They are a mini keg, the beer inside has little contact with oxygen, and none from light. Light affects the stability of hop, so cans are the perfect vessel for our beers. Why do you only produce canned beers, and not bottles? It’s not just a Beavertown pale ale or a Beavertown porter, the names are an extra layer. I wanted each beer to be recognised as its own brand within the Beavertown range. I thought it made a great name for a beer. My great grandad used to say: “I’m going down the pub for a pint of neck oil,” basically, to lubricate his throat after a hard day’s work. Neck oil is an old term from the Black Country. Who comes up with your beer names, such as Neck Oil and Smog Rocket? The can is a blank canvas and Nick produces cans of beauty. So I asked if he’d like to do a couple of labels and he knocked it out of the park. I’d look over his shoulder and realise I loved everything he did: the bright colours, psychedelia and Day of the Dead designs just stood out. Nick was a waiter at Duke’s, but he used to sketch before shifts while I was brewing. But I believe in fate and destiny, and I was lucky enough to come across Nick Dwyer, who’s our creative director now. We were looking to work with different artists on each beer label. Your beer cans have colourful, psychedelic designs.

After that, you go out there and you talk about your beer at events and it’s like being on a stage. That’s the same with music: you’re inspired by many different musical forms, instruments or people. When I was homebrewing, I became obsessed with buying brewing books and dabbling with different infusions and ingredients.

It takes artistic expression and total dedication to be a musician or a brewer. It takes artistic expression and total dedication to be a musician or a brewer Do you see any similarities between your former career as a musician and being a brewer? The money we made from selling barbecue and beer was ploughed back into expanding the brewery. We opened Duke’s with a very small budget, bought the best brewery we could and built the business from there. A lot of the banks shied away from our idea, but we eventually found one that was willing to help. I hadn’t run a serious business before, so I didn’t have a huge amount of expertise. How did you fund the business?įunding was tough. Dad’s favourite Beavertown beer at the moment is Gamma Ray, our American pale ale. That opened my eyes to many things, beer being one of them. I was lucky enough to travel and catch up with him wherever he might be on the road. Hanging out with my dad and his middle-aged, hilarious mates was great. When I got to 18, we’d go to pubs together and it was a good bonding experience. I remember, as a little kid, wanting to try a sip of his pint and thinking it was disgusting. How much did your dad influence your interest in beer and what’s his take on Beavertown?

Zeplin black father