East Meets West

I first became aware of Vocation Brewery on a warm summer’s drive to Stamford in 2015.  As we passed The Green Man pub on the edge of the town, I saw an A-board sporting a design that reminded me of The Eye of Ra.  I took particular notice of it because in my post-college days, I had been in a band with a similar looking logo.

This was one of my first interactions with the brewery, though it would take me several years before I actually tried any of their delicious beers.

John Hickling, who worked in IT for a bank, set up Vocation in 2015, rebuilding an old chicken shed into a 50HL brewhouse, which now outputs around 60,000 HL per year*, making one of the largest independent craft breweries in the UK.

Not only does the outdoor walkway along the top of their fermentors offer stunning views of the cascading hills of West Yorkshire’s Cragg Vale, the vantage point sees off beers like Love & Hate and Pride & Joy across the UK and waves bon voyage to their flagship brands as they head overseas.

In addition to a canning and bottling line, the brewery have recently expanded its exports to the far east through an unlikely partnership… 

Tired of the corporate world with a similar story to John, Ian Jebbitt – a trademark solicitor by vocation – founded Gweilo Beer in Hong Kong with his wife Emily and friend Joseph Gould to create fun, fresh, natural, unpasteurised beers for the people of Hong Kong and Asia to enjoy.

Back by a team of hard-working, fun-loving professionals, Gweilo has already found its way into many corners of the world in taphouses, hotels, airlines and supermarket shelves and is expanding its brand with a brew-in-market model.

Partnering with Vocation to produce their core range, as well as working with other independent craft brewers for one-off collaborations, Gweilo Beer UK was established under the Commercial Directorship of Sean Robertson, a long time veteran of the brewing industry.

In this episode, East meets West as myself, Sean and Vocation’s Sales Director, John Hadingham, discuss the partnership between the two breweries across the globe.  Our round table discussion covers everything from brew-in-market models, exporting brands to other territories, the growth of the breweries, and how relationships are forged and managed to allow each brand to remain distinctive, despite being brewed in one location.

Please note, at points the audio quality drops in and out a little; I’ve done everything I can in order to clean it up as much as possible, but I think you’ll agree that it’s a fantastic discussion.

* The audio contains an inaccuracy where I state that Vocation produces 50HL per annum… which is, obviously, a ridiculous understatement.  The text description has been corrected on here to reflect the accurate details and an amendment will be offered in next week’s show.

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