6 minute read
Tap Social Movement
Making beer to make a difference
Advertisement
If you’re based in Oxford then you’ll no doubt be very familiar with the work and taste of local brewery Tap Social, but if you’re further afi eld then the brewery’s movement may be unfamiliar, but growing at a rapid rate. Now situated across three sites in the historical city, Tap Social works with people who have been affected by the criminal justice system by employing and training them in the world of hospitality. We spoke to founder and Director Tess Taylor to fi nd out more.
Tell me a little about why you started Tap Social Movement?
“Tap Social was founded out of a passion for social justice and good beer. We’re a social enterprise craft brewery and hospitality organisation that trains and employs people who have been affected by the criminal justice system; both currently serving prisoners and people who have been recently released from prison sentences. My co-founders Amy, Paul and I all worked in criminal justice for several years before setting up Tap. I was a counsellor for ex-offenders with a non-profi t organisation in Canada, Amy was a policy advisor with the Ministry of Justice, and Paul is a criminal barrister. Between us, we’d seen fi rst-hand the devastating impact of a broken justice system, with a major lack of support and opportunity
for those leaving prison very often resulting in unemployment and an inevitable revolving door effect. Tap Social was set up to offer real opportunities to people coming out of this system and to help turn lives around permanently. We work with people who are on day release from prison, or have finished prison sentences and are struggling to find employment because of a criminal record. The brewing industry offered the perfect vehicle for what we wanted to do as it incorporates so many jobs: from the brewing itself to packaging, warehousing and logistics, sales, marketing and advertising and so on, as well as being a fun and exciting sector to work in. It’s also a booming industry with hundreds of breweries across the UK, which meant there would be plenty of job opportunities for people all around the country. We’ve now worked with over 25 people directly on site, plus dozens more through training sessions in prisons and through the prison art departments. All of the artwork used on our labels and pump clips is custom created for us by the men serving at HMP Huntercombe, and they’ve also created beautiful canvases that are displayed in our hospitality venues.”
What challenges did you face when you first started the brewery? “Like any small and independent business, we faced plenty of challenges when we set up – the expected things like the logistics of starting a new business, keeping on top of cashflow, and managing our growth. We really don’t see our criminal justice mission as having created any additional challenges; instead it’s given us a talented, dedicated pool of employees to work with who have helped us grow and have shaped Tap Social from the start.”
How have you overcome those challenges to now growing to a brewery with multiple sites? “Tap has grown a lot since setting up in 2016 and we’ve had so much support to help us get us here. We feel very lucky to have an incredible community around us here in Oxford, full of people who believe in our cause, buy our beer, visit our venues and shout about what we’re doing. We definitely attribute a lot of our success to the wonderful support and enthusiasm we’ve had from our community. On the brewery side, we were joined from the start by Matt, a company Director who leads on wholesale operations, and Jason, our head brewer. Together with the brew team, they’ve helped to expand things substantially; in the past four years we’ve increased our brewing capacity tenfold, taken on a second premises, installed a canning line, and have had our award winning beer stocked in over 250 pubs, restaurants and shops. We’re surrounded by brilliant people who drive us to make Tap successful every day and I think that’s been instrumental in getting us where we are. We still have a long way to go though!”
What are your favourite kind of beers to make and why? “That’s tough! In our first few years of brewing, we did loads of experimental, sour and small batch brews. That was a ton of fun and meant there was always something new and exciting coming up. Since then, we’ve really stripped back to refine our core range, and spent the last year tweaking our core 5 and focusing on brewing them. We’ve got an IPA, APA, session pale, lager and stout in the core range, and while I love them all, my favourite is definitely the IPA – it’s super juicy, fruity and delicious. Generally speaking, my favourite beers to drink are hoppy and hazy IPAs and funky sours. I’m looking forward to getting some more special brews in once the Covid situation has improved and we’re back to a full brewing schedule.”
You recently opened your new pub The White House. How long had you been working on it? “We’re so stoked about this!
We’ve spent the majority of the past year renovating and revamping a Grade 2 historic listed building ready to open after lockdown. It’s a really exciting venture for us as we’ve put in a full kitchen and will have a proper menu featuring interesting, local and sustainable food.
We’ve launched a stripped back takeaway offering and rolled out our full menus when we opened. This has allowed us to extend our employment opportunities to culinary and hospitality positions too, which we’re really proud of. The venue itself is really beautiful – we’ve stripped back to some of the original features of the building, including exposed brick walls and wooden floor boards. We’ve put wood burners throughout and the walls are covered in stunning artwork created by men in prison (the same artwork that features on all of our cans of beer). We hope to create a real community space where people can come and hang out, have nice coffee and beer, enjoy some really good but affordable food, and just make themselves at home.”
What other exciting plans do you have in the works that you can tell me about? “We plan to open a bar, the Market Tap, in Oxford’s historic Covered Market later this year. We were due to open it last June, but things were obviously delayed with the pandemic. We’re revisiting these plans now and look forward to getting things underway. We’ve been picked up by a few new stockists recently that are helping us to get our beer further afield and into more hands – so we’re excited to continue growing our wholesale distribution and spreading information about the criminal justice system as far as we can.”
