There’s not much to hide behind when you’re brewing a lager. So when you find a really epic one, it’s a thing of beauty. This is how we came to be such fans of Only With Love Brewery (OWL), who are based in East Sussex. After ordering a keg of their Banger Helles lager for MASHED Brewhouse, we were super impressed. And just had to find out more. OWL founder Roger Warner and Jon Lloyd (Director of Product) were up for it, and this is what we discovered… 

“if we always get that balance right - great beer, always broadly accessible (not too hyper geeky), in great environments that bring people together - then the commercials kind of look after themselves.”

What’s your starting point when creating a new beer? Where do you look for inspiration?

Jon: There are a lot of variables when it comes to new beers from us. Seasonality plays a part, as does our current ABV offerings. We always try to have something for everyone available, but we’re also a fairly small team so it can often be simply what we want to make. We’re huge IPA/pale ale fans so innovative hop products and varieties are always a consideration. Our inspiration generally comes from an even split of traditional UK brewing and hop forward American craft beer. We absolutely love hop saturated beers and really idolise a lot of breweries pushing the envelope in the States.

What ingredients would you be excited to use in the future? 

Jon: We’d love to try more Phantasm and some of the YCH [Yakima Chief Hops] flowable products - in particular Hyperboost. We really enjoy layering different hop products in a beer to see what they accentuate. We’re huge fans of Freestyle Hop Kief at the moment and all of the pellets they offer are next level.

We’ve been enjoying trying some of the different Crisp heritage malts in our cask offerings so I’m sure that will continue, as well as different types of oats and wheat to see what flavours and colours they bring. We’ve been sampling locally grown new wave English hops as well, which is an absolute joy and lovely to strike up relationships with local suppliers.

Further down the line we’d love to try some mixed fermentation and barrel ageing as the homebrewers amongst us always want to learn techniques we’ve yet to try.

What’s the best decision you’ve made for the brewery?

Rog: We decided from day one that we would specialise in alcohol free (AF) pale ales and lower ABV session beers. We’ve been brewing AF for over three years now, and we have amazing products in Juicy AF Mango Pale and Easy AF IPA… winning awards, best in the market, and selling brilliantly. They’ll both be featuring nationwide on the shelves at Co-op stores at the end of this year - so that’s a pretty good sign of a good decision! Exciting times.

Tell us the story behind one of your most unusual or experimental brews!

Jon: Not long after I’d started working at Only With Love we did a small batch IPA that was somewhat experimental using thiolised yeast and mash hopping. I had the chance to do the recipe and brew the beer and it was using techniques I’d only read about in some of my favourite brewing books.

We also used a dip hopping technique to suppress vegetal notes and enhance more biotransformation to aid the yeast. I got to try the beer at The Pond in Brighton which is one of my favourite pubs, and I was super happy with the end product. It wasn’t long before then that I was only homebrewing, so it was also pretty surreal getting to try one of the earlier commercial recipes I’d done on draft!

We love your strong values around community - how do you balance this with commercial viability?

Rog: Well, it’s all pretty organic and straightforward really. We started during lockdown / COVID. Life was crappy, but I still remember it well - because we started to care more for one another...and we really started to care about what we ate and drank.

So it goes a bit like this: great beer brings people together - and TOGETHERNESS ALWAYS WINS. (Like, the anti-COVID. Togetherness. Not all that standing two metres apart stuff.) We set out to make beer and do things that bring folks together. That’s the LOVE part in Only With Love. Togetherness - it’s really, really good for you. Clinically proven.

And so, if we always get that balance right - great beer, always broadly accessible (not too hyper geeky), in great environments that bring people together - then the commercials kind of look after themselves.  

Tell us about some of the awesome things that happen in your Brewcafe.

Rog: Our Brewcafe concept means working with community partners to help them provide a great hospitality (and beer, obvs) offering. Like, we provide the bar and cafe in spaces that couldn’t otherwise run them - but really, really need them. 

Our Lewes Brewcafe is a joint venture with the town council - serving coffees, pastries, bagels and beer from early morning to last orders. It’s in the middle of a community centre, with big public halls to the left and right of us. Our joint aim is to get the place buzzing, get the halls used as much as possible, and just bring more people together in this brilliant space. So, awesomeness is best summed up by a sunny Saturday afternoon with kids and dogs in the park outside, and friends, couples, families, mums, dads and grandparents sipping a beer or two - while there’s a banging wedding reception disco in one hall and OAP indoor bowls in the other. It’s a little bit random and chaotic - but the vibe is brilliant.  

What can we all look forward to from you folks over the next few months? 

We’re launching Juicy AF juicy pale and Easy AF IPA in Co-op stores throughout the UK in October. Go try some!

We’re also moving our brewery HQ…not too far away, and still in Sussex. We’re just inking the deal on that at the moment, but keep an eye on our socials. It’s a very cool spot. A big new Only With Love taproom will be involved - probably with plush sofas, a little kids play area, dog biscuits, fresh pizza and silly games on weekends.

Anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Rog: Well, thanks for taking the time to read about us. And for those of you who drink our stuff, a wholehearted thank you! For those who haven’t yet, come on! Give it a go! We’re pretty sure you’ll love it.