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Wharf Life Feb 12-26, 2020 wharf-life.com
how a City lawyer made the Big Drop beer he wanted – without the alcohol or the awful hangover
£1m
Investment Rob is looking for as Big Drop launches its crowdfunding campaign Rob Fink founded a non-alcoholic brewery in 2016 and believes Wharfers could benefit from strategic use of his products
by Jon Massey
B
eer drinkers in Canary Wharf who have recently completed Dry January by sipping bottles of watery Becks Blue may have been missing out. Had they investigated the shelves of Holland And Barrett or sought refreshment at All Bar One, however, they might have caught a sip of a brand on the rise. The Big Drop Brewing Company was co-founded by former City lawyer Rob Fink in 2016 after he took a break from alcohol and found himself at a loss as to what to drink in the pub. Surrounded by craft beers of every hue and flavour in strengths from 4% and up, he realised there was an opportunity to quench the thirst of drinkers who liked the taste of ale but would rather do without the after effects of a signi cant session. Joining forces with old school friend, band mate and designer James Kindred, he set about creating a beer that would perform in the mouth without the ABV. “James stayed in Ipswich, had his own companies doing social media, websites and branding for food companies, whereas I moved to London, went to university and became a lawyer,” said Rob. “I set up my own rm with another guy called Fenchurch Law, specialising in insurance – we’d sue insurance companies when they didn’t pay claims. It’s still there and is very well regarded. “We founded that in 2010 – my partner, David Pryce, would do legal work and I would do business development. Working in insurance in the City in 2010 meant a large part of that would involve going to the pub. “That’s where a lot of marketing, networking and business development happened so that’s where I’d be in the afternoons, most days. “Then, in , I had my rst son and, after a while, it became abundantly clear that what you can’t do, if you want to be a 21st century dad, is spend all afternoon in the pub then come home, bathe your new-born child, put him to bed and then wake up in the night, change the nappies and contribute. “So I decided to stop drinking
rising low
alcohol
Image by Matt Grayson – find more of his work at graysonphotos.co.uk or @mattgrayson_photo on Insta
