Pretty Decent Beer Co

David (left) introduced James from Pretty Decent Beer Co to a group of beer enthusiasts gathered at Inn at Home, Newbury, on the evening of Thursday 26 May, 2022.

The first beer to be poured was I could get better at T*sco for a quid with a name that had caught David's eye and led to the first order from Pretty Decent Beer Co for Inn at Home. 

James explained that the name was derived from a one star Google review left by a customer for a beer when Pretty Decent started brewing in 2017. Describing the current 4.5% ABV session pale ale, James said  'We went for a hazy style with big New England vibes, a citrus hit, finishing like a traditional pale ale with not too much bitterness but a little dryness'. The beer is hopped with Mosaic and Simcoe.

Earlier, James mentioned that Pretty Decent Beer Co was the smallest commercial brewery (250 litres) in London when they started in a railway arch (between Leytonstone High Road and Wanstead Park stations on the Overground line from Gospel Oak to Barking) in 2017. Now brewing around 4000 litres of beer a week, a new brewhouse will soon be installed in the area allowing them to brew up to 8000 litres per week. 

Currently brewing at 1000 litres per brew, allows Pretty Decent Beer Co to provide 'range, diversity and accessibility' of beers at the taproom and on the shelves.

James and his wife Sarah first met through their backgrounds in the charity sector. They wanted their business to leave a positive impact and donate a proportion of  turnover to charity every month. 'We wanted to donate from day one ... we make sure that it's no less than 2% of our turnover'. The funds support causes that drive change. James said 'Cheesily, we think that's a pretty decent thing to do'.

The four other Pretty Decent Brew Co beers sampled on the night were:

• Thirsty - rice lager 4% ABV - ingredients include malted rice

• The Even Greater Love Story - DIPA - 8% ABV, hopped with Simcoe

• I Should Have Paid That Parking Fine - 4.5% ABV brewed with fresh mandarins, kettle soured

• Sign and Recline - 4.5% Oat Cream Pale Ale, packaged earlier in the day!

As well as sampling the beers, the group (shown in photo above, tweeted by @innathome) also had the opportunity to taste different types of malt, including soured malt and to smell Mosaic hops and 'rub and sniff' Simcoe hop pellets supplied by Yakima Chief, USA. 

Among the questions that James answered, in detail, during the event was one about the bold label artwork designs. James said 'Nanna Koekoek is a Dutch illustrator who lives around the corner from the brewery. Her instagram handle is @cuckoojar. She's amazing. She came in drinking ... she's tried every beer, every mistake we've made.  The process of naming beers is pure nonsense. Probably more thought should go into it than it does.  We give Nanna a blurb, a name and a style and she comes up with these amazing things. We gave the word Thirsty for a rice lager and she drew a tongue.  She does workshops on beer illustrations.'

After the event, James had a chance to relax at the The Spare Wheel Kitchen & Taproom overlooking Newbury's Market Place. James suggested visitors to the Pretty Decent Beer Co taproom could combine it with a visit to the taproom at the Gravity Well Brewing Company situated next door to Leyton Midland Road Overground station, between Leyton High Road and Walthamstow Queen's Road stations.

Inn at Home 150-151 Bartholomew St, Newbury, RG14 5HB  Twitter: @innathome 

Pretty Decent Beer Co 340 Sheridan Road, London E7 9EF  Twitter: @PrettyDecentBC