EP-199 Andy Moffat of Redemption Brewing Company

A decade in beer can feel like a lifetime. As Tottenham’s Redemption
Brewing Company approach their 10th birthday, looking back is kinda
dizzying. Redemption was one London’s first craft brewers, but is now just
one of more than 100. Founder Andy Moffatt has grown his business slowly
and organically with a focus on sessionable cask ale, despite a consumer
shift to the hop-focused, high-ABV American styles brewed by those who came
in his wake.

In barely a year, Redemption went from sign of the future to link to the
past. Meanwhile, cask ale went into volume decline, and keg-focused
neighbors like Beavertown and Camden grew to five or six times Redemption’s
size, then sold to international conglomerates.

Most companies would have ripped up their business plans, but Redemption
has responded to it all with quiet dignity and belief that cask ale is
unique and worth pursuing. When you try a fresh Trinity or Hopspur, you see
where that confidence comes from, but even so, the brewery is changing.
Moffat followed up a recent expansion with a £300,000 ($379,000)
crowdfunding campaign to finance further development and forays into
keg—even cans.

We sit down in the half-finished taproom to reminisce about London before
the beer revolution, the challenges of brewing session beer, and how cask
is perhaps the only constant in this new, ever-changing world.

This is Andy Moffat, founder of Redemption Brewing Co. Listen in.