Long Man Brewery Interview: Standing Tall
One of Sussex’s seemingly classic breweries isn’t as classic as we first thought. Formed for less than a decade, their presence on the pumps of many of Brighton’s community pubs is testament to the appeal of their brews and their progressive nature.
We speak to Long Man’s Head of Sales and Marketing, Tom O’Neill, to find out more about the brewery and how they are raising the bar for sustainable brewing.
Can you take us through the origins of the brewery?
The brewery was formed in 2012 after a conversation over a beer between our 2 directors Duncan and Steve. Duncan is a farmer who is passionate about conservation agriculture and was looking for a way to diversify his arable farm, and Steve works within drinks wholesale. It became clear they had all the skills required to start a brewery, so together with newly appointed Head Brewer Jamie, the plans for Long Man Brewery took shape.
What were the first brews and has the recipe or method changed much since then?
Long Blonde and Best Bitter were the first brews, followed closely by Sussex Pride and then APA. We set out early on to produce high quality, consistent, well executed, traditional styles of real ale and that much hasn’t changed, although (in normal times…) we produce a much wider range of beers these days.
Do you brew ‘real ale’ in the CAMRA recognised sense?
Yes, although our bottled products are filtered and carbonated.
You seem both sustainably focussed and eco-friendly, can you tell us more about what you’re doing that’s different to others and why it’s important to you as a brewery?
We were delighted to win Sussex Green Business of the Year and we do a lot to reduce the impact of our operation and be at one with the environment around us. We have the unique claim that Duncan grows about 80% of the barley used in our beers in the field surrounding the brewery, Duncan’s passion for sustainability feeds into everything we do.
In addition to growing our own barley on site we also either compost all our waste brewing materials or feed them to livestock. Our water is drawn directly from the aquifer beneath the chalk downland and we have a waste water treatment plant on site, all our waste water is treated and used for irrigation.
The brew house is solar powered and we almost exclusively employ ultra-locally, embedding the brewery into the local community.
Have watch of our video here: Watch how we make Naturally Excellent Beer
You make a great range of small batch and seasonal’s, why have these stayed as small batch and not made it into the core range?
Purely that we have a successful permanent line up and Small Batch is all about showcasing different styles and creating interest and excitement around innovation and new products. We only have capacity to produce a certain number of permanent products so we use the small batch range to have a wider depth of styles. That said, Old Man was originally a guest beer so it does happen, but the core range changes very rarely.
How recently did you launch your keg range? Do you see this expending further?
Probably about 6 years ago, we recently added a Helles Lager to sit alongside Crafty Blonde and yes, watch this space for more keg products coming in the next 12 months..
As a traditionally cask centric brewery how have people reacted to your keg offerings?
I think that being established as a cask brewer and recognised in the marketplace helps consumers make a choice in a keg market that is ever growing and evolving, consumers feel reassured by brewers they recognise when making a choice on a keg purchase. Our keg offering stays true to our ethos of making well-executed, session-able and approachable beers and having a keg presence entices a wider breadth of consumer to our beers.
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Long Man Brewery Interview: Standing Tall
One of Sussex’s seemingly classic breweries isn’t as classic as we first thought. Formed for less than a decade, their presence on the pumps of many of Brighton’s community pubs is testament to the appeal of their brews and their progressive nature.
We speak to Long Man’s Head of Sales and Marketing, Tom O’Neill, to find out more about the brewery and how they are raising the bar for sustainable brewing.
Can you take us through the origins of the brewery?
The brewery was formed in 2012 after a conversation over a beer between our 2 directors Duncan and Steve. Duncan is a farmer who is passionate about conservation agriculture and was looking for a way to diversify his arable farm, and Steve works within drinks wholesale. It became clear they had all the skills required to start a brewery, so together with newly appointed Head Brewer Jamie, the plans for Long Man Brewery took shape.
What were the first brews and has the recipe or method changed much since then?
Long Blonde and Best Bitter were the first brews, followed closely by Sussex Pride and then APA. We set out early on to produce high quality, consistent, well executed, traditional styles of real ale and that much hasn’t changed, although (in normal times…) we produce a much wider range of beers these days.
Do you brew ‘real ale’ in the CAMRA recognised sense?
Yes, although our bottled products are filtered and carbonated.
You seem both sustainably focussed and eco friendly, can you tell us more about what you’re doing that’s different to others and why it’s important to you as a brewery?
We were delighted to win Sussex Green Business of the Year and we do a lot to reduce the impact of our operation and be at one with the environment around us. We have the unique claim that Duncan grows about 80% of the barley used in our beers in the field surrounding the brewery, Duncan’s passion for sustainability feeds into everything we do.
In addition to growing our own barley on site we also either compost all our waste brewing materials or feed them to livestock. Our water is drawn directly from the aquifer beneath the chalk downland and we have a waste water treatment plant on site, all our waste water is treated and used for irrigation.
The brew house is solar powered and we almost exclusively employ ultra-locally, embedding the brewery into the local community. Have watch of our video here: Watch how we make Naturally Excellent Beer
You make a great range of small batch and seasonal’s, why have these stayed as small batch and not made it into the core range?
Purely that we have a successful permanent line up and Small Batch is all about showcasing different styles and creating interest and excitement around innovation and new products. We only have capacity to produce a certain number of permanent products so we use the small batch range to have a wider depth of styles. That said, Old Man was originally a guest beer so it does happen, but the core range changes very rarely.
How recently did you launch your keg range? Do you see this expending further?
Probably about 6 years ago, we recently added a Helles Lager to sit alongside Crafty Blonde and yes, watch this space for more keg products coming in the next 12 months..
As a traditionally cask centric brewery how have people reacted to your keg offerings?
I think that being established as a cask brewer and recognised in the marketplace helps consumers make a choice in a keg market that is ever growing and evolving, consumers feel reassured by brewers they recognise when making a choice on a keg purchase. Our keg offering stays true to our ethos of making well-executed, session-able and approachable beers and having a keg presence entices a wider breadth of consumer to our beers.
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