Felix James shares his journey - from his early fascination with microbiology and fermentation, to a career spanning Budweiser, Fuller’s and Sipsmith Gin.
The idea for Small Beer was sparked by an evident gap in the market - a drink that can still give you a ‘buzz’ but does not offer the same drawbacks as full-strength alcohol. Together with his Sipsmith colleague, James Grundy, the duo set out on their own venture to occupy that space.
We were effectively starting an entirely new category of beer. So it’s not non-alcoholic beer. It’s not your full-strength beer. We didn’t really have a name for it for a while and we called it small beer.
The term ‘small beer’ may sound familiar to you if you know your history, with the brand named after the drink that people used to consume in medieval Europe (due to the water tasting so bad!) Typically brewed to around 2.8% ABV, small beer became a staple of British daily life and was even cited in Shakespeare’s works.
Now on eight years since Small Beer’s inception, the London-based firm has been putting mid-strength on the map. And that, according to James, hasn’t been easy.
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