BREWER I ES
Science and creativity collide at BrewBoard, with Oliver Pugh behind its intricate designs and branding. Music is integral, inspiring their product names, while Aureja also works with Cambridge 105 Radio’s Tim Willett to host events promoting local musicians. One of the challenges BrewBoard faces is that Cambridge’s towns and villages are dispersed. The brewery, based in Harston, turned more heads during lockdown. “A lot of people became interested in buying local beer and discovering us,” says Nicholas. Another stroke of luck was their purchase of a canning machine prior to the pandemic, enabling business to burgeon despite pub closures. “The brewery has been an ongoing evolution,” says Stuart. “It’s very equipment-hungry.” Installing extra tanks and eyeing a venue change, with BrewBoard’s expansion comes more experimentation – making them a strong competitor against the 3,000 other craft breweries in the UK. ROOM TO BREW New additions keep cropping up, with Wylde Sky, the Cambridge Beer Quarter’s host brewery, hot on BrewBoard’s heels. “We built our ten-barrel brewhouse from the ground up in Linton, just outside Cambridge,” says the brewery’s Chris Heath. “Brewing started in September 2018, and by November we were proudly pouring pints in our taproom. The response has been phenomenal.” WITH EXPANSION COMES MORE EXPERIMENTS
GROWTH TIME Cambridge has seen a healthy expansion of brewers over the years, with individuals like Aureja Jupp from BrewBoard (above) helping the scene thrive
Pastore, founded by a father and son in 2019, is another brewery to watch. “We have two sides to the brewery,” says the younger brewer, Ben. “One focuses on fruit beers. We condition these for a few weeks with fruit puree in steel tanks before packaging in cans. The other focuses on aged beers, more in the Belgian style, that
will condition in wine and spirit barrels for long periods before blending and bottling.” Chris emphasises that “the beer scene in Cambridge still has room to grow”, while The Blue Moon’s Sophie adds: “There’s not enough women, which is a shame because witches were brewers and I love being part of the craft beer scene.” She points to Vanessa at Cambridge Brew House’s recent International Women’s Day brew and The Queer Brewing Project at The Filling Station, St Ives, as notable exceptions. Harnessing the innovative spirit breweries channelled during lockdown, expect festival flavours from the Cambridge Beer Quarter: Pastore will provide a rhubarb and vanilla sour, Wylde Sky a citrusy pale ale, Three Blind Mice a taste of the tropics and Calverley’s a forward- thinking, CBD-infused number. Sophie recalls the creation process behind this, reaching out to Brew by Numbers to ask about their CBD-infusing techniques: “They were so helpful. That’s what I mean about the beer community helping each other. They could easily have said ‘no, that’s our secret’ – but they didn’t.”
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK MAY 2022 51
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