I like Stroud Brewery. I like their beer and I like that they are organic and have a beautifully neat history of being planet friendly. I need not do much more than have a few of their cans in my recycling bin to convince myself I care about the environment. But, after bit of reflection I felt I had some rather unearned eco-smugness and wanted to know what being “winner of best sustainable pub” really meant and who were the minds behind such good feeling and delicious brews. 

I turned up to an industrial estate in the Stroud valleys on a November morning to find a 3 storey metal clad building in a gravely carpark.  The back end doors were open so I hovered about for a bit picking up on the sounds of beer being packaged, malt sacks being moved around in wheelbarrows, machine clinks and peels of laughter from the brewers. At the front of the building was a cool tap room decorated with garlands of hops, fairy lights and long tables to share.  The coffee is good and the bar is well charged with their own beers, local spirits and organic wine. Pulp and the Bluetones play in the background, reminiscent of my teenage bedroom. Not that I would have ever drunk anything remotely organic then. 

What was I expecting when I turned up to speak to Greg Pilley CEO of Stroud Brewery? Scanning my scrawled list of questions in the car before the interview it looks like I thought I wanted to talk about making beer. However when you meet Greg, you mainly want to know more about Greg. We were joined by his partner and co-director, Jade. When you know what drives them you can understand their hopes for their brewery. I barely asked anything about brewing!

As a child Greg lived an ex-pat lifestyle with his parents, travelling overseas and understanding beer as a key element of social life. Whilst travelling across Africa he noticed communities and profound connections develop around local brews. “We moved to Stroud to raise our children and I wanted to make a product that was in some way connected to the local landscape, people and farming.” 

Is it really so important to be organic?

“I have always had a rural interest.” Greg has worked on farms and for the Soil Association and has a degree in marine biology. “I suppose I am indoctrinated in organic production, small scale agriculture, shortening supply chains and knowing where one’s food comes from.”

Choosing organic brewing “is a recognition of our impact on the landscape and biodiversity. Our biggest purchase is our barley which costs significantly more than non-organic… I think it is worth it.” On an organic farm, there is greater biodiversity and carbon capture in the soil. Jade jumps in “the fields are stuffed with butterflies and life” along with significant CO2 saving, who wouldn’t want to encourage that? Waterways are protected from phosphates and nitrates which affect drinking quality and cause nutrient pollution. The cost of removing these fertilisers from waterways is so high that some water companies have paid subsidies to farmers to become organic producers.  

“There are also unseen benefits to health…” Greg “aligns with the precautionary principle” that reduced exposure to chemicals whose risks to health is scientifically not fully established “is probably better.” The same applies to the organic standard not to use BPA (Bisphenol A) in favour of an inert plastic resin to line their beer cans. 

We wander into the brewery hall to see what is going on. Today is “canning day” where the brewers gather armfuls of silvery sterile aluminium cans which are pushed in 5s under the taps, loaded with a blast of CO2 to remove the air and then filled with beer. The lids slide on, removing any foam, sealed, rinsed and blow-dried ready to be labelled. It’s satisfying to watch. Brewing and packaging is all done in house. Transporting beer to be canned elsewhere creates large amounts of loss in pipes and filter housing easily wasting 600 beer cans worth per tank load. “The saving in losses pays for our canning machine.”

They have chosen not to use glass bottles due to their bigger climate impact.  Glass is also far more expensive to transport, package and store. The brewery and tap room run on 100% renewable energy. “We do have an impact, but we are doing the best we can to make that as small as possible.”

A Family Business:

Greg doesn’t remember his first ferment. “I was in my early 20s and It was probably from a kit” but quickly developed into full mash brewing from his farm worker’s cottage kitchen. “It was a great place for parties.” I can imagine it, though Greg comes with an intensity and determination when it comes to his principles he is still a lot of fun. 

 

 

 

Stroud Brewery started as buckets in Greg and Jade’s family kitchen. After having their two children it was clear that picking through fermenting potions in the heart of their home, baby in backpack, was unsustainable. Jade “came home one day to discover a delivery lorry had been and unloaded 50 sacks of malt completely blocking the door.” When she couldn’t get into her house for beer ingredients everywhere she’d finally had enough and demanded it moved.

Stroud Brewery’s first premises was born. 

When you look now at the tall rooms of the brewery, stacked to the ceiling with bags of barley, hops, cool store rooms towering with shelves of kegs cans and a bar filled with punters it’s hard to imagine how it looked when they began in – Jade’s words – “A nasty little shed” across the carpark.

18 years ago customers would come to the shed, buy their take home box of beer but sit around and have a pint and a chat clutching hot water bottles and blankets. It grew from there, responding to the wishes of their customers. “We built a deck, then a covered canopy for the bar. A cosy outdoor space with a log burner at hits heart. By then, 40% of our profits came through our little bar.” People came to drink their beer and connect with one another. After looking for years to find a larger venue for the brewery they decided to build its current home on some derelict land in the industrial estate.

The capital funding for the brewery all along has been very interesting; it has come from community investment and Crowdfunding so that interest is paid to locals and supporters rather than to banks.  They are literally indebted to their community. If the business fails, they lose their money. “Nobody wants it to fail. We would not have survived without crowdfunding during Covid.” With this local trust they were able to design a place that would house the growing brewery, and also provide a place for the community  to flourish alongside. “It feels very different, being responsible for peoples’ investment, rather than borrowing from a bank” 

The brewery was the 5th family member.

“It was really hard, the brewery was a disaster for family life.” Jade remembers a photograph of her holding her new baby with the same happy pose that Greg showed posing with the set of keys to the new shed. “He was married to the brewery.” Greg confirmed it “was my obsession” and the stress it put on the family was huge. “It takes you away from home an awful lot… brewing is like farming, you have to tend to your brew daily. It is alive. There is a critical moment where the fermentation needs to be stopped. And you have to get it right for customers too – its their livelihoods and reputation” 

I wondered how they resolved the family strain? “Well, badly” said Greg “we are all scarred by it.” Perhaps the idea of a family business can be overly romanticised. So what kept them together? They both told me irrefutably “Our principles are exactly aligned.” 

Community

Jade continues “both of us have a similar, deep rooted value base.” It is clear speaking to them both that the true intention of Stroud Brewery is to create a shared community space. I was surprised to hear their goal of making it “totally inclusive” irrespective of culture, religion. But, this place makes alcohol, which inherently excludes some.  I ask if you can be something for everyone? Greg answers emphatically “Yes, I have a passion for creating a product that people enjoy, but ultimately it is all about drinking it with other people.”

Jade’s day job is as programme manager of a project on inclusion and diversity for the Real Farming Trust, an agroecology charity,. She identifies and encourages connected communities and looks to narrow social gaps. She is the mind behind bringing the wider community to the brewery. “I dream of bringing unconnected communities together for example; linking the Somali kitchen with an organic farm or the local food bank with and organic vegetable supplier.”  She has encouraged those who might normally steer clear of a brewery to use the space as theirs: an Imam from Gloucester was able to run a meeting of Islamic people from the tap room with all signs and alcohol covered up or removed.

The brewery holds regular over 50s lunches, networking events, children’s groups, mental health groups, a death cafe and multiple community gatherings. All are intended to bring people together. So often these types of meetings take place in tired and tatty municipal rooms. Jade is firm “Why shouldn’t they have somewhere nice to come and meet? I want to reduce feelings of isolation and bring people together, to use this place as their community centre. Because it is.”

It is interesting that Greg and Jade have a business that turns over £2 Million a year but don’t give any impression of being self serving. They encourage others to develop their own sense of ownership over the brewery. We are used to the binary system of business or charity but rarely encounter them simultaneously. Whilst something that calls itself an organic brewery does scream privilege and exclusivity there is something about Stroud Brewery that counters this. At the helm are genuine people. They aren’t a profligate pair and their reasons for not being feel authentic. 

Greg wears a faded Stroud Brewery t-shirt and a patched down jacket over it, he rarely flies and chooses simpler living. People trust him and want to be part of what he is creating. Their original logo was designed by a friend unprompted, he simply wanted to be involved. Others help fix electrics and blocked drains or help with last minute emergencies. Their staff stick around. The brewery now has a life of its own; “my fragile and ill thought out long term scheme has to be able to care for itself. I don’t have another plan.”

I wonder if there is a specific person Greg would like to see drink his beer. “No. Not an individual. I want anyone to be able to drink it. I have tried to cultivate a value base, a culture around me and to have the brewery be a reflection of myself. I would be more pleased to hear that someone is drinking our beer because they identify with what we are about. 

What is life like outside the brewery?

“Jade has been a keen grower since forever and her allotment plot is her domain.” So, now they have a plot each; Greg’s being more of a landscape project as he likes to see immediate change. He is building his own geodesic dome for vegetables. “I really screwed it up – hand crafting 107 wooden triangles all stuck together at exactly the wrong angles.” Are they all stacked up in your kitchen? He laughs, “No, but I do have frames of honey from my bees and a centrifuge waiting to spin them.” “I make a honey based kombucha!”20 years ago half of the allotments became derelict “so a couple of us  took on sheep” which are great for grazing and going in the freezer. We are hoping to expand this into a community grazing project. 

Greg is a parish councillor of Brimscombe and Thrupp. “I grumble a lot!” We host the meeting here, over the years the council has grown from traditional pot hole complaints to now declaring a climate emergency” His influence isn’t hard to notice.

 

 

 

“I suppose I have withdrawn into my local community, there is not much time to myself.” -Greg

Holidays are usually camping or bike-packing. He cycles a steel framed (endlessly mendable) bike. I was relieved to find out that somewhere tucked away inside Greg was a yearning for a shiny (non recyclable) carbon fibre gravel bike. Surely we are all allowed off brand from time to time? 

Is there any part of the business you would compromise your values on? “Ha, that is a question I get asked a lot by my Directors. No, I wouldn’t go backwards. It’s counterintuitive to the challenge we have. We walk a fragile line between values and our economics ability it feels like a  a microcosm of our global challenge. We can’t ignore it and we need to value the long term over our short term needs.” “It is a cost, but also our identity.”

Jade told me “People see the brewery and assume that we must be rolling in it.”  “Neither of us has ever taken a dividend in 18 years, and I have never taken a salary. It’s fragile, it is a lot of graft even to just break even.” Is ‘just breaking even’ for now the price they pay for their integrity? I ask Greg if he feels secure. “I had a secure upbringing; I have never really worried about pensions or retirement (Though maybe I should have). There is still a part of me that feels ‘life will provide’” it is perhaps this confidence that allows him to stick to his principles.

They have plans for a mobile bar for pop-ups and festivals. And to develop a training hub for hospitality staff. Jade “just wants people to come, to use the space as theirs. I mean, that table is empty and the heating is on. They can just come here and be rather than feeling cold or lonely at home.” Greg’s urge to travel is returning.

I have met few people who appear to consider the true impact of everything they do.  I suppose it is not possible. But, in our conversation I struggled to find anything Jade or Greg said or did that hadn’t been thought about deeply. There was still some sense of fun, but is spontaneity at the moment somehow too frivolous? Conversation with them certainly ignited some conscious thought about the impact of my own lifestyle on the world. I probably should have cycled to meet them. But the hills in Stroud?

“We are careful not to over promise.” “By drinking our beer you’re not going to save the planet” Greg says sagely. But, perhaps by going into this Stroud taproom filled with people mixing and beer fermenting you may well begin to have conversations that could.