We meet the family who started in Sandwell and have now gone on to form a beer brewing business and amazing venue in the heart of Birmingham. Introducing: The Indian Brewery.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00So deep in the heart of the Jewelry Court Birmingham we find Jazz Pal.
00:06Hello mate. Hello there. How you doing? I'll come and join you at the table.
00:10Jazz Pal, originally from Samwell, Riley Regis. That's right, yeah.
00:14Now a Brummie lad. Yeah. This is your project, this is your baby, the Indian Brewery Company.
00:20It is. So just tell us a little bit about it then. How long has it been going?
00:24You look like quite a young man to be, you know, King of the Empire.
00:27What's the story with the Indian Brewery Company?
00:29So ten years old, yeah, well ten years, last year, was it last year? Yeah, 2024.
00:36Yeah. Ten years old. So it's been an incredible journey.
00:40Started off as a very small brewery, not really knowing what we were doing back then
00:46until most recently it's been the biggest change for us, opening a central location here in Birmingham City Centre
00:54but ultimately really developing our brand of beers, what we do, but also having our own space
01:00to be able to showcase the beers as well as incredible food to the public.
01:04Yeah, you've got a different take on pizzas, haven't you? We've got Indian pizzas,
01:08butter paneer pizza, that kind of vibe going on, which always goes down well with a beer, I'm sure.
01:14Absolutely, yeah. And again, we just wanted to really change the game with what we do.
01:18We always innovate and look to do things differently, so we're not known for being a typical curry house essentially
01:26or anything like that. What we're known for is creating some incredible brews that are completely different
01:31to what you're used to. So for example, Juicy Mango is a hazy mango pale ale.
01:37Then we've got Peacock, which is our take against your kind of typical Indian lager.
01:42And then we have Bombay Honey, which again is a fan favourite, a golden honey ale brewed with 100% pure and natural honey.
01:49And then with the beers, obviously we pair those in our location, so for example in the taproom here
01:54we have an Indian pizzeria, and then we take our favourites such as butter chicken, paneer or mixed grill
02:00and present that in a form of a pizza. But then with the pizzas, we also do a selection of small plates
02:07which are quite interesting and unique. Things like truffle tikka, so again taking traditional chicken tikka
02:14but then presenting it and having it in a form of something completely different.
02:19And if people think, Juicy Mango, that looks a bit familiar, that's been in a fair few Wetherspoons hasn't it of late?
02:25Yeah, absolutely. So the biggest clients that we supply at the moment, one being Wetherspoons, so it's in the craft beer range
02:31across a number of Wetherspoons, not just in the Midlands but also outside the Midlands as well.
02:37I think the furthest I've experienced it is at Heathrow Airport, which is quite incredible.
02:43Yeah, it must make you quite proud, you know what I mean, you're at Heathrow and there's a product you've made sitting there.
02:48Yeah, absolutely. So if you are flying through that terminal, definitely check that out.
02:53As well as obviously Wetherspoons, we supply Aston Villa, which is quite incredible for us as a local football club here
03:00and a brewery. We're stocked in all of the fan zone areas and hospitality sectors,
03:05so you can find Juicy Mango available in a can and also on tap, which is quite cool.
03:10Cool. So you learnt your trade working for other breweries when you were a young whippersnapper, not that you're old now,
03:17and you branched out, so your first brewery was Great Barway?
03:21Yeah, absolutely. So Great Bar, so we actually started in Warwickshire as well.
03:26I was helping a guy called Bob, which was an old brewery, and unfortunately Bob was going through a difficult time due to family reasons,
03:34and from there on he paved the way for me to take it over, obviously by helping out, and then from there the Indian Brewery was born.
03:42So the goal was always to bring that to Birmingham, obviously being a Brummie lad, I brought it over to Great Bar essentially,
03:50a very small unit, something that I could afford, which wasn't the best location, it was very rough around the edges kind of vibe,
03:58but essentially that's where we started. Effectively we were brewing traditional real ales, mainly bottled stuff back then,
04:06and from there it just developed and grew to a bigger scale. We were supplying pubs as far as East Midlands, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, that kind of way.
04:17And then from there, we had a phase where we were struggling, you know, to kind of get beer to the next level and kind of cope with supply and demand.
04:26So we took the shot and the avenue of going down, opening our own establishment, which was really to kind of grow the business,
04:34so we could have a, you know, a public offering where people can actually buy directly from us.
04:40And that's still there isn't it? Where's that one? That's another location.
04:43That leads us to opening Indian Brewery Snow Hill. So Indian Brewery Snow Hill effectively was seen as our tap room and restaurant.
04:51So you could obviously go to Indian Brewery Snow Hill, experience the beers that we brew, but ultimately that's where we started getting into the food game
05:00by offering some incredible food there, which is different to the tap room here because it started off as like fat naans, things that you've never heard of before,
05:09as well as Indian fish and chips. So again, you know, at home we would have chippy on a Friday and we were like, okay, how can we take the chippy,
05:17but with an Indian twist and obviously, you know, putting the ingredients in, now one of our most popular dishes.
05:23As well as Indian fish and chips, we do obviously traditional mixed grills and other cool stuff as well.
05:30But Indian Brewery Snow Hill really kind of saved our business because without Snow Hill, we wouldn't be here today.
05:36So, yeah, it's really got a soft spot for us and that's been going for almost nine years now.
05:43And the two can work together then, can they? Yeah, one doesn't cancel out the other.
05:47Yeah, so it's interesting you say that because before we opened Indian Brewery Snow Hill, sorry, before we opened the tap room here,
05:54we didn't quite know how it was going to work or what we were going to do. So we had to come up with an idea that wouldn't affect Snow Hill
06:02because obviously the locations are so close. But when we were offered this property,
06:07it made like the perfect sense to have the brewery move from where it was previously to being here.
06:14But at the same time, knowing we wanted a tap room, it was like, what could we do with food that's completely different to Snow Hill?
06:20Now, when we have late nights and we're working at Snow Hill, nine times out of ten, we end up with a takeaway on the way home
06:27because there's no food in the fridge. So that normally would be McDonald's or a pizza or something like that.
06:34So we thought, OK, why don't we do pizzas? So we just stop ordering from Domino's and Pizza Hut.
06:42And then that's where we just started being creative and we started messing about with what we do at Snow Hill in the form of a pizza.
06:49And then that's when we just made this style of base, which is like a Neapolitan Italian wood fire mixed with a traditional deep pan American New York style,
07:00merged together with Indian ingredients. And we've created something quite incredible, to be honest.
07:06People can't stop talking about, for example, our butchery pizza, which tastes absolutely incredible.
07:12Great stuff, mate. So this is an old steelworks. I mean, a great place, isn't it?
07:17You know, I guess it looked a bit different when you first took it on. So it took the best part of a year, didn't it, to get it up and going and get it ready?
07:25Yeah. So people come here, what, open every day?
07:30Yeah, absolutely. So it took us a very long time to build this place simply because everything that you see has been kind of like every single penny that we have.
07:41We are a family business. It's everything that we have brought here to make something quite incredible, which obviously took a very long time.
07:49We didn't know how long it would take until we actually started building the place because we like to take projects on and give it a go because that's what we like.
07:58We like to take risks, essentially, not knowing the outcome of what it will be.
08:02And we obviously didn't make last year summer, which is what we wanted to do. And then obviously meet the Premier League season, which didn't happen.
08:10And then the goal was to obviously get it open before Christmas, which we managed to. And then ever since then, it's been quite incredible.
08:18We've been really busy for the Christmas period, but also into the new year because we're still new as a taproom to people.
08:26A lot of people are coming for the first time, absolutely loving the place. And we're pretty busy, I think, between now all the way to April 24.
08:36The team in the office were saying that we're pretty much full on a Friday, Saturday, which is absolutely incredible to hear.
08:42So we're open seven days a week, which is obviously Monday to Sunday. Monday to Thursday, we're open from 4.30pm.
08:50That just allows us to operate the brewery side during the day. We have the forklift coming out of the place, deliveries and all that kind of stuff.
08:59Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we're open from 12 midday till late. And we have a very good mix of people, really.
09:07And you were saying it's a family affair, true to form. We've got your brother at the back there, haven't we, Jay, doing the brewing. That's his domain.
09:17Looking across at the beers there, I love some of the names. I love how you had a bit of fun. We've got a beer there, Corner Shop. Love that.
09:24Jay, first of all, he's like a best friend to me, as well as obviously brother and head brewer.
09:31So there's four years difference between us. So I'm 30, Jay's 26.
09:36Whatever I've done, like as a young kid, from brushing my hair in the mirror to brewing a beer, Jay's always wanted to do what I'm doing.
09:46Which is quite nice to hear. But also it's incredible because he is now the head brewer and the brewery is his playground.
09:53So when we talk about the beers that we have here or what are we brewing next, that's whatever Jay says, which is quite nice.
10:00But also the beers and the names that they are, they all kind of have a story or a nod to our experience.
10:07So, for example, Corner Shop is a nod to when my parents used to have a shop that we lived in, which was a very small shop with a flat above that we grew up in almost all of our life.
10:19And then we've kind of just named that as a beer, thinking, you know, people might think it's a bit stupid, it's a bit crazy, what the hell is Corner Shop as a product.
10:27But effectively it works because people believe in our brand and that's quite unique to us.
10:33Harks back to the Roomful of Ashes, isn't it, the old band Corner Shop.
10:36Oh, I think we're from Wensbury Way, they're a black country band actually, Corner Shop.
10:40So we've touched upon that then, you've got a massive screen behind you, it's got to be one of the biggest in the city.
10:47It is, so I can confirm, I believe it is the biggest indoor screen in Birmingham.
10:52Yeah, that's good going. So you've got all your sports and stuff going on there.
10:55Yeah, so we're big football fans, you know, we live in pre-football.
11:00Big Wolves fan, I'm sure.
11:01Absolutely not, no. Believe it or not, we're Liverpool fans, so it just grows up within the family.
11:08But ultimately the screen is here for Birmingham really and people outside obviously to come into town and enjoy a place where they can watch.
11:17Whether it's, for example, the Six Nations is on right now or whether it's, you know, Premier League football, Championship, whatever.
11:25But not just only football and rugby, obviously we show things like tennis, cricket, basketball, anything, you know, major sporting events are all shown here on the big screen.
11:35Cool, and you've got your pool table, you've got your darts board.
11:38This little mezzanine we're on is great, just gives you a lovely overview.
11:42So shall we go and meet Jay and chat beer then?
11:44Yeah, absolutely, let's do it.
11:45Cool.
11:46Jay, this is your domain, we're in the brewery.
11:48So you crush your own malt?
11:51Yes, absolutely. So we buy all of our malt as whole malt and we crush it to however we want it, depending on the beer, the style.
11:59It just allows us the space in the room to do that, otherwise when we buy it crushed we kind of get it out at a set rate.
12:07But having a crusher ourself allows us just the room to kind of change the brew's recipe and you get the mouthfeels of the beer and stuff like that.
12:15Yeah, so literally you can really tailor everything to it, yeah.
12:19So what's your favourite beer that you're doing at the minute that you're quite proud of?
12:24I mean, I'm sure they're all excellent, but what's your favourite?
12:26I think at the moment it's got to be the Juicy Mango, it's kind of on to a winner.
12:30It seems to be going very well.
12:32But like today we're always brewing new beers, so today we're brewing a brand new Golden Ale.
12:37So it's going to be on a cask, we're going for around about a 3.8.
12:42It's going to be quite heavily hopped, so we're going to double dry hop it.
12:45It's not your usual Cascade or beer, so it's kind of in between the new market of all the new hops,
12:52but also kind of capturing the old school drinkers of your Golden Ales and stuff like that.
12:58So always experimenting then, always trying new stuff.
13:00Oh yeah, absolutely, I think that's the joys of having a brewery where we're not restricted on what we want to do.
13:07I see ourselves as a new company where we're always bringing out new ideas,
13:13kind of just cramming new things into the market, seeing what works, what doesn't work.
13:17Not limiting ourselves to a set range of beers, because we can always just bring something out.
13:21If it works, brilliant, brew it again. If it doesn't, won't brew it again, move on to the next one and that's it.
13:26So the first stage then is to just fill us in on what's going to be happening first off then.
13:30So we've got a crusher mould in our crusher over here, and then what we do, in our auger we drop it in,
13:37so then from over this stage, it shoots up into our mashing tun.
13:41As it goes into the mash, what we do is we hit the mould with the water, which takes the mash inside.
13:50So that sits in there at roughly 68 degrees, what we're aiming for today,
13:55and that helps with the body and the mouthfeel of the beer.
13:59But in here is where you get your colour, your flavour, your sugars, which is most important, and the froth.
14:06Once we've finished mashing in, we leave it in there for an hour, and then we'll sparge over into our kettle.
14:13Our kettle is on the left over here, so once we've sparged over into the kettle, this is where we boil the beer,
14:22hence the name kettle, where we boil the water.
14:25Once we're at boiling point, then we'll chuck our first edition, which are our bittering hops,
14:30and as the beer progresses through, we'll leave it to boil for an hour,
14:36chuck into the light stages, the light hopping, which kind of gives the aroma of the beer,
14:42the actual kind of juiciness is what we like to call it, which it goes all in at the end.
14:51Even more hops we're chucking on the whirlpool, so what we do, we will cool it down to around about 80-85 degrees,
14:58adding a few more additions, and that really brings out the flavour through the hops.
15:03So far at the moment, we've got our wort, we've got the hops in there, which are the three main ingredients,
15:10and then all we're missing is the yeast.
15:12To get the yeast in, what we do is we crush cool it through our heat exchanger, which is this one over here.
15:17So the wort passes through the exchange, and then goes straight over into the FBs,
15:22depending on the beer and what it is.
15:24So in the FBs, today we're doing an ale, so we're aiming for around about 18 degrees,
15:30and then we'll pitch our yeast into the tank, and then let that ferment out for around about 5-6 days,
15:37and then we've got ourselves a beer.
15:39Job's a good'un, nice one, well we'll let you crack on boss, cheers buddy.
15:42Thanks very much, cheers.