We're really excited to announce the launch of Camden Town Brewery on our site; a flagship London brewer, they've done loads to drive the British craft beer scene and any one of their core range of beers is a great introduction to the style. To find out more about what makes Camden tick, our Beer Sommelier Maggie caught up with Camden Founder Jasper to chat beer trends, collabs, and the best beer cities in the world.

 

In a world where sour beers and big, intense flavours are king why are beers like the Hells Lager or Gentleman’s Wit still so appealing?

I’m all about drinking all types of great beers, but Hells is still so appealing because of what has gone in to it – it’s crisp, dry and refreshing, a go-to beer of choice. At beer festivals, we’re always slammed for the last hour – people really want to go back to a clean, refreshing beer after drinking all that craziness!

 

Do you guys at Camden Town care to chase the trends?

We’re always inspired by what’s going on around us, in the beer world and further afield - it gives us the courage to keep moving forward when it comes to everything from events, to design, to internal communications. We don’t tend to chase trends directly, but more use them as inspiration to work out what our Camden interpretation would be. Our IHL Lager was a reaction to the beer world’s obsession with bold IPAs, we wanted to show that a lager could deliver the same big flavours, and more.

 

 

You’ve recently done some great collabs with the likes of Elysian and Birra del Borgo. Do you have anything else coming up?

We have some stuff in the pipelines – there are so many great breweries across the world that we have the opportunity to brew with, it just starts with getting a date in the diary. Watch out.

 

Some beer styles are becoming a bit samey-samey these days, especially things like the Pale Ale or IPA, what can a brewery like yours do to change it up?

Mediocre beers can get samey-samey, sure, but it’s hard to get bored of really great beer, no matter how many variations you drink. For us, it’s about standing out from the crowd in terms of quality, not just in terms of brewing a different style.

 

And now the elephant in the room: How has life changed at Camden Town Brewery since your partnership with AB-InBev?

An elephant in the room would make the brewery bar right now look a little more interesting. Life hasn’t changed – or rather, it hasn’t changed any more than it would have done anyway. We are working just the same way we have done for the past 6 years and our way of working is all about change, so the biggest change would have been to stand still! In short, we’ve got a growing team and a brand new brewery to look forward to, so things have never been better.

 

Do you think the market has reached a point that if a brewery hoped to achieve your level of success they’d have to look into alternative sources of financing, i.e. private investments, crowdfunding, “big beer” takeovers?

I think it depends on what the brewery is setting out to do or what they want to achieve. I do know that building a brewery isn’t cheap and a lot of brewers would struggle to make that jump without a little help.

 

Camden Town’s branding has a nice, updated new look. How important do you think marketing is to a brewery?

Marketing is important to us. We thought about our new brand refresh for ages - we wanted all our packaging to look consistent, so if they were all lined up in the fridge you’d think ‘I want all of them’. Important as it is though, it will only get you so far. Great branding and marketing is one thing, but at the end of the day, it only encourages people to buy a beer that first time. If the beer is good they’ll want another, and if it’s consistently good, they’ll want a third. It’s the liquid inside that keeps drinkers coming back for more.

 

What are your goals for the brewery’s future?

We are going to be opening our new brewery in Enfield in Spring next year, so we’re excited to have more room to make more beer. And with all that beer, you’ll be seeing us popping up in a lot more great places.

 

Besides the obvious, what’s your favourite brewery?

Too many to count! I have a place in my heart for the traditional German lager breweries that inspired Hells, but in terms of activation and brand, it’s got to American breweries like Brooklyn and Goose Island, they’re doing so much exciting, engaging stuff at the moment.

 

Most exciting emerging market?  

We’re pretty excited about our own home turf and getting more of our beers available in the British Isles, but aside from that a good friend and ex-brewer of ours has just started a brewery in India, which sounds pretty exciting.

 

Best beer city in the world?

From London to Paris, to New York – each place has their own beer quirks that makes it a great beer city, it’s hard to pick just one. I do always have a good time in Durango, though.

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