Meet our new Head Brewer!
We are thrilled to be brewing daily once again following the appointment of a new Head Brewer.
Mike Mason, formerly Head Brewer at Brewhouse and Kitchen in Lichfield, was appointed before the Covid-19 lockdown in March but has only recently been able to begin work on a full-time basis due to interruptions to brewing supplies.
The young brewer joins our team here at The Drifty with the remit of continuing to grow the brewery’s reputation at a local, national and international level.
Mike says: “Heading up a micro-brewery by the Cornish coast is a dream job for me, and I am so pleased to be getting stuck in now. There is an incredible legacy of brewing here at Trevaunance Cove and I will be working very hard to live up to that.”
We sadly lost a much-loved colleague and friend earlier this year when former Head Brewer Pete Martin sadly passed away following a short illness.
Before he became unwell Pete had been in contact with Mike who, keen to relocate to Cornwall, had visited the brewery and been offered a job as second in command.
Sadly they never got to work together, but the fact that Pete effectively chose his replacement is a great comfort to Lou, Landlady of The Driftwood Spars and owner of the brewery.
Microbrewing is such a personal thing, and it was really Pete’s wonderful talent and great palate which dictated the style and character of our ales. We are lucky that before he died Pete found someone who shared his vision – it made appointing a new Head Brewer much easier.
It is obviously a very challenging time for pubs and breweries, but we are staying positive and selling plenty of beer direct from the brewery in bottles and mini kegs. We are also using this time to overhaul the brewery’s website to make it easier to buy our beer online.
Mike began as an experimental home brewer before he scooped a job in the industry with Brewhouse and Kitchen – a chain of 22 brewpubs across the UK; The Lichfield branch which he operated is a 400 litre brewpub setup which produces a core range of 4 cask beers, 4 keg beers and 2 seasonal kegs.
Mike has already won several industry awards, including two SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers Awards) Silver awards, and was a judge at the World Beer Awards in 2019; he also presented a beer and food pairing to MPs at Parliament on behalf of the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group in 2019.
Mike and Louise have pledged to work together to keep producing Pete’s core range - including Alfie’s Revenge and Lou’s Brew - alongside seasonal specials, ensuring consistent future production of these unique and award-winning ales – all of which are gluten free.
Mike will also be experimenting with new varieties of English hops and wants our little brewery to lead the way when it comes to home-grown British ingredients.
He is already developing an exciting new series of small-batch craft beers; The Cove will complement the current range and launch us into the canned beer market - watch this space!
Follow us on social media for updates on availability and new products.