fact that it's just, even if you think it's a bunch of old woke hokey, it's really good business strategy, but, ⁓ you know, it shouldn't be a tight box. It's, it, that's the thing. It needs to come from, I think it's done best. comes from a place of genuine interest and wanting to. And I think, ⁓ I think we're in a very good place in the independent craft industry.

Martin (11:55)
But like you said, it shouldn't be a tick box either. It should be something that you genuinely want to do.

Yeah.

Kate Hyde (12:16)
now where I think we're all very conscious ⁓ of like the word community. It's probably one of the most used, it's one of the most used words in our, our, in our sphere, isn't it? Like, you know, we all talk about the craft beer community and how, how much of a community is and how friendly everyone is and how we all work together. And I think that that caring sharing attitude naturally rolls over into an interest in and desire and a desire to be

Martin (12:29)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (12:46)
diverse and inclusive. ⁓

there was the panel we did at BeerX on diversity. And there was a lot of chat about things like, you know, a service area at the bar that's sort of slightly lower. So it's wheelchair accessible and making sure that you do have disabled access toilets.

Martin (13:01)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (13:04)
⁓ providing ⁓ feminine hygiene products, making sure that you have ⁓ gender neutral toilets or that you're not policing the genders on your printed on the toilets, gender neutral toilets is the easiest way to get around it. you know, ⁓ baby changing facilities, if you've got space, I mean, if you've got room for a disabled toilet, you've got room for a fold down baby changing ⁓ facility. ⁓ Thinking about those

Martin (13:30)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (13:34)
benches that everyone has big tables with the long benches and stuff like are they comfortable accessible for everyone to climb onto and get on and off of. You know, I'm so yeah, or you're the one on the end and someone gets up from the other end. Yeah, I've been that person a few times and sort of like learn to really brace yourself if you see any one kind of shifting.

Martin (13:42)
Yeah, not everyone's legs are great because I struggle to get over them.

slid down the bench.

You

Kate Hyde (14:02)
⁓ So yeah, you know, there's like really small things that don't cost the earth, but they're just sort of considerations that you can make the spaces that you're inviting people into inclusive and diverse without spending any extra money.

Martin (14:16)
Do you think

consumers notice and value diversity in pubs and breweries?

Kate Hyde (14:27)
That's another good question.

If I'm in a bar and I see a line up of different breweries, I think first and foremost, I'm going to order the product that I want to drink that I'm in the mood for. So say you go to a tap room or a bar and they've got like 20 lines and I'm in the mood for West Coast IPA and there's one West Coast IPA, I'll probably get that West Coast IPA. There's certain things that will put me off. Like if I've heard anti, like specifically anti diversity stuff about.

about a brewery, I might start to feel a bit like I'm going to actively avoid it. Probably wouldn't badmouth it because I'm aware that there's gossip is rife in this industry and sometimes, you know, things can get blown out of proportion. But I I might sort of actively avoid it and just choose something else. But I, and I would definitely be drawn towards ordering.

Martin (15:01)
Mm.

yeah.

Kate Hyde (15:23)
beer from breweries I've heard about or I've worked with or I've, you know, kind of unconscious of through the network, but that's, I'm in the industry, so I'm not a good litmus, but I don't know about consumers. I think the visibility that is often afforded to breweries that like we get a lot of visibility because I'm a female head brewer and that's fantastic.

Martin (15:31)
Yeah, this is the thing.

Kate Hyde (15:43)
And that helps us to reach more people in the industry, which gets us into bottle shops and bars and tap takeovers and festivals that gets us in front of consumers. And you definitely see people's eyes light up when they realise they're talking to a head brewer and that head brewer is a woman. And that seems interesting to them. That's another layer to the story. And I get it at brewery tours when, I turn up and say, hi, everyone, thanks for coming. then marketing girl or whatever. And I sort of say, I'm the head brewer and you can see everyone.

want to ask questions and they go away with their, you know, the beers they've bought and they're excited, I think, to tell people that they've met this sort of, I don't know, unicorn. Not like a unicorn, do you know what mean? Like rare, rare thing.

Martin (16:25)
that leads us on to the next question, which is, know, you're one of relatively few women leading a brewery as a head brewer. Why do think there is, you know, so many few head brewers who are female?

Kate Hyde (16:39)
Well, I mean, there's...

It's a tricky one. think I've been involved in the women in beer mentorship scheme for two years now. And I've met some incredibly driven and talented women who are founding breweries, leading breweries, running brew teams, running businesses, pushing themselves creatively, pushing themselves in terms of their knowledge and training. So there's definitely women out there in the industry who have ambition.

And I think probably in a few years, we're going to see every single one of the women graduating from that mentorship scheme kind of, you know, on these podcasts, pushing the button and you you and other people in the industry won't be saying, oh, that's a really rare thing. I think it's changing.

Martin (17:24)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (17:36)
I am a rarity, I suppose. I mean, there's a lot of women out there running breweries and running brew teams, but not as many as men. That's sure. There's a lot of women working on brew teams in production, but not as many as men. I don't know if it's less attractive to women. Don't know if, you know, if you look at the stats for women drinking beer, it's obviously going up, but we're still significantly behind men in terms of being interested in the product.

Martin (17:46)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (18:03)
So that's going to have a significant impact on if you're not interested in the product, then you're not going to be that interested in working in the industry, making the products. And then once you're making the product, you might not be interested in becoming a head brewer. It's a challenging industry to work in, in production. It's a really, ⁓ it can be quite thankless at times. It's very hard work. The hours can be very unpredictable. You don't just go home at five because it's five o'clock. You have to wait if you're in a process that's been interrupted because of a technical problem or a...

Martin (18:09)
⁓ yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Yeah.

Kate Hyde (18:32)
production problem or an ingredient based problem, you you aren't going home until that process is finished. And that can be very wearing. A lot of breweries aren't in an easy place to commute to. So there's often quite a long journey to get or difficult journey to get to them. They can be very, very cold in the winter and very, hot in the summer. There's lots of dangerous chemicals, loud noises. It's a very ⁓ challenging.

Martin (18:38)
of course

Kate Hyde (19:02)
job and it doesn't pay very well. ⁓ So I think that, you know, you do see a lot of people drop out of production generally. And I like to think women have lot of common sense. Maybe they're coming in going, this is horrible and quitting. But yeah, I think I think probably it comes back to ⁓ less women drinking beer and interested in the product. Therefore less women interested in working in beer and therefore less women progressing up the chain. I think it's probably that simple equation. And so

Martin (19:30)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (19:31)
If we want to change that, it's not about, gosh, let's all go out and make sure that we're advertising our jobs on female-centric job boards, which you should be doing. That's what we do whenever there's a job coming up. We don't just put it on Indeed and SIBA We'll kind go out and look for groups on Facebook and stuff and make sure that we're pushing it to other groups outside of just traditional brewing groups.

Martin (19:53)
Yeah.

So, What barriers do you feel exists for, you know, all people who are wanting to enter into the brewing world as a head brewer or in head role positions?

Kate Hyde (20:08)
I think being cognisant of what your branding and vocabulary that you use looks like to people that aren't you. you know, just, I guess, every time you come up with a beer name, run it through a couple of filters that might not be your own filters. You know, think about it from different directions, you know. Yeah, even though it's a funny joke to you and your mates.

Martin (20:17)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

how would it be perceived by other people? Yeah.

Kate Hyde (20:37)
Is it a funny, you know, is it a funny joke that's, yeah, is it poking fun at anyone or, know, just, you know, just little things like that. Just being sort of double, double conscious of, of like the language you're using and the branding that you're using. Like, you know, if you're using imagery, what's your imagery depicting? Even again, like if you think it's funny.

Martin (20:38)
Could be offending.

Kate Hyde (20:58)
Is it funny to everyone? Is it enticing to everyone? Again, this is just good business aside from obviously being an important checkbox for diversity. It's just good business. And it's like the more people you can track to buy your product, the more money you're going to make. using that filter, I think is a really good start. That's what people are looking out before they even come to your tap room. So if your beers are being

Martin (21:07)
Yeah, exactly.

Kate Hyde (21:24)
plastered all over Instagram or included in bottle shop line up photos and stuff. Like what's your can look like next to everyone else? Like, does it look inviting? And, you know, what your names, is it all, you whee, or is it like, whee? You know, so little simple things like that. Again, they don't have to be, they don't have to be dramatic changes. And, you know, a code of conduct on your website.

Martin (21:38)
That's definitely a lager drink there.

Yeah.

Kate Hyde (21:53)
Again, even if you are just a couple of mates that started a brewery that happen to look the same, ⁓ doesn't mean that you can't publish code of conduct on your website, on your Instagram, on your Facebook, have it posted around your tap room, just explaining that you won't tolerate ⁓ poor behavior. And doing the same when you accept festival invitations, making sure that they have a code of conduct and asking those questions, just doing your due diligence.

The more we start to use these words in the industry, the more people sort of sit up and listen and actually kind of respond. Not just festival organisers, but other brewery taprooms, other breweries and consumers as well. So little things like that, making your spaces more inviting, making your brewery look more inviting to a diverse range of people. Thinking about co-labs, can you collaborate with people that present differently to yourself?

that might be a good way of demonstrating that just because you don't look diverse, you think diverse. ⁓

support. Yeah, yeah. Completely, completely.

Martin (22:59)
they're little changes as well, aren't they? But make a huge difference.

Do you see what kind of key change or changes would you like to see in the UK beer scene in the next five or so years? you know, obviously access to market, that would definitely be top of my

Kate Hyde (23:19)
Yeah, I heard, yeah, you had a couple of good podcasts with Andy and Dave talking about that. And yeah, that's the number one. When you started asking that question, I was like, access to market is the thing that's really putting us all, I think, at risk. I think we're at a point now where everyone's making good beer. I think it's a really, really long time since I've tried, you know, a small brewery's beer and gone.

Martin (23:38)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (23:46)
Like no one's out there making bad beer. It's not bad products. That's, ⁓ and it's not a lack of interest. You know, ⁓ I know that the product is expensive, but you know, people are still buying it. ⁓ and, and the, and the beer market is, you know, it's diversifying as well. So, you know, it's, it's growing and changing. I think we've got over this little hump of being obsessed with hazy pales. And I think we're starting to see a slightly more diverse range of beers coming out, which is nice.

Martin (23:57)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (24:15)
more creative range of beers on the market, which is really good, but it's the access. It's 100 % the access to market. It's just, we like live and die by every single line.

Martin (24:27)
Yeah, I mean, I'm

big on the campaign to try and remove these tied lines in pubs. I don't think it's helping the pub scene at all. ⁓

Kate Hyde (24:38)
Mm-mm.

Martin (24:41)
you know, once if even if the beer ties were broken, you've got that long haul of trying to break people's habits of, you know, buying the same beers, because that's what they've been buying and drinking for X amount of years. And there, it's hard to try to move them off something like, ⁓ not saying that all drinkers but as an example, Foster's or Stella and getting them to try UK indie lagers.

Kate Hyde (25:09)
Hmm. For sure.

But I mean, those people, for example, that's a really good example, like Foster's or Stella or something, so like kind of macro lager. I've never seen, I've seen people walk out of a pub for not having Guinness before, but I've never seen someone walk into a pub and go, oh, I'm looking for Heineken. Oh, you've only got.

Martin (25:11)
and

Yeah.

Kate Hyde (25:29)
Stella, well, I'm leaving, I'm going somewhere else. So that's the thing about all those macro lagers is they're fairly interchangeable. And I know some people kind of, you know, pitch their flag to one or the other, but they'll drink a different brand. And most of the big tiepubs have two or three macro lagers available. So I don't think converting those people to a craft lager is going to be a difficult job because

Martin (25:30)
Yeah.

Yeah, they're go onto something different.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Kate Hyde (25:59)
particularly in the lager sphere, most craft breweries now are making a very drinkable, very simple, very traditional lager now. So that shouldn't be a difficult conversion.

Martin (26:08)
Yeah, well, you've got, you've also got Anspach

and Hobday trying to convert people off Guinness to drink London black. They really are. Yeah.

Kate Hyde (26:15)
They're doing an amazing job. They're doing a really amazing job with that.

We have our own nitro stout, Otto, and that we're seeing more more permanent lines for that around Brighton. Hoping to of see that move out a little bit. you know, I was actually standing in one of our pubs the other day, well, not one of our pubs, but one of our customers' pubs the other day. And a group of lads came in and they were like, oh, have you got Guinness? And the bartender was looking at me like, come on.

And he was like, no, but we've got, we've got this, it's by a local brewery. It's, it's, it's modeled, it's modeled on Guinness. It's a dry nitro stout. So, you know, if you like Guinness, you'll like this. And I gave them a taster and, and I was just like, please don't, please don't say, please don't say I'm the brewer. Yeah. And obviously I was of just standing there in like a big leopard coat or something like that. So I don't know, like a typical brewer anyway. a big pair of dangly earrings or something. And.

Martin (26:53)
Yeah.

Not until after they've said it's good. ⁓

Kate Hyde (27:13)
this lad and his group of lads all tried the beer and they said, actually, this is nicer than Guinness. I was like, yes, yes, my God. I still didn't say I was the brewer. Because I was drinking a martini at the time and I don't think that ever presents very well.

Martin (27:20)
Success!

Yeah.

Why are you not drinking your own beers? Why are you drinking a martini? That's brilliant. Finally, you know, beer that you've brewed think captures Hand Brew co's identity and, you know, flavour and styles that you do, which one do you reckon is the one that obviously it's probably one of your core range beers, I would imagine.

Kate Hyde (27:35)
What a day.

Oh, it is,

yeah. I think, I think there's, we've got a lot, a lot of interesting beers that I would say, oh, this captures our spirit and this captures our, you know, ethos and this captures our innovation. And like probably a very close second would be Dayglow which is an annual brew that we make once a year in the spring. And we make it with fresh foraged elderflowers.

But you need a vast amount of fresh foraged elderflowers to get the flavour to come through in the beer. So we actually collaborate with all of the locals from the pub and the friends from the community. And we traditionally all meet at the brewery in the morning, have a cup of tea, coffee and a croissant. And then the brewer goes off to the brew house to make the beer. And the gang of foragers all go off to the fields and forage elderflowers. Then they go back to the pub, pick all the flowers off of the branches.

Martin (28:30)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (28:54)
stuff them all into a pair of old Nora Batty tights and then they have to get them back to the brewery in time to get them in for the end of boil so we can pasteurise the flowers but still get all that lovely flavour through and we've been making that for last four years and so I think that as a beer encapsulates our innovativeness, our sense of community, our sense of inclusion, our sense of fun and problem solving like how do we get fresh elder flowers into a beer? I don't know let's ask our friends to help!

Martin (28:57)
You

Yeah.

Yeah.

Kate Hyde (29:23)
these people all gone away going, I made a beer today. I helped make a beer. So there's that feeling of like, you know, the launch for Dayglow is always really good fun every year. Cause there's just this group of, you know, locals of every different size, shape, ability, ⁓ background going, ⁓ I made a beer that this is my beer. made this and that's fabulous. So that is probably, I think something that really captures. But if I was going to say what's our totem beer, that is Shaka.

Martin (29:26)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

this.

Kate Hyde (29:47)
That is our, that is our hand, that's like our hand-totem beer. That's like, if we had to strip everything back to one beer, it would be that beer. It's actually a hazy pale, ⁓ slightly hazy pale, probably the first beer ⁓ Jack, who was the founding brewer who I replaced, ⁓ ever, ever developed and spent years and years developing it. ⁓ And it's, yeah, it's, I think,

Martin (29:56)
Is that your lager.

Hazy Pale

Kate Hyde (30:16)
What I love, it's a hazy pale, it's dry hopped hazy pale. You know, it's not going to win any awards for innovation in terms of what it is and where it sits in the ranges. But I think what he did in developing this incredibly drinkable, but still very, very kind of luxurious beer, like he absolutely understood the brief, which was like, we're a pub. We want people to drink lots of beer. So.

Martin (30:36)
Mm-hmm.

Kate Hyde (30:42)
don't make something sassy that someone has a pint of and then puts it on their untapped and then goes off down the road and has something else. Make something you can drink pints and pints and pints of that you can absolutely love that every time you drink it, you go, oh, that's great. But then you go back to your conversation, you know what I mean? Something that feels inviting, something that is, you know, the beer nerds like it and they enjoy coming back for it and they'll always have it in their cupboard or in their fridge, but kind of...

Martin (30:48)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (31:09)
locals that aren't that fussed, know, the kind of the average passing beer drinker, the ones we were talking about that came in looking for Stella but couldn't find one and they got given a hazy pale instead. The Gamma Ray drinkers, you know, there's something there for them too. So it's like it's a really inclusive beer, it's vegan, it's gluten free, it's got this wonderful really dry point to it. So even though it's hazy and dry hopped, it finishes quite low.

Martin (31:18)
You

Yeah.

Kate Hyde (31:36)
So kind of traditionally you might kind of ⁓ mash a beer like that a little higher and kind of really accentuate the body, but we've gone quite low on it ⁓ and it tends to finish around sort of nine. And we also use as a water treatment, we sort of shy away from too much calcium chloride. ⁓ And again, so that kind of that sort of drier point that you're getting from the gypsum kind of helps really bring you back for another sip.

Martin (32:00)
Yeah.

Kate Hyde (32:04)
So it's sort of like this weird marriage between kind of maybe a traditional IPA kind of water treatment, like more English IPA water treatment with this kind of much drier gypsum heavy kind of mineral load and kind of slightly lower mash temperature. But then it's got this like really beautiful hazy yellow sunshine in a glass kind of vibe and modern Citra, Cascade, Chinook, Dry Hop, like a classic three Cs,

Martin (32:19)
What temperature do you mash in?

sounds delish.

Kate Hyde (32:31)
Exactly that. Exactly that.

yeah, if we had to strip everything back and just keep one, obviously that would be like very, very difficult. would be Sophie's choice, times much higher. ⁓ yeah, would be Shaka, would be the Totem beer.

Martin (32:36)
Yeah.

Yeah, definitely.

I'm going to hit you with a couple of quick fire questions to wrap it all up. Favourite beer that's not your own.

Kate Hyde (32:58)
I probably would go for an Orval

I know that's a pretty common answer, but I just think I don't see it very often and whenever I do see it, I'm often really drawn to it. It's just wonderfully complex and kind of just hits so many.

Martin (33:09)
Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm hooked on Pilsner Urquell at moment, but that was because I recently went to Prague and had ⁓ Pilsner from the old barrels in the old cellar, straight from the barrel. And it was just, it was absolutely beautiful. And I'm just hooked on Pilsner's at the moment. I don't know what it is. I think since I came back from Prague, I'm just, I want to try Pilsner's, give me as many Pilsner's as you can.

Kate Hyde (33:21)
⁓

That's a fantasy.

Martin (33:41)
Favourite UK independent brewery. That's not Hand Brew Co.

Kate Hyde (33:46)
That's really unfair, I don't think I could pick I'm gonna go with Elusive. I think Andy is just a wonderful chap and an inspirational brewer and genuinely a nice guy, like the rumours are true.

Martin (33:48)
⁓

Yes. He's amazing, isn't he?

He is the nicest guy in the industry, I think.

Kate Hyde (34:06)
I've met a few that are definitely running to challenge that. I think Jake at Azvex is Jack at Azvex, so I call him Jake. Jack at Azvex is pretty lovely. But yeah, think Andy is, yeah. And I think the beers he's making are just always, it's just a lesson every time you have one of his.

Martin (34:17)
Hahaha

Yeah.

Modern and traditional, mix of both really good brews.

Kate Hyde (34:35)
Yeah, absolutely.

Martin (34:38)
Um,

just to finish up on any new releases coming from Hand Brew Co

Kate Hyde (34:43)
⁓ I have got a very exciting Negroni IPA in tank at the moment that we brewed with Lucy from Closet Brewing. We did a collab with them whilst I was up in Edinburgh in May. It was a watermelon margarita gose, which came out a month or two ago now. And she was down in Brighton for Pride. So I dragged her into the brewery to...

Martin (34:51)
⁓ Nagone.

Lovely.

Kate Hyde (35:11)
make some beer with me while she was in town.

Martin (35:12)
You

Kate Hyde (35:15)
But yeah, so that we thought it'd be quite fun to kind of keep that cocktail beer link with the margarita and then the Negroni. So my Negroni IPA coming out in the next few weeks, I think, and we've just ⁓ kind of we've locked in our art you can drink collaboration for this year, which will be a

collaboration with a local fashion designer. So we'll be brewing that next month. But we haven't released any information about it yet. So I can't tell you what it is, but that will be coming out in kind of Halloween. I'm very excited. Yeah, so that will be coming out in Halloween. I'm very excited for that. Wow. There's something coming. There's something coming. It'll be dark. So yeah.

Martin (35:48)
No exclusive information on the podcast then, no? playing the cards close to your chest there. I was hoping to get a scoop. ⁓

There we go, there's a hint.

Kate Hyde (36:06)
I think those are probably the two, and I'm signed up for Elusive Collabageddon as well which I'm very excited about so I'll be brewing up at Thornbridge. ⁓ We're still nutting out a recipe together so that'll be coming out as part of the Collabageddon release and then I've got Duration coming down to brew with me in October and we're gonna make a Schwartzbier

Martin (36:30)
Oktoberfest. Brilliant. They all sound amazing so I'll be keeping an eye out for them.

Kate Hyde (36:32)
Yeah. So yeah, a

specials on the horizon that I'm excited about. Yeah.

Martin (36:37)
be keeping an an eye. Definitely. Kate, it's been absolutely amazing talking to you. You're doing an absolutely wonderful job at Hand Brew Co and a big inspiration to many women and everyone looking to get into the brewing scene. Yeah, you're welcome.

Kate Hyde (36:42)
Well, thanks, Martin. You too.

So thank you.

Martin (36:54)
⁓ And we'll be stocking some of your beers on the beer rep for customers to purchase and try. So keep an eye out on our socials as well for that. yeah, until a couple of weeks time, we'll see you then. So cheers. Goodbye. Cheers.

Kate Hyde (37:10)
Thank you, bye.