In the modern beer market, consumers are increasingly looking for familiarity, consistency, and quality before spending their hard-earned money. At Cheltenham’s Deya Brewing Company and their head brewer Pietro Maltinti, building that customer confidence has been central to their success. And for that requires using the best ingredients, the best processes and nurturing a team you can trust, and one that trusts you.
“The reality is not a big secret,” Maltinti smiles. “We don’t compromise on quality in our ingredients, in the brewing process and in our team. At Deya the think important thing is our founder Theo (Freyne) knows what he wants Deya to achieve. Our head of production Gareth (Moore) knows what he wants Deya beers to achieve. Everyone knows what Deya beers are trying to achieve. We don’t shortcuts on quality. We work on consistency, drinkability and all sorts of things that make our beer taste the best for us and also hopefully the best for our customers.”
Known for vibrant, soft, hazy pales and hop-forward IPAs like Boost, Magazine Cover, and their iconic flagship pale ale Steady Rolling Man, Deya has carved out a distinct identity in UK beer culture.
At the operational helm of Deya’s brewhouse is head brewer Pietro Maltinti (below). Working alongside founder Theo Freyne and head of production Gareth Moore, Maltinti sees the brewery’s standing not as a stroke of good fortune, but as the calculated result of meticulous attention to detail, shared organisational vision, and continuous refinement.
But Maltinti’s perspective on production was forged long before he ever stepped foot in a commercial UK brewery. Raised in Tuscany, his initial appreciation for regional craft was sparked through a summer job accompanying American university students studying food industries on tours of local olive oil pressings and wineries.
“Growing up as a kid in Tuscany, you don’t really realise the beauty of Italy because for you it’s just that,” Maltinti reflects. “I realised how much they were shocked, how much they were impressed by everything, and that’s what triggered my question about where I am. I didn’t realise how beautiful it was and how traditional industries like that and winemaking was. And that’s why after high school I decided to go and study winemaking without any science background.”
“Seeing someone become a brewer from zero experience, becoming shift manager, senior brewer or a technical brewer, that’s the most rewarding thing for me.”
Pietro Maltinti, Deya Brewing Company
That foray into wine would launched a diverse international brewing career. Maltinti gathered experience across Germany at Vereinsbrauerei Apoldaer, in Italy at Birrificio Clandestino and Scotland at BrewDog before moving to London to brew at Partizan in Bermondsey. He has also managed a team of over 80 people at Molson Coors in Burton-upon-Trent and worked with traditional spirits production at the revered Lagavulin distillery on Islay.
A major formative chapter though was between 2021 and 2023 at Northern Monk in Leeds, working under founders Russell Bissett and Brian Dickson during a period of massive operational expansion.
“You’re talking about doubling capacity there, and I know it’s not massive volumes if you think macro, but doubling capacity is no joke,” says Maltinti. “It came with a lot of hard work from everyone and the team was amazing. The best part of being a manager at any brewery is when you leave and you have people that take your place.
“I was fortunate there to go from technical brewer to brewery manager. And seeing someone become a brewer from zero experience, becoming shift manager, senior brewer or a technical brewer, that’s the most rewarding thing for me. Much more than winning awards.”
Growing in organic fashion
Deya’s own timeline also moved at a rapid pace. Theo Freyne founded the business in 2015, developing the recipe for Steady Rolling Man on a homebrew scale before contract brewing it on a modest 4-barrel (bbl) system. By May 2016, Deya had acquired a 4,000-square-foot unit in Cheltenham equipped with a 10bbl brewkit and an 800-square-foot taproom. Driven by immense demand for their hazy pale ales, the brewery outgrew the space and transitioned in 2019 to a 25,000-square-foot site nearby.
Today, Deya operates a high-spec, automated 4-vessel 40HL brewkit, capable of brewing four times daily on a shift pattern running from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Packaging is anchored by a high-speed CFT canning line ouputting 13,000 cans per hour. While canning sustained the brewery during pandemic lockdowns, the taproom and pub sectors have bounced back strongly, with draft kegs now representing the majority of production. Steady Rolling Man alone accounts for 50% of total brewery volume.
“You should never compromise on quality, even if you’re growing volume.”
Pietro Maltinti, Deya Brewing Company
Despite possessing significant capacity, Maltinti emphasises that Deya’s operational strategy relies on deliberate restraint and stylistic specialisation.
“We’re not trying to be the best brewery for everyone, right?” Maltinti says. “We have a clear vision of what our beers are, and we do styles that are exciting for us. We are really trying to specialise on something, and that’s what makes the difference. You should never compromise on quality, even if you’re growing volume. We will always do what’s best for the beer, and if that comes at a cost sometimes, that’s what we want to do.”
While Deya produce a range of revered pale ales and IPAs they also produce lagers and also a celebrated mixed fermentation family of beers.
And a fundamental pillar of Deya’s technical approach is the understanding that iconic recipes should never remain static. Because agricultural ingredients fluctuate from harvest to harvest, keeping a beer tasting “the same” actually requires constant batch-to-batch adjustments.
“The Steady recipe is not the Steady Rolling Man recipe from 10 years ago,” Maltinti explains. “Things change, things evolve, consumer tastes evolve, hops evolve, everything really. And so, we keep pushing the boundaries of Deya, but also through beers such as Steady as well.
“It’s not that we change the recipe, don’t get me wrong, but also how this year’s Motueka tastes compared to last year’s Motueka? Do we need to adjust it? We will always try to adjust and improve. If there is a new crop malt, how is it affecting our beers? We will ask ourselves if we need to push a bit more wheat or another percentage in the grist?”
Rather than directing every minor adjustment top-down, Maltinti encourages his cellar and brewhouse operators to take active ownership of sensory feedback.
“I want my team, who are the experts doing the beer that they brew, I want them to tell me: ‘Pietro, in the last two weeks we brewed Steady and in fermentation we found it a bit this way. What’s happening? Can we do something different?’” Maltinti says. “And then it’s like, ‘Okay, what would you do?’ That’s how brainstorming starts and we try to continuously evolve. You should always embrace the journey.”
Rejecting the ‘Hero’ mantle
Having observed rapid expansions across the craft sector, Maltinti is vocal about avoiding systemic leadership failures common in growing breweries. Too often, talented floor brewers are promoted to leadership roles without operational support, causing them to fall into an unsustainable “hero complex” where they attempt to manage every task single-handedly.
“Especially in the craft beer sector, things grow so fast in such a short period where companies are usually not ready for the next step,” Maltinti notes. “A common head brewer path is: I’m on the floor, I’m probably one of the best brewers, people trust me. The head brewer leaves, and the owner is not ready. ‘Oh, there is this guy. Here you go, you’re the head brewer.’ You’re very happy about it, but then you realise, ‘Wow, this is not the same thing I was doing before.'”
He adds: “You start thinking, ‘I need to be the best brewer, but I also need to be on top of everything, and what if people are not doing good enough?‘ You think you are the hero, right? You think you need to save the company because you are in that spot. And this is very wrong. I’ve done it myself, so that’s why I’m very passionate about speaking about it.”
Building Systems and sustainable leadership
Instead of relying on individual heroics, Maltinti’s overarching goal at Deya is to design clear systems and mentor team members so thoroughly that his presence on the brewhouse floor becomes secondary.
“In every job I do, I try to make myself not needed,” Maltinti states. “I’ve joined Deya to help the company grow and their talent grow. We’re not talking big growth, it’s a controlled growth. There is amazing talent in here. I would love that if I change role at Deya or leave in the future, I leave things that are sustainable in place for the next brewer.”
“People come before business interests. That mindset repays a lot.”
Pietro Maltinti, Deya Brewing Company
This human-centric ethos extends to supporting staff members’ broader career arcs, even if those paths eventually lead away from Cheltenham.
“I don’t expect a brewer at Deya to join and stay with the company forever,” Maltinti concludes. “If there is not the opportunity for you in two or three years, and you want to go and be the head brewer of another brewery or go macro, then I’ll always be supportive.
“People come before business interests. That mindset repays a lot, and it makes the company very sustainable in terms of talent. Even if someone leaves, you always have the next one ready to step into their role.”
Through a clear vision, relentless recipe refinement, and a commitment to developing people, Pietro Maltinti and the team at Deya continue to demonstrate that the real secret behind great beer is the care, discipline, and human culture standing behind every pint.
