Q and A: High times at Lowtide

with Rebecca Thomas – 23rd March 2021

Dave Brown of Lowtide Brewing

LOWTIDE BREWING CO HAVE BROUGHT SOMETHING DELICIOUSLY DIFFERENT TO THE WORLD OF ALCOHOL FREE CRAFT BEER. FOUNDER DAVE BROWN ANSWERS OUR QUESTIONS.

Who and what’s behind Lowtide?

Lowtide Brewing Co was founded by my cousin Rob and me. We were chatting at a family gathering a few years back over a couple of alcohol free beers, and we got onto the topic of how much we love craft beer. We shared the sentiment that, however delicious it may be, craft beer was increasingly incompatible with our goals to live healthy lifestyles, especially as we were getting older and ready to start families of our own. After trying our hand at distributing AF beer online, we realised we were better suited to start our own brewery, as that’s where the passion really came from. Now we’re in our second full (official) month of trading as Lowtide, and we’re absolutely loving it. We put so much time and effort into each beer we create, from the recipes to the names and artwork. It’s been great fun so far and we are both massively looking forward to continuing our journey to create great tasting AF beer!

Your heart-sink moment so far?

That’s a tough one – we can think of several. A standout moment to us was when we thought we had nailed the recipe for our first beer, DIPA Toe In, but were in fact still very far away. After months of development, we’d got our first 1,000 cans brewed and labelled, and we were ready to take the world by storm. Unfortunately, the beer just wasn’t ready yet. We tasted it and although we wanted to be optimistic, the feedback we got from our initial taste tests was disappointing. It was tough to admit we needed to go back into development after what felt like such a long process, but we had to come to terms with it and dump the rest of the brew to preserve a sense of dignity. It took us longer to get the beer out, but looking back we’re so glad we took the extra time.

Your high five moment?

Following on from above, the biggest high five moment was probably solving the recipe issue with the DIPA. We tweaked ingredients and techniques, and ultimately came out on top with a standout recipe. We knew we’d created something truly special once customer reviews started rolling in. It was one thing for us to make a sale or two, but it meant so much more once we knew our customers were really enjoying our beers. Getting that validation from everyone was really satisfying, and it’s what excites us most about continuing to innovate with our range.

3 words to describe Lowtide?

Defiant, distinctive, playful

Snack / meal to enjoy with a can of Lowtide?

We’re a bit biased because we drink our beers with pretty much anything. However, I did have a fantastic vegan tonkotsu ramen over the weekend, and it paired beautifully with our DIPA. We have a soft spot for Asian cuisines, so most of the time that’s what we enjoy them with. However, something like a traditional English pie or warm winter dish would be perfect to have alongside our Belgian ale, Brune-DMC, and we’re confident our other beers would go wonderfully with any meal – with the exception of our stout; that’s a dessert all by itself.

Amazing artwork on the cans! Who did it?

All of our can artwork is done by the ever-talented John Miles. He’s a childhood friend of mine, so when Rob and I decided we wanted to start Lowtide it was a no-brainer for us to get him involved. We’ve always loved his style and originality, and it’s so great to see that everyone else does too.

What’s next for Lowtide ?

We have been blown away by the response we’ve had so far – it’s only made us more excited for what’s to come. We’ve got a big brew calendar lined up and we’re constantly looking at new opportunities. We’ve got several more beers coming out in the first half of 2021, and there will be more later in the year. We hope we can continue on our current trajectory, as we’ve so many ideas and plans and would love to turn them all into reality. Keep drinking Lowtide and we will keep making it!