Abyss Brewing is sustainably transporting beer to its new Newhaven pop-up on the estuary for the Look Again Supergraphics Festival in June.
The East Sussex-based brewery, born in the cellar of Lewes’ Pelham Arms, founded by Andy Bridge and Andrew Mellor, has revealed that from Saturday 1 June it will begin using sustainable ways to move its beer to the coastal event.
Speaking exclusively to the drinks business, Bridge said: “We will be experimenting with the most sustainable way to transport beer between our Lewes Abyss Taproom and the Newhaven sidings.”
Abyss Brewing explained that the plan is for the beer to move via river and by cargo bike in a bid to see how efficiently kegs can arrive at their destination without the need for motorised transport methods.
Bridge told db: “At 8am we will row kegs of beer down the river — these kegs will have been delivered to the Lewes Rowing Club by cargo bike. Then, we will be hoisting the kegs from the river onto the sidings which run along the river in Newhaven. Another cargo bike will also be cycling kegs of beer to Newhaven. This will be an experiment to see how quickly we can get there.”
Abyss Brewing “will be in Newhaven for the month of June to run alongside the Supergraphics Festival for which lots of artists have done murals all over the town. We will be there until August with a pop up bar,” he added.
The brewery, described by Bridge as “fuelled by a love of hop-forward beer styles, psychedelic artwork and community” recently embarked on an investment drive, giving fans of its beer a chance to be a part of the business.
The opportunity saw Abyss Brewing offering potential investors 15% of the business with a pre-money valuation of £3.3 million. The brewery was “one of the 5% of UK breweries to increase production in 2022/23” and has managed to “increase its trade customer base by 30% in the last year alone”.
Abyss Brewing sells to more than 350 independent retailers and has made strides to expand into the “growing gluten-free and no/low alcohol market with core gluten-free products Super Pale and Gonzo” as well as aims to up its sustainability efforts with a raft of planet-friendly initiatives.
