Sector Spotlight: Drink

Fact…

• Gloucester Road has the second highest concentration of coffee shops in the UK
• There are 20 breweries in Bristol (according to CAMRA)
• The food and drink industry in the South West is worth an estimated £2.6 billion

BEER & CIDER

The craft ale movement shows no signs of abating. A clutch of credible beer companies have leapt into the space alongside the traditional players such as Bath Ales, and continue to grow apace. A boom in craft beer swilling has seen many of Bristol’s producers experience a dramatic upswing in demand. “In our sector, the food and drink scene has just exploded in the last five years and you simply cannot afford to do things badly,” says Roger Jones of Bath Ales, “you will not survive. The competition is just too good and too fierce.” 

Bristol Beer Factory in Ashton claim the growth is driven by specialist pubs: “This is supported by a range of new craft beer bars,” says Simon Bartlett, co-founder and MD. “This is a city with a pretty young forward thinking mind set that has welcomed the new wave of craft beer with open arms.

“More and more breweries are opening in Bristol, or even just moving to Bristol from outside.”

Dawkins – brewer and pub proprietor – is one such example, moving to a new brewery in Easton in October that will triple its capacity and improve distribution through its central location. “Our new  20-barrel brewery in Lawnwood Road, Easton is near to competition,” says founder Glen Dawkins. “We have had a few little delays and have extensive test brewing planned over summer. The launch date has slipped a little to late Autumn as the Head Brewer Dave believes it is better to spend time to get it just right. In any event there will be an ‘official’ opening day on Saturday 31st of October with food, music… and beer!” The company is hoping to sell its existing brewery in Somerset as a going concern: Glen adds: “It is a cracking bit of kit and perfect for a start-up. Plus we’d love to sell the new owner’s beers in our pubs.”

Canning seems to be a key development for several brewers this year. Dings-based Moor Beer which moved to its central premises just last year and has since doubled its headcount, is soon to release canned versions of its craft beer. “Like all our beer, they will be unfined (therefore vegan friendly), unfiltered, unpasteurised, and can conditioned – hence real ale in a can,” says owner Justin Hawke. “Forget your bad memories of cheap tinnies, these are super-premium, with a fantastic look and none of that horrible metallic taste.”

Likewise, Wild Beer has branched into canned products, a process which preserves beers for longer. Despite nearly doubling turnover and production in the last six months and establishing new export markets, the Somerset brewers are continuing their expansion programme, which could include a new bar in Bristol. “We plan to open two bars, one of which will hopefully be in Bristol,” teases Andrew Cooper, company founder. “The year ahead holds continued expansion and growth, new warehouse, more tanks, lots more beer. We will be hiring a number of people at the brewery.” 

Cider is old news here in Bristol, with the Bristol Cider Shop on the Christmas Steps only stocking ciders made within 50 miles of Bristol by small independent producers, many sourced direct from the farm.

COFFEE

You’ll have been living under a rock if you haven’t noticed the third wave coffee movement that’s been steadily underway for the last few years, seeing the precious beans not as a mere commodity but as an artisanal foodstuff.

One in a growing crowd of coffee roasters in the city – which includes includes Extract, Roasted Rituals (recently adding a cafe to its portfolio with the opening of Tradewind Espresso towards the top of Whiteladies Road a few hundred yards away from their converted Citroen van – read Bristol 24/7’s review here) and Brian Wogan – Little & Long grew from a lifetime of coffee loving.

Little & Long owner Saskia Falconer learnt the art of gentle coffee roasting in Italy in 2007 before setting up shop with an old Probat roaster in Staple Hill: “Bristol is a great place to locate my business as there is a thriving local business community and a great and growing coffee scene.”

Bristol Twenty, actually an offshoot of long-established, family-run Roy Ireland Espresso Service, is the product of a restructure to take advantage of the new coffee status quo. The joining new generation decided to focus on two different specialisms, each under the leadership of a different brother. A rebrand and a year later, and it’s all change.

“It’s been a busy six months,” says director Rory Ireland. “We have introduced a few of our own espresso blends, have been a huge supplier to Glastonbury Festival and have relocated to a larger premises in Avonmouth as we had run out of space in our Portishead offices.

“We’re trying to get back to a traditional family run coffee company, that supplies great coffee to establishments that want to serve it. We’re not trying to be too fancy or too modern or dictate who people should run their businesses, we just want to help people to serve a great coffee.”

Brian Wogan is another long-standing member of the coffee community, with 45 years’ roasting under its belt. “Throughout this time we have witnessed many trends within the coffee industry,” says spokesman Matt Beynon. “These changing coffee fashions have ranged from a filter roast dominated market in the 90s which gave way to espresso-based drinks in the early noughties, this was partly due to the mass-introduction of high street coffee chains which saw coffee go from an exotic luxury to a product available for everyone and thus this increased the customer base in society.  

Another Bristol couple have been on a mission to standardise their caffeine intake from coffee, bringing a dedicated ‘sports coffee’ to market this year – True Start. As keen triathletes, the pick-me-up is a vital part of the routine for Simon and Helena Hills.

“The idea was born whilst training for Ironman in 2014,” says Simon. “There are dozens of factors that determine the amount of caffeine that is present in normal coffee, including type, country of origin, weather and preparation methods. When we discovered the huge variation in caffeine content in normal coffee, we were shocked and spent the following 12 months developing the technology to regulate caffeine in coffee, completely naturally, without any nasty chemicals or processes.”

After securing a backer and gaining a place on the E-Spark accelerator programme, the product launched in the sports market in April and is now planning a nationwide campaign. It’s an exciting time for the fledgling entrepreneurs: “We are already in talks with many of the large retailers in the UK, with plans to export to the USA soon too.”

SOFT DRINKS

Brewing company Bristols, named after the city, not the slang, has introduced a new booze-free drink to the market – ‘Bristol’s Pioneer’, a form of kombucha fermented tea. In a process thought to originate in China, bio cultures are added to sweet tea to turn it into a naturally non-alcoholic drink. “We’ve been super patient with our kombucha, holding back from launching until we were totally happy with it,” says managing director Oli Wells. “Now we just want everyone to try it!”

As the millennials reject the hard drinking culture of the previous generation, it’s a timely addition to the scene. “I love Bristol’s with food. It seems to really support my digestion. I also find it sits perfectly on the dinner table alongside the best wines and beers as a sophisticated alternative, which helps me to drink less booze which I am happy about. It hits that same spot as a boozy drink, I guess that’s due to it being fermented.”

Pukka remains the city’s most prominent tea company and a responsible one at that, recently winning a sustainability award from 2degrees, a collaboration platform for sustainable business. 

Soft drinks company Lovely Drinks has also witnessed substantial growth, tapping into the trend for wholesome, locally-sourced products. Starting out as a garden shed industry making elderflower and rose cordial, the company now serves the River Cottage Canteen on Whiteladies Road and the Michelin-starred Pony & Trap in Chew Magna. “We began just when locally sourced and foraged food and drink were becoming really popular in the city,” says co-founder and head of sales and marketing Victoria Earle. “We had a lot of support from the ‘foodie’ community from the start and our customers’ loyalty has enabled us to grow.”

Physically expanding production facilities has doubled capacity: “We bought a new filling machine and expanded into a new unit in the spring,” says. “So now all blending and bottling is done in one workshop and labelling and packing is done in our new unit across the yard.”

New products are in the pipeline, slated for a pre-Christmas release: “We have some new flavours up our sleeves which will hopefully be launched before Christmas. We’re also going to tweak some existing products to lower their sugar content.”

SPIRITS

Far from overlooked by the drink alchemists of the city, the spirits industry is flourishing. Jinzu is a hybrid spirit developed by Red Light bartender Dee Davis combining gin with the creaminess of sake and cherry blossom. It won Diageo’s ‘Show your Spirit’ competition and was snapped up by the drinks behemoth for intense product development.

Psychopomp is just another example of local producers, crafting small batches of gin to unique botanicals recipes and a bonus seasonal release every three months. The first, W?den, has proved very popular with Bristol’s independent off licences. Espensen Spirit is a small local outfit preparing for launch in the next two months, building a brand around flavoured vodkas, gins and whiskeys in small handmade batches, with flavours including blueberry gin, and rhubarb and custard vodka. “If you look at the city’s history, alcohol has always played a big part,” says entrepreneur Sam Espensen, “and Bristol loves celebrating.”

“Gin has gone ballistic this year,” says Dominic Harman, owner of Corks which has recently expanded from its Cotham roots to a new premises in North Street; “and the local brewing scene has finally exploded into something special.”    

WINE & MERCHANTS

We might not have the sunshine of the Dordogne, but there are working vineyards within miles of the city. Just outside Bristol in the Mendip foothills, Aldwick Court Farm is our nearest and newest wine producer, preparing for its second year of production having established vines in 2008 and 2010.

Most of us are still swilling from the traditional suppliers, but Ruth Wiles of Clifton Wine School has noticed some more daring drinkers: “It’s hard to persuade people to move away from Prosecco and Sauvignon Blanc but I have noticed the more adventurous wine drinkers are starting to go more for Viognier, dry Riesling and Picpoul de Pinet,” she says. “Watch this space for Albarino from Spain and Pecorino from Italy as they are two whites that are delicious, dry, unoaked and go really well with food. They are widely enjoyed on my tastings, at least.”

The rise of the independents continues across the sub-sector. Stewart Wines, for example, is an independent wholesale wine supplier and recently moved to larger warehouse premises in Ashton Vale to meet growing demand; Matthew Clark, a national drinks supplier, is headquartered in Whitchurch.

Click to read more sector spotlights.