It’s been just over a fortnight now since Flowerhorn hit 1. We had grand plans to celebrate our first birthday with another taproom launch party, but instead, like a bedraggled university student it is the first day of term and reality has kicked in so here we are settling for dragging our belongings in green bags across Cardiff in a post-lockdown Wales as we struggle to move house.
To really understand how far we’ve come in a year let’s first rewind 6 months-ish to the weekend we spent in London at @BrewLDN - one of the most anticipated dates on the UK Craft Beer Calendar. We had a great weekend, met up with old friends in the brewing industry, and received great feedback from friends and customers, many of whom were trying our beer for the first time. It was a pinch yourself moment as we got to sell our beer alongside other breweries that we’ve admired and taken inspiration from for years. We also got our first Tap Takeover event booked off the back of it in Manchester at The Crown and Kettle - it was here where the whole year, life as we know it, civilisation got flipped on its head as lockdown was announced to begin the following day.
Shortly after returning from Manchester we found ourselves scratching our heads with a garage full of beer, every pub in the country closed and nobody to sell it to - it just seemed so unfair to keep it all to ourselves. What else can you do but start a local delivery service getting beer to the people! We knew the people of South Wales would be thirsty, especially when faced with limited time outside, nothing to do but watch hours of Tiger King, bake banana bread and attend virtual quizzes with family members you dislike. So, we got some temporary event notices, created an online shop, used our keggerator and decanted 100s of litres of delicious beery goodness into fresh plastic bottles and made like Barry Seal and always delivered.
In addition to this we created the Cardiff Craft Beer Box, where we teamed up with 3 other local breweries, @Pipes, @Rival & @Frank&Otis to showcase how great a beer scene we have here in Cardiff by delivering over 600 bottles of fresh local beer to the people of South Wales. The Flowerhorn Beer delivery service has continued even after lockdown restrictions were made less stringent - although now most of the beer is bottled beer instead of being poured from kegs. Keep an eye out for a third installment of the #CCBB potentially coming next month.
Fast forward 6 months from the day we were celebrating in BrewLDN and the good news is in this era of uncertainty we all find ourselves in, somehow we have managed to expand. We grabbed the keys to our new digs @thebridgestudios on the 1st of September and immediately started renovating. First things first, we went and bought a mop, a small tool kit, a brush and a squeegee. We haven’t used any of them yet but I’m sure they’ll come in useful. With new lights installed by our mate (shoutout to Rob) a new floor laid, paint delivered and new windows on order the place is starting to look like our own.
We’ve purchased a bespoke 5bbl kit from @HoplexUK up in Scotland which should land with us between now and the end of the year. Until this kit is up and running we will continue to cuckoo brew and distribute from Cardiff. Once our kit arrives we are hoping to throw a taproom launch, you’re all invited so be there or be square. It’ll be held at our new home in The Bridge Studios, Western Avenue, CF5 3BL. Following the taproom launch we plan to have a Flowerhorn Beer Shop on the premises where you can swing by, collect any of your favourite Flowerhorn goodies as well as your weekend beers. Every Friday and Saturday we plan to get the tables and chairs out with a local taproom where other indie creatives and street food vendors have already expressed an interest at chipping in and being part of these weekly events. If you’d like to know more about who is at the bridge studios check out there website here >>>>
Beer wise the next development for us after the new year will be producing a lot more ‘special’ beers. The flexibility gained from brewing on our own site will give us the opportunity to experiment with lots of new flavours and styles that we haven’t been able to bring out before. Until then we’ll keep doing what we are doing and bringing top quality beers to your door/a pub near you. Meanwhile until we get that all up and running be sure to keep an eye on our social media for regular updates, mishaps and all things Flowerhorn!