EP-148 Bruce Gray of Left Handed Giant Brewing Co.

I’ve been writing for GBH for going on two and a half years now. Over that
time you may or may not have noticed that I’ve gradually been trying to
build a picture of the modern British beer scene. We’ve looked at the likes
of Beavertown and Brew By Numbers in London, BrewDog up in Scotland,
Cloudwater in Manchester, Magic Rock and Northern Monk in Yorkshire and
most recently Lost & Grounded in Bristol.

It’s Bristol that we find ourselves in today, or at least, that’s where
today’s guest Bruce Gray, and his brewery Left Handed Giant, is based. Gray
has worked in the beer industry for a number of years now, working in
BrewDog’s bar division before heading to Bristol and setting up a
distribution company. He also opened a specialist beer bar called Small
Bar, which now has a second site in Cardiff, South Wales.

From here he began “cuckoo brewing,” as Gray puts it, under the Left Handed
Giant brand. Things snowballed for the fledgling brewery, as they are wont
to do in a British market hungry for more young brands like his, and now
they’re nestled into a permanent site, brewing 15 barrels at a time.
Bristol seems to be the perfect incubator for the ambitious plans for his
brewery.

It’s perhaps because Gray has had the opportunity to work at all ends of
the chain that he’s able to articulate his experiences within the beer
industry so well. He does so regularly on his brewery's blog, where he’s
earned a reputation for being honest and forthright. On this podcast he’s
no different, giving in-depth opinions on issues such as the much-debated
price of beer. He also gives his opinions on CAMRA as well as SIBA, the
Society for Independent Brewers, which is the closest equivalent the UK has
to America’s Brewers Association.

We have a great conversation here that covers all of the above and more.
Listen in.