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The founder and head brewer of Siren Craft Brew curated our introductory Beer Club case. We speak to founder Darron Anley and head brewer Kyle Larsen about what makes Siren so innovative
It was the number of barrels in the new warehouse that seemed surprising. Hundreds of them. And then I remembered where I was: at Siren Craft Brew, one of the most endlessly interesting and experimental breweries in the country. I arrived in mid-May during an exciting transition period. The barrels had been moved into a new, huge building, but the taproom isn’t yet open. A new brewhouse has been installed nearby, a new beer, Yu Lu, has just been introduced into the core range, and there is excited chat about a new coffee beer series, a sour beer programme, and something ludicrously cool sounding with Michelin-starred chefs. Long-time Head Brewer Ryan Witter-Merithew has moved on and American Kyle Larsen is now at the helm. Yet, as I walked away, bottles of brand new Siren beer chinking in my bag, I get the impression that nothing stays still. Ever.
Over the day with Siren, I had the opportunity to chat with founder Darron Anley and Kyle Larsen, to try and discover what makes Siren, well, Siren. Kyle, the head brewer, I tell Darron, said he has unprecedented freedom. How important is that?
“Hugely so, says Darron. “When I started up and before I made the final plunge, I went to San Diego to the Craft Brewers Conference in 2012 and met loads of cool people. It was like walking into an Evangelical church, and I learnt a lot. I got a great bit of advice from Kelly Ryan who used to be at Thornbridge. I talked about the inspiration. One of the things he said was just getting a professional brewer and someone who has experience of playing around and gives them complete creative freedom. And I did that for Ryan [Witter-Merithew] straight from day one. Never did he look at the cost of anything and it will be the same for Kyle. For example, we’ve a Turkish coffee imperial stout coming out and there’s £2,500 worth of figs in it! I’d rather take the view we make the beer we want to make than pull back and appease the accountant.”
Along with the number of different beers Siren makes, was this freedom exciting or daunting for Kyle? “Both!” Kyle says. “It was something I was looking for. I wanted more creative freedom and I wanted to push my limits. Anyone who wants to get better at what they do they want to push their limits. I had a lot of creative freedom at Double Mountain [in Oregon] as Head Brewer, but it’s nothing to what I have here. I can do anything here, which it turns out is very daunting!”
Darron started Siren in 2011 after selling his IT company and becoming very interested in what BrewDog and Thornbridge were starting to achieve, as well as, of course, what was going on in the States. “When I started, one of the things that were really important was to have a solid core range that piqued people’s interest at varying different levels at where they are on the journey through beer.”
And it’s quite some core range: Undercurrent, an oatmeal pale ale, Soundwave, a West Coast IPA making an appearance in this Beer Club case alongside Broken Dream--of which Darron says “even now as a core beer it is different: a 6.5% stout with coffee, oats and lactose”.
“We then want to layer on that stuff that really excites us and pushes us,” Darron adds. In particular, there’s a lot of talk about a Coffee Series of four different beers including an imperial stout with more figs than my car costs, to a sour coffee beer. Talking to Kyle, it’s the 240 plus barrels that he has his eye on. “Here’s one of my favourite things about Siren: we made a full batch of beer, 5,500 litres of beer, all to experiment with. They’re letting me put them in barrels with no end in sight just to see how we make the mixed culture programme work for Siren.”
BEER CLUB
Find out more about our amazing Beer Club here.
We have some important and exciting news from our Managing Director, Matt Lane:
Over the last few months, we’ve spent a lot of time speaking to members of our PerfectDraft community about loyalty & rewards.
Something we’re really passionate about is rewarding our most loyal customers and you’ve given us some great feedback and ideas on how we can do this.
We’re now excited to announce the launch of our ‘Spring Rewards’ program.
During pregnancy, it is recommended to a pregnant woman not to eat any raw or semi-cooked food such as meat, fish, cold meats and certain types of cheese. And above all, smoking and drinking alcohol should be stopped.
In recent years, alcohol-free beer has become a real trend in the beer market here in the UK. More and more big beer brands and small craft breweries are starting to brew it to the delight of non-alcoholic drinkers. However, there are many questions about this kind of beer.
We’re back for the second edition of ‘Must Try Kegs’. Last week we spotlighted three fantastic kegs from our MultiTRY range and this week is no different. From a personal favourite lager of mine, to a couple of flavour sensations, take a read through why we think you have to try these three.
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