Hello, my fellow beer drinkers!
Welcome back to the Eternal Hoptimist’s! Its been quite a while since we did our last brewery interview, but fear not as the wait has been worth it as today we sit down with Bayonet Brewing!
Now there might be many of you who are saying Baya-who? but trust me after this next weeks showcase I think you will be looking them up pretty soon!
I was fortunate enough to meet Alex from Bayonet Brewing at the Crafty Dogg beer festival earlier this year, when I tried their Delta Lima Six & Keyboard Commander.. and well I needed to try more!
More on the beers later, for now lets get to those quizzie questions!
“Hello Alex, and thank you for joining us today, when I told the other Hoptimists about Bayonet Brewing after the Crafty dog festival, and conferred with them about what questions to ask you, they all asked the same question first…“
“Northallerton?!?.. why have they set up shop there? its not an area particularly known for beer and pubs.. do they have links to the area? Or are they aiming to become the powerhouse of Northallerton?”..
..John, Mark & Peter T|E|H 2023
“So I think its safe to say that is our first, quite long winded question!“
Ha, great question! I’d actually looked at launching the brewery for some time but due to the day job and the limitations that came with that it was never really possible – until we moved to Northallerton. That really dictated where the brewery would be but from the outset we wanted to focus on bringing something different to the community and were keen to give the Town the brewery it deserved. Having lost the local brewery some years back we thought it important to bring something back to the area and that is proving to be a really popular decision! The craft aspect of it and the introduction of hazy beer raised some eyebrows initially but since we launched more and more places locally have started to serve those styles so it really is helping to change the perception of what beer can be! Its also worth noting that Northallerton is the County Town of North Yorkshire and a prominent stop on the main line between London and Edinburgh so we’re determined to make it a destination which we’re sure will happen in the future with our expansion plans!
“So now we know why Northallerton!?.. But what would you say is unique about your beer, and why is it relevant?”
I think it goes without saying that the military edge to the branding is unique in craft beer so that really does set us aside from most other breweries. The whole point is that someone who has served in the Military (or has some link anyway) can look at the label or the keg badge, laugh because they recognise what it means and then give it a go. That military edge has been done before in beer but not in the way we’re doing it. There are approx. 1.85 million veterans in the UK and we want to give them something in the craft beer market that otherwise might not be there for them! That’s not to say that’s all we’re catering for though, far from it, more than anything we want to produce high quality and modern craft beer that everyone can enjoy!
“Speaking of beer for everyone to enjoy, we have noticed on social media that you have started to supply Cask Beers, what prompted this decision?”
Well based where we are I’m not sure we could have avoided it forever!..
Joking aside though its something that we’ve been keen to try out for quite a while but due to space and other limitations its just not been feasible but the opportunity came up to give it a go so we decided to try it out with out flagship pale, Delta Lima Six. We’ve been asked continuously about it though so its been nice to finally say we’ve done some! I wouldn’t like to say if it will become a permanent fixture but it’ll be nice to bring some out from time to time!
“Looking on social media, collaborations are all the rage in the beer world, if you were given the chance to collaborate with any brewery, who would it be and what would you want to brew?“
We’re actually really lucky in that we’ve done some amazing collabs over the last few weeks and have plenty in the works with some genuinely great breweries but I do always scratch my head when I’m asked this question! I suppose the answer comes in two if I’m allowed that? From a personal perspective I’d love to do something with Adnams, we’ve got family in the Southwold area and I grew up drinking their beer so have a huge soft spot for the brewery, I’d love to take my dad over and do a collab with them, probably a c.4% traditional pale but with some modern hops that would be great in the sun!
The second part would be the craft aspect, my wife and I are really into country music and went out to Nashville for our honeymoon so id love to go out there and collab with Bearded Iris and do a big, heavy hitting DIPA!
“Given the growth in the low ABV and non alcoholic market over the past few years, have you considered dipping your toe in the water and trying a low ABV beer, or are you a traditional craft brewer through & through?“
I’m actually really keen to do a NO/LO beer, a few years back people would have probably turned their nose up at them but it really is a growing market in beer at the moment and for good reason! As someone who does most of the driving it’s great to have that option available! I have always said though that I’ll only release one that’s going to be high quality and stand out, there are some great breweries out there doing these styles at the moment and there’s nowhere to hide with them at all. It’ll come but I wouldn’t like to say when just yet!
“I know when we spoke at Crafty dog you said that was your first ‘proper’ beer festival, can we expect to see you at more festivals moving forward, and was there anything particular you took away from the experience, except for our money for delicious beer that is?“
Haha, absolutely! We’ve poured at a few local ones now but that was our first craft beer festival and we definitely got the bug! We just really appreciated having the chance to chat to the people who drink our beer but it was also great to meet so many other brewers in one place as well and the social side of it from that perspective was awesome. For us as well, so early in our journey, it was a brilliant opportunity to put ourselves in the shop window and let people know that we’re on the scene! Would love to get some more dates in the diary though, if anyone wants us, just shout!
“And for our last question of the day, what can we expect to see next from Bayonet?
A lot hopefully! The next step for us is to upgrade our fermentation capacity, that’s the main thing that’s really holding us back at the moment. Once we get to the stage where we can actually get a good amount of beer out of the door then hopefully that will lead to the next step. We’re absolutely looking to start a taproom in Northallerton though but will probably combine that with a move to a unit. There’s a huge amount we want to do but are very keen to do it slowly and organically, partly because it’s a difficult market out there at the moment but also because its still very much a part-time operation. The day job is extremely busy so the last thing we want to do is over extend ourselves!
As for beers we’ve got a brand new DIPA Collab about to be released so keep an eye out for that, plus we’re brewing a new style for us shortly as well – think strawberries!
“Ooo.. just one more question, given your love of country, can we expect to see a country music beer festival when you open? …Because we will come!”
Oh that’s a great shout, you’ve already got us thinking about that and we haven’t even got the tap room yet!!! We’ll have to package some long necks for that one!
Well we will definitely be keeping our eyes, ears and schedules open for the grand opening when it happens Alex!
Unfortunately this brings our interview to a close but we would like to thank Alex for joining us today, and for creating some choice tipples which we will be telling you more about in the coming week!
But it would be remiss of me not to mention again as i have done on social media that Bayonet have a new collab DIPA with Dead Weight Brewing was released on the 30th June this year, if you have not already got a can, get on their website and get one while stocks last. You will not regret it!
If you want to check out their website, social media or purchase any of their fantastic beers, here is all the info you will need!
Twitter : @bayonetbrewing
Instagram: Bayonet brewing
Website and Online Store
Until next time, drink responsibly, and have a good one!
The|Eternal|Hoptimitsts 