Team BBF are all Furloughed as we focus on survival and being ready to bounce back into the energetic, progressive and exciting Bristol craft beer scene.
We are all still riding on a wave of gratitude and love following the incredible response we received to home delivering to within our vibrant city that we call home. With this in mind we touched base with a few of the team members - Tristan, our head brewer alongside Tom, Izzy and Clem from sales - to see what they have been up to and enjoying during these times.
How’s life in lockdown?
Izzy: Fulfilling what I like to call Millennial Lockdown Clichés; perfecting my sourdough, gardening, cooking lots of delicious food, foraging for ingredients, learning some new skills that really should be left to people who know what they’re doing... there are a lot of wobbly unergonomic pots coming to all my friends and family. There’s a great independent shop on North Street called Trylla that does pottery and they’ve turned their Clay Club into ‘Clay Away’ where you can buy clay, have it delivered to your door, and then they fire it for you! I’ve been making lots of wobbly pots with Ghost on loop in the background, very therapeutic and highly recommend it so check out their website if you want to live your Demi Moore/Patrick Swayze fantasy.
Also planning the most epic pub crawl for when pubs reopen, it’s gonna be a long day!
Clem: Yeah fully settled into it now, I feel like we’re blessed in Bristol with so many incredible green spaces in all areas of the city so escape and fresh air is easily available.
Full time Furlough is a strange one, especially for all of us who love our social beer community… So using the time well I have been spending a good few hours each morning reflecting and planning for some future BBF series launching when we’re all back up and appreciating the good things in life more than ever! Next series will build on environmental positives and supporting fellow UK growers and farmers. Think the best of UK beer.
Skateboarding is exercise and the bowls are quiet: it’s the small victories at the moment. Not going to lie though I have been down some serious YouTube rabbit holes!
Tom: Enjoying the additional time and mental space afforded by the break from work. Loving being able to spend more time with my wife. Reading up on areas of interest: cognitive biases, gender socialisation, behavioural economics, game theory. Doing crosswords, writing quizzes, running daily (I don’t even know myself any more), drinking less (I really don’t know myself any more) but being supremely picky with my choices and savouring them. Binge-watching Casa de Papel, the Michael Jordan documentary and Tiger King!
Tristan: Conjuring up some wheat beer recipes.. #spoileralert Ginger Weissbier.
(He also has a gorgeous new puppy but Tris specialises in fast, effective answers. That Ginger Weissbier though…!)
Community is alive in Bristol, have you enjoyed any great independent food takeaways?
Izzy: Just before they shut I got a Seven Lucky Gods takeaway which was AMAZING. Top of the list for reopening dinners out. Another one I haven’t got yet but will most certainly be ordering soon is Grano Kitchen, pasta dreams come true!
One thing I’ve enjoyed doing is recreating recipes from some of my most memorable restaurants I’ve ever been to. So far I have done a River Café night (homemade pasta ticked off the Millennial Lockdown Bingo) and next week we will be dining at St John! Finding the right ingredients is a challenge but luckily loads of great food shops are still open. North Street is still alive and strong with places that sell amazing ingredients, Hugo’s Greengrocers and Rare butcher to name a few… and of course Southville Deli for keeping up with the flour demand and my need for freshly baked sourdough.
Clem: Love this and so true! We’ve had some brilliant takeaways at the weekend. Poco’s, good friend of BBF on Glos Road has a super safe takeaway window, call ahead, set a time and turn up. Next up is the Pizzarova make your own Pizza kit, our household has failed at joining the Sourdough making cult so this kit is ideal… Betterfood St Werbs have been well stocked and super safe so big shout out to all the lush people there putting the time in for us all.
New music / albums keeping you going?
Izzy: Laura Marling’s new album is perfect pottery music, also she’s been doing online tutorials to learn her songs which are great to watch even if you can’t play guitar. Thinking about having a festival day in the garden to attempt to fill the void this summer. Going to charge myself outrageous prices for a pint, put Dolly Parton’s Glasto legends set on the projector and get day drunk in the garden. Might even wear a flower crown and some glitter for good measure.
Tom: Dua Lipa’s new album, Future Nostalgia is pop perfection with a feminist bend. It’s a dream. Haim’s I Know Alone also featuring heavily. Set up our record player with a proper Bose speaker so it’s music all day. My real joy is dancing around to Sonique, Paramore and The Streets while cooking. I’m not above it.
Tristan: Bedouin Soundclash - reggae upbeat lifting vibes.
Clem: It feels like there is no new music out there as that amazing industry is suffering in the same way we are, brewing and music go hand in hand and never has that been clearer to me! Let’s focus on the great gigs we enjoyed before lockdown: Rough Trade Bristol - Sampa The Great; Trinity Centre - Ezra Collective; 02 Bristol - Hot Chip. Blessed with the incredible number of independent music venues, we will right back packing them out as soon as we can.
