The last year has been one of change for all of us; in both our personal, and professional lives. For Matt Clarke, Michelle Gay, Steve Ricketts and Paul Sheldon, that meant leaving the brewery they knew and loved to start afresh. And with Lakes Brew Co, they are set on doing things their own way.

“If you had come to me at the start of last year and said you were planning to open a new brewery I would have called you crazy!” laughs Matt Clarke. “But here we are.”

There’s a saying that goes along the lines of ‘What’s the point in having a mind if you’re not prepared to change it’.

And for Clarke, his partner Michelle Gay, and countless others, these last 12 months have resulted in a great deal of unprecedented decisions being made.

Clarke was formally the head brewer at Hawkshead Brewery, while Gay held the role of marketing manager at the Lake District-based business.

The duo were two of the most recognisable faces at the much-loved brewery. They were also among 12 members of the team that were made redundant in April 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

For many, the decision by Hawkshead’s owners, Merseyside-based Halewood, to shed part of the team also stripped much of the brewery’s identity, too.

But let’s be clear, Clarke and Gay are not dwelling on the past. What’s done is done, and alongside Steve Ricketts, the former managing director and Paul Sheldon, former financial controller, at Hawkshead they now have a brewery to call their own.

“It’s been an interesting 12 months. Not just for us, for everyone. “It has given us time to reflect on what we all achieved at Hawkshead and plan for the future,” Matt Clarke, Lakes Brew Co

Welcome Lakes Brew Co.

“It’s been an interesting 12 months. Not just for us, for everyone,” says Clarke. “It has given us time to reflect on what we all achieved at Hawkshead and plan for the future.”

Gay adds: “We were deeply involved at the brewery, Matt especially. Both us, and our children, have grown with Hawkshead so it was tough for that to change so quickly. But these things happen.”

Clarke says that their children were not only familiar with the brewery surroundings but amusingly, probably better networked than most brewers across the land. Peers he conversed with and observed during the last year.

“I had no plans to step away from beer. These last 12 months have allowed me to see how all of these business are adapting and reacting to the challenging situation they are all in,” he explains. “It’s been a unique time to be putting together a business plan, that’s for sure.”

Before settling on the idea to open their own brewery, Clarke assessed the potential for other head brewer roles across the industry.

“People were reaching out to me from all corners of the UK,” he says. “It’s amazing how many businesses need help. But then, I’m not new to this and I know how much hard work is involved in running a brewing business.”

Clarke also considered the possibility of offering industry consultancy.

“There is a real skills shortage out there because there isn’t the biggest skills pool to draw from. Breweries got in touch, often looking for help mentoring and with recipe creation.”

But for someone as hands-on as Clarke, such a role would have always been a tough gig.

“Helping out creating a recipe is fine. But I would want to be tasting the beer in tank, before packaging and then after packaging, too,” he smiles. “Dealing with that remotely wouldn’t have worked for me, I’d probably find myself camping out at the brewery to see the job through!”

Seeing the job through from start to finish is one such achievement he can look back on from his time at Hawkshead.

“These last months have allowed us to take a step back and remember why we loved the industry in the first place,” Michelle Gay, Lakes Brew Co

And with Lakes Brew Co Clarke, alongside Michelle Gay, Steve Ricketts and Paul Sheldon he’s embarked on a whole new project once more.

“When you’re so involved in a role, and the company you’re working for, it’s sometimes easy to forget why you’re doing it,” explains Gay. “These last months have allowed us to take a step back and remember why we loved the industry in the first place.”

For the trio, that was being involved in a business that makes a product that people enjoy. And starting their own brewery would of happened even sooner, however certain restrictions slowed the progress somewhat.

“Until October Matt wasn’t even allowed to look at a beer!” laughs Gay.

But that is in the past and the ball is now well and truly rolling with Lakes Brew Co. Finding the ideal site took some time, as it often does, but the team now has a 4000sqft facility to call their own, located in the heart of Kendal on the Mintsfeet Industrial Estate.

“It has good access and doesn’t require us to think creatively when it comes to getting kit through the door,” says Clarke. “It has a nice high roof, too, so we can increase our FVs to 20bbl if needs be.”

On the brewhouse side, the trio have opted for a 16HL system from SSV Limited with plans to initially brew two to three times a week 

They’ve also invested in in-house canning from the off, procuring a five head CL5 line from MicroCan

“They’ve really impressed me with their kit,” says Clarke. “It’s a UK-built machine, affordable and the support is there, also.”

“We are not looking forward to reinvent the wheel here. The focus will be hop-forward, tight beers that have quality and freshness at the forefront,” Matt Clarke, Lakes Brew Co

Beers from Lake Brew Co will be packaged in keg, cask and 440ml cans.

“There’s no getting away from the fact that 440ml cans are thrust in your face on a daily basis,” he explains. “There might be a bit of a pushback locally as there’s still a strong foothold of 500ml bottles but we are confident it’s the right way to go.”

At his former employer, Clarke was handling the production of up to 12 draught lines and five beers for small pack at any one time, something he’s more than keen to move away from.

He says: “We are not looking forward to reinvent the wheel here. The focus will be hop-forward, tight beers that have quality and freshness at the forefront.

“We will offer one cask beer, probably a low-gravity pale ale, and make one cask beer a focus at any one point. My dream would be to have one product sitting on many bars rather than offering lots of different lines.”

The head brewer is also steadfast on how each beer is packaged.

“Too many times I was pressured into putting certain beers into cask that I wasn’t comfortable with,” he says. “Here, we will put beers around 3.5% in cask and the bigger beers into keg and can.”

Gay adds: “We also know that people naturally want something new, so we will offer seasonals, monthly releases on rotation and also styles like sours, too.

“The beauty of being a smaller business is that Matt can experiment a lot more and also brew with the newer ingredients that are on the market.”

The team hope and expect the local market to be a major consumer of the brewery’s beers, and Clarke is confident there is space for another outfit in the area.

“There is still something like 41 breweries in Cumbria but I feel that there is room for a progressive brewery that respects tradition while also putting a modern twist on beer,” he explains. “The last year has seen a greater focus on supporting local businesses and we see that continuing.”

“There is still something like 41 breweries in Cumbria but I feel that there is room for a progressive brewery that respects tradition while also putting a modern twist on beer,” Matt Clarke, Lakes Brew Co

For the trio, and so many others, the lakes are a big part of their lives. And as a result, they are still surprised nobody beat them to the brewery name.

“It’s pretty obvious when you think about it, so we’re amazed nobody had beaten us to it,” says Gay. “We registered the name and then it was time to work out branding that would work on anything we do.”

Clarke adds: “I took up fishing again last year and there’d be times where I was sat on the estuary while Michelle sketched out various logos. Some of them were very, very good. Especially when there’s another brewery near here that leans heavily on those aspects, too!

And working with local design firm Scratch Creative, they would settle on their new brewery’s branding, something that demonstrates their pride at calling the Lakes home.

“There’s no denying that this corner of the world is a big part of who we are, just as Hawkshead was,” says Gay. “It was a massive part of our lives.

“We still have a plaque of the brewery at home and sometimes talk about taking it down but then think ‘No, we played a big part in helping build that place up’.

“Now it’s time to do it all again, just on our own terms.”