10 Years Of UnBarred!
We struggled as we sat down trying to sum up the last 10 years into one piece of writing. Not for what to say, but how to summarise it into a short read. The success of UnBarred is made up of lots of little moments. Some great ones, some struggles, triumphs, street art, 100’s of labels, failures, festivals, hangovers - and lots of delicious beer! So, to try and summarise 10 years of UnBarred we spoke to people who have been instrumental in our success and asked them for their top UnBarred highlight. Before that though, let’s get the main man himself, Founder and Head Brewer Jordan Mower, to take us on a trip down memory lane!
2014 - UnBarred is born! Jordan registers UnBarred as a commercial nano-brewery from his shed in Hove. Jordan had been brewing there for 2 years previously on his first all-grain homebrew set-up. What was initially a hobby turned serious pretty quickly!
2015 - Still working as a water technician, Jordan continues to produce beers in the UnBarred name from his shed. Benchmark IPA, UnBarred first ever IPA, wins the Bev Robbins Shield at the CAMRA Worthing Beer Festival.
2016 - Jordan spends all his spare time researching brewing techniques and dialing in even the smallest of improvements, with UnBarred continuing to make waves locally. Influenced by US breweries who’d take food concepts and turn these into beers, UnBarred becomes more than just a classic brewery. Jordan leaves his job, becomes Head Brewer at Two Tribes and enrolls in the IBD (Institue of Brewing and Distilling)
2017 - Juggling the IBD and Two Tribes, whilst also simultaneously running UnBarred, Jordan remotely turns on the UnBarred brewery HLT on his way home so he was ready to brew again under the UnBarred name! The beers are all still hand labelled, hand bottled, and all done in the shed in Hove, with Tom now designing for UnBarred and creating labels and design concepts for beers like Benchmark and Brighton Strong.
2018 - Jordan graduates from the Institute of Brewing whilst brewing with both Two Tribes and UnBarred. At Two Tribes, UnBarred becomes a cask offering under the Two Tribes umbrella and goes out to various pubs. One of the beers was named Jago, after his son. Jordan moves on from Two Tribes and joins Missing Link as Head Brewer, taking their home brew school to a full-scale brewery. This involved traveling to the USA with the team, selecting the kit, and commissioning it. Jordan is now brewing for Missing Link, UnBarred, and several other breweries, with UnBarred being registered at the premises, its first full-size home.
2019 - A HUGE move! A destination brewery and taproom is opened in the center of Brighton, in Elder Place. Joining forces with two partners, Dav & Rupert (who also own Fatto a Mano) this was the start of full production, with a team, bricks and mortar, and the chance to showcase case our beers directly to our customers. Soon after settling in, UnBarred was at maximum capacity, filling all tanks with beers flowing. There was lots of excitement for what the future held!
2020 - UnBarred enters 2020 with BIG plans, however, lockdown hits. Jordan and the team had to very quickly flip a local brewery, very newly opened, and quickly create a website and delivery platform working with local people and businesses. Our customers rallied and we were filling milk bottles, jugs whatever we could to keep up with demand, and while we waited for our canning line. The canning line arrives towards the end of the year and really helps build and grow sales. The positive of this was our reach, cans in hands, and distance our beers and brand was reaching.
2021 - More lockdown. More uncertainty, and more hustle. The team had to rally, as did every other local business, and be flexible and innovative as we navigated our way through the year. Keeping an optimistic and entrepreneurial outlook helped us stay afloat and serve the community and other local businesses. The name of the game was survival and, while it was hard, we positioned ourselves to hit the ground running when the world returned to ‘normal’.
2022 - A big year for UnBarred. The hard work during uncertain times has paid off, with the UnBarred brand and reputation spread far and wide. Jordan continues to innovate, with Lead Brewer Gary keeping the brewery at full-pace without compromising on quality. Our IPA Tour see’s us brew a series of IPA’s, in collaboration with local street artists, inspired by region and ingredients. It’s a huge success. Morale IPA is launched, a historic IPA that sees an UnBarred return to cask! Our centrifuge is delivered towards the end of the year, which is a HUGE step for us in terms of quality and capacity.
2023 - Our centrifuge is in full swing, showing a marked increase in output and quality. The centrifuge also allows us to use processes we hadn’t been able to before, and attempt beers that we previously would not have been able to. It’s a real game-changer! Joosy continues to be our best-selling beer and we continue to grow in capacity and stature, allowing us to brew with breweries such as Amundsden, Brew York, and Permit Room - the new Brighton venture from the team behind Dishoom!
2024 - Our 10th year, we decide to go big right from the off! Dank Juice and Danker Juice are launched, in January - a real signal of intent for our tenth year, and for the ‘10 years of Celebrations’ theme for 2024. We also kicked off 2024 with returns for Granola Coaster, 3B’s, and BIG Joosy. What else do we have in store? Stay tuned, and make sure you’re at our birthday party in September!
What a journey, eh people! Now let's hear from some of the most influential people that have joined us on this rollercoaster of a ride!
Brett Preston, UnBarred Marketing Manager - I think one of my first and fondest memories of UnBarred, craft beer, and brewing was hatching the plan with Jordan (UnBarred), Jack & Nick (Bison), and Matt (Blind Side Brewing) to brew a beer and landing on Honeycomb Milkshake. The whole thing was great fun, friends through beer getting together to brew a beer which still to this day is produced in a much bigger volume and loved by so many people. Now I get to enjoy working on the release each time, artwork and events that surround its return each year. That was a real highlight of my early craft beer days and got me locked into the industry, the people with it and the general buzz about it.
Jack @ Bison Beer - We’ve been working with Jordan since the days when he was brewing in his back garden in Hove, but the main thing that sticks out for Bison is UnBarred Mango Pale. It sold by the truckload in the pop-up phase of our beach bar and set the tone for fruity IPA’s there in the future. Weighing in at 6%, it let everyone in Brighton know what kind of business we’re all about! When UnBarred started brewing at Missing Link it gave us the chance to collaborate on a super small batch brew that’s grown into one of the most interesting beers we’ve ever done. Honeycomb Milkshake might sound like a risky recipe (Jordan may or may not have stopped Jack chucking an actual Crunchie in the mix), but it has got a loyal fanbase who appreciate the way it’s changed over the years thanks to different harvests of Brighton honey...
Cameron Hale, GM at UnBarred - I love the community we've built at UnBarred. We had a staff party back in January, with a belated Secret Santa, with the gift being a mug. It was so fun to see everyone getting their mugs, the inside jokes from one to another, and the excitement and having our own brand new mugs to use. However, the part that stuck out for me was later in the week when Amy was starting. It was still early in her time here with us so she was very new and thus wasn't in the original staff party. But we ensured she felt included and got her a mug too, which would heat up to reveal the OG Joosy logo, which she has a tattoo of on her leg. It really made her happy and she felt so much more welcomed to the team.... until recently when she managed to knock it over and smash it in the garden!!! Safe to say... her birthday present is already in the works ;)
Ruth & Rick @ The Watchmakers Arms - We first met Jordan almost 10 years ago, when we were just about to open The Watchmaker’s and he had recently started Unbarred in his garden shed! We hit it off straight away and over the years we’ve continually supported each others’ businesses. The Watchmaker’s is always involved in the nationwide Stoutzilla release (what a beer!) and UnBarred have launched a couple of beers here at the micropub, including The Long Black which we helped to brew! Jordan has also brewed a collaboration or two with Rick on our own kit. It’s been an eventful 10 years for both of us, but here’s to continuing to work together and support each other in the coming decade!
Gary, Lead Brewer @ UnBarred - Right before UnBarred opened, the weekend before in fact, I went off for a few days partaking in my favourite hobby - mountain biking. The day before leaving, Jordan and the team joked with me not to go breaking any bones... That weekend, I did in fact come off my bike and break my arm, leaving me unable to do much brewing on the week of starting. Ridiculous! The team pulled together and with me on the side lines and still managed to brew, pack, and produce beer like champs. I’ll never live that down!
Matt Lincoln, ex UnBarred Sales & Brand Ambassador - I met Jordan after reaching out to him to compliment him on Granola. The first time I tried it I was blown away, I’d never had anything quite like it. I went and brewed with him at Missing Link along with another mate, and we became great friends from that day. He helped me get into home brewing, and from there in to the industry. If it wasn’t for Jordan I don’t think I’d be working for breweries. That was back in 2017, and fast forward to 2022, I joined the team. UnBarred is such a great place, full of stories, memories, and friendships. It’s not just about the phenomenal beer. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Jordan and UnBarred, and the people I met along the way.
Tom Lacey, designer of UnBarred can art - I remember when Jordan started chatting about starting a brewery, and how he had ambitions to do it properly from the get-go. We used to get together and bring each other the (at the time!) most outlandish beers we could find and compare notes on them, proper geeky stuff. I suggested that he let me do a label for one of his beers, Benchmark, to see if it helped get it into some shops. The 'UnBarred' logo (always with a capital 'B') had too, in my mind, look German, authoritative, and timeless. Jordan's nickname in our circle was 'Stein', so it felt appropriate, and a nice nod to all the German beers we were trying. That logo appeared pretty much unchanged on the very first label that we sticky taped to a bottle of Benchmark. It blows my mind that the brand has come so far, and it makes me smile every time I see that logo out in the wild.
It’s been a wild ride, full of great beer, great times and many great friendships made. We’ll be celebrating that on Friday 6th at our Taproom and we hope to see all our friends, old and new, and make a few new ones while raising a glass to the next 10 years!
