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Glasgow Live
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Keiran Fleming

The Glasgow brewer looking to put its unique stamp on the beer industry

Up and coming beer brewer Simple Things Fermentations is looking to put its own stamp on the alcoholic beverage.

The business based in the South Side was founded by Phil Sisson in 2019.

He decided to divert from his path in the music industry, to follow his passion of brewing after a move north of the border.

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Phil told Glasgow Live: "I lived in London for quite a while, I was managing recording studios in Shoreditch and I was homebrewing at the time.

"We were living in Hackney and we decided we wanted a change. My wife's Scottish and my folks are in Cumbria, which is up this way, we wanted a change of life.

"I applied for a masters course at Heriot Watt in brewing and distilling. I did the course in 2016 and 2017 as soon as I finished that I went on to Harviestoun Brewery where I worked for two years.

"That whole time the idea was to have my own brewery. I was ruminating on what kind of Brewery it could be and I ended up having longer to think about it than I thought I would.

"It was a bit frustrating, but actually I think it was a good thing.

"I spent the first month or two working out the brewery, getting all the ingredients and getting the first couple beers out just before Christmas in 2019, which was intense."

Inside Simple Things Fermentations brewery (Glasgow Live)

Mere months after starting on his brewing adventure the world came to a standstill.

As the coronavirus pandemic hit, pubs closed and many local businesses shut their doors for good. However, Phil's beer company thrived

The former studio manager said: "It was alright from my point of view. There were no sales to pubs that had disappeared as I had just got started.

"People got really behind supporting local businesses, so I luckily got a license in place and I was able to sell through the website. Every week I was getting a good amount of orders through the website.

"I was kept really busy, running around in my car delivering to people's houses and flats mostly in the South Side of Glasgow."

The influx of new customers from the area acted as the perfect launch pad for Simple Things Fermentations.

The 46-year-old explained: "It was a really good foundation to build the business off of really because times haven't really gone back to normal. Obviously pubs are open, but I think pub owners and managers are feeling nervous, and I think rightly so.

"None of us have a huge amount of security about where we are anymore or how things are going to be in the future. Selling to the general public has stood us in good stead."

The business is stocking up for Christmas (Glasgow Live)

As for what makes their beer special, Phil is focused on putting a unique twist on the beverage and bearing down on some of the forgotten brews.

He said: "We do avoid doing that hazy pale or the fruity sour thing. The reason we don't is because that is just not my kind of beer.

"When I was homebrewing I wanted to explore different styles that weren't so easy to get a hold of and that is the philosophy we built the business off of.

"I want to shine a light on these less well represented styles. There's tons of ways to make beer and we just see the same handful, it was always my belief there was more to it.

"We were invited to IndyMan in Manchester, a beer festival which is very prestigious. I think the reason we were invited is because we do things a little bit differently.

"I like to think there is a common thread in our beer, a familiarity to them. There is hopefully something about it that makes it recognisable as one of our beers.

"The water we use is straight out the tap and it's fantastic, beautiful water to drink and therefore perfectly good water to brew with."

The company has put its unique spin on beer (Glasgow Live)

After a flying start the founder realised that he may need someone else to shoulder some of the work load.

A former colleague from Harviestoun has stepped in to help.

The owner of Simple Things fermentations said: "After the first year it was already busy enough where I realised I couldn't do it all on my own and Ewan, who I knew was a good brewer, was furloughed, so it made sense to bring him in.

"Ewan took over the brewing from day one and has done the brewing ever since. We analyse the beers and plan all the beers together.

"I don't need to worry about the brewing anymore."

It hasn't been all smooth sailing for the the rising stars of Scottish beer.

The deposit return scheme is being launched by the Scottish Government next August. Anyone who purchases a bottle or can will pay an extra 20p deposit which will be returned to the buyer once they return the container for recycling.

However, what may be a good natured move to make Scots greener could actually be detrimental to many businesses like the South Side brewery.

Phil said: "We are all keen to save the planet.

"But the way the deposit return scheme effects people like us is pretty grim. The cost is proportionally much higher for us than it would be for Tennents or Brewdog.

"The more concerning thing is its going to drastically effect the amount of craft beer available in Scotland because anybody who sells beer in the country has to go through many complicated and expensive processes.

"People like us and many others may look at the price of selling beer in Scotland and decide it's not worth doing.

"Many independent beer sellers in Glasgow are going to have shelves that look very different. Brewers from Belgium and Germany will have to make different barcodes to sell beer in Scotland.

"The range for the consumer is going to be reduced. It comes at a time when Scottish brewing is on fire, it couldn't come at a worse time."

They aim to produce the brews that may have been forgotten by some (Glasgow Live)

Despite the tests Simple Things currently face, the passionate beer brewer is still dreaming of seeing the business that started as a hobby in his kitchen grow.

He explained: "The main thing at the moment is to get through Christmas because I'm hoping that will be a busy period.

"There is beer everywhere here and that costs a bit to make and package. Next year will be interesting, we are all still going to be tight in terms of finances so it might be difficult to sell the beer.

"There is going to be a lot of focus to get into the pub scene as much as possible. What I'd really like to do is have our own taproom.

"For me it is all about minimising risk at the moment. Breweries are going bust left, right and centre. There isn't going to be a big roll of the dice where we throw all our money at a taproom.

"We might join another small Glasgow brewery to open it but that won't be for a while because things just take ages in terms of licensing in Glasgow.

"I spoke to a guy in Manchester who was looking to do a similar thing, he said he filled an application form, sent it away and got it back a few weeks later.

"Here it takes six to nine months, a bit of money and a lot of hoop jumping."

If you would like to browse the beers on offer click here

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