Oct 22, 2016
We’re only a couple of episodes in to exploring the UK’s craft beer culture on this podcast, but already stories are beginning to emerge that I wouldn’t have heard if we’d never started. Not long after speaking to Beavertown’s Creative Director, Nick Dwyer, I was approached by his good friend, James Rylance of East London’s Redchurch Brewery. Rylance started telling me about his new brewing project at Redchurch. Redchurch just expanded out of its home in East London to a brand new production facility in Essex, just outside of the city. Making them the first of London’s new wave brewers to do so. Redchurch’s owner, Gary Ward, has handed over the previous facility to Rylance so he can devote time to creating interesting mixed fermentations and using herbs and fruit in some truly experimental beers. He’s dubbed the project “Urban Farmhouse.” Rylance himself has come a long way since he got into brewing while he was studying fine art. He cut his teeth at The Kernel before spending two years at Beavertown as they got up and running, which is where our story begins. I didn’t expect this conversation to take the twists and turns that it does. Rylance went on to tell me about how, after leaving Beavertown, he spent two months making wine in Burgundy. We also talk about the six acres of land where Redchurch will be growing their own fruit and herbs, and discuss the relevance that the term "farmhouse" has for a brewery underneath a railway arch in East London.