Best Startup
Bluestone Brewing Co was established in 2013, brewing in the yard on the Family Farm in Pembrokeshire.
The ethos behind the business has always been about creating great beer, responsibly and with as little impact on the planet as possible.
We currently produce award winning keg, cask, bottle, and canned craft style beers. We have a shop and taproom on site and hold summer and evening events open to the public.
Tell us about yourself?
I graduated with a First Class Honours French Degree from Swansea University in 2014. After travelling and working abroad for a few years, I fell into a job at Bluestone Brewing Company.
My boyfriend and I worked at a pub and were frustrated at the lack of decent beer, we started looking at stocking local beers and turned up at Bluestone Brewing Company for a look around and a chat and the rest is history! My boyfriend is now head brewer and I am head of marketing.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Trust in what you’re doing. Being a small business, in the middle of nowhere, it’s easy to think that you’re not doing as well as some of the big companies in the cities.
We rebranded 18 months ago and it was a huge risk, but its paid off big time and we should never have doubted ourselves.
What problem does your business solve?
We provide an alternative to mass produced beer. We offer a top quality product that has very little impact on the environment.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
We wanted to make good beer that we would want to drink ourselves.
We wanted to provide an alternative option from the typical Carling and Bass for our local pubs and offer them something interesting, that is responsibly & well made.
What is your magic sauce?
We use natural spring water in our beers, which makes a huge difference to the quality and taste of our product.
We have our own well on the farmland here and use water that filters down through the surrounding Preseli Hills.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
Our business has gone from strength to strength over the past few years and we have big plans for the future.
Leading the way for sustainability in the industry, we became the first Brewery in the world to gain Green Key Status in 2018 and are on our way to becoming B Corp Certified.
We opened our first venue in 2020, a Pizza restaurant in St Davids, Pembrokeshire. We love the idea of opening more venues in the future.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
A worldwide pandemic was pretty tough to navigate! It made us completely reassess our business and look at areas where we needed to improve in order to survive, it’s made us more efficient and given us time to reflect on what we want from the business.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We would love to hear from anybody who enjoys good beer! You can order online for UK-wide home delivery at www.bluestonebrewing.co.uk/shop
