This epic microbrewery is known not just for their sensational cask beers (all vegan and lactose-free) but also for their love of music and live gigs. 

 In lieu of an actual in-person experience, we reached out to Co-founder Lynn Crossland to hear more about how they roll.

The Backstory 

“We started on the roof of a backstreet pub in the Highgate area of Birmingham. Then we moved to the Jewellery Quarter area in order to have our own place and to have a taproom where we could indulge in our love of music! We moved to our present location nearly 5 years ago, just before lockdown.

 Myself and my business partner are both from homebrew backgrounds. So it’s the usual "concept", if you like, of wanting to brew beers better than you were having to drink in pubs - beers we actually wanted to drink. We are a cask brewery - always have been, always will be. We are passionate about cask ale. It is one of Britain’s best inventions and doesn’t get the recognition it deserves! The other thing we’re both passionate about is music, hence the name.

The Rock & Roll Brews

We always have 3 beers on in the taproom - 1 dark and 2 pales. If anything is going to be my signature beer I would say it would be Voodoo Mild. It’s a strong dark mild that people travel for. If I put a different dark beer on, for example at Xmas, then all I get is "when’s the mild going to be back on?"!

 Other than that I’d say Brew Springsteen is the one customers ask for next. The regulars know we do long maturation periods in the cask, so they now ask how many weeks it’s been, and they come in at certain points in the maturation period to have the beers.

 We have several core beers that have been refined over the years so those recipes don’t change apart from an odd tweak here and there. New recipes tend to be if there’s a different or a new hop I want to try. Years of brewing experience means I know what works best for the mash tun for different hops, so sometimes it’s nice to mix things up once in awhile. I’m into foraging so that helps me develop a recipe based on what I’m gathering at a particular season i.e. nettles, elderflowers, autumnal fruits etc.

 We don’t really follow trends hence why we’re still a cask brewery. Ha ha! We’re just waiting for cask to come back into fashion and have its day. If anything, I like to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing, rather than follow the herd. Which is why I don’t use Citra hops in any of my beers. It’s so ubiquitous. It’s also why I like to use "unfashionable" British hops. They are just as good as US or NZ hops. I hate the phrase "twig beer" - it’s just snobbery, and again following the herd. They’ve heard the phrase from someone else so start using it themselves to make people think they know what they’re talking about and appear superior to others, like people who call songs "guilty pleasures". 

 What would be a welcome direction is people coming back to pubs! Hospitality was thrown under the bus during and just after lockdown and it’s now on its knees. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter what they drink as long as they do it in the pub. We need customers.”

“All good beers start with attention to the grist.”

Homebrew Fails

“I once used too much Nelson Sauvin in an early homebrew recipe and it was undrinkable, it was way, way too hoppy. Even now I can smell and taste if there’s any Nelson in a beer!”

Go-to Ingredient? 

“I would say good malt. The mash tun should get as much attention as the copper/kettle. All good beers start with attention to the grist. Get your basics right.”

Item I can’t do without 

“This is not so much to do with the brewing process, but the one item we can’t do without is our hi-fi! I can’t brew in silence, without music. We have sound systems in the taproom, in the brewery, even in the cellar for when we’re cleaning casks in the yard!”

Where do you stand on sour beers?

“I really like them. I don’t have any inclination to brew them myself though - I leave that to the experts - Vault City, for example, are a personal favourite. And I think that’s important - work to your strengths. Why do something someone else is doing better? Find your own niche and perfect it.”

Tell us about your epic events 

We have live music every Saturday. It’s free entry and all the bands do original material. ■