What does the brewer of tomorrow look like? Well, who better to ask than the recipient of our 2026 Brewers Choice Lifetime Achievement Award…

Since starting Gadds’ The Ramsgate Brewery back in 2002, Eddie Gadd has shown an unwavering commitment to using Kentish hops as frequently as possible in the beers he brew.

And as an engineer at heart, Eddie has placed sustainability at the forefront of the business. The business installed a pioneering CO2 recovery plant, which is considered a feat of engineering for a small 5000hl brewery, and the first of its kind in the UK.

He has also embraced and championed sustainability more broadly, including installing solar panels at the brewery and helping other brewers to brew more responsibly.

Gadds’ is is also utilising a patented technology called ‘simmer and strip’. This uses gas-sparging to achieve the objectives of wort boiling without the energy-intensive requirement.

“I feel the more complete brewer in 10 years’ time will understand simmer and strip technology more fully and be pulling all of the levers available to them every day. They can save money, save some energy, and also extend the shelf life of the beers we make.”

And for Eddie, he believes that many more breweries will be benefiting from this the future. That’s why he recently shared his expertise during his Brewers Congress talk in London and also during this episode of The Brewers Journal Podcast. He talks us through the early days of his career but also, more pertinently, what the future looks like for the wider sector.