Why City lawyer to alcohol free brewery owner is a Big Drop

How a relaxing massage can be good for mind and body

how a City lawyer made the Big Drop beer he wanted – without the alcohol or the awful hangover

Beer 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 signiÀcant 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 Àrm 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 Àrst 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 by Jon Massey

Investment Rob is looking for as Big Drop launches its crowdfunding campaign £1m

Rob Fink founded a non-alcoholic brewery in 2016 and believes Wharfers could benet from strategic use of his products

rising low alcohol

Image by Matt Grayson – nd more of his work at graysonphotos.co.uk or @mattgrayson_photo on Insta

altogether. I tried to cut down, but, when you’re in the pub for À ve hours, you end up drinking too much anyway, regardless of whether every other pint is non-alcoholic.

“I didn’t drink for about six or seven months, but I was not in a position where I could say that I was not going to the pub, because that was part of my Mob.

“So I’d habitually order a nonalcoholic beer, because you can’t drink cola, lemonade or orange Muice for À ve hours ² you feel a bit peculiar.

“The problem with alcohol-free beer is that fundamentally it wasn’t very good. There wasn’t a fl ash of inspiration, but I would À nd myself standing in great pubs, looking at the bar and thinking ‘I can buy craft beer from around the world, in every style, in every strength from to or more’. “I’m going into some pubs and they’ve got diff erent taps but when I ask for an alcoholfree beer, I’m given the same, not very inter esting, massproduced product. “0aybe years ago, we had the craft beer revolution and it completely transformed what beers were available in pubs. “1ow, in most of the decent pubs that you go into, the range is incredible, but it became apparent to me that craft breweries had Must not innovated in alcoholfree beer at all.

“I think the reason is that the people who were starting these craft breweries wanted to make alcoholic beer, because they were seeing all these innovations in the 8S$ and they wanted to drink those beverages in the 8..

“1obody started their craft brewery because what they really wanted was an alcoholfree beer, until I put my hand up and said ¶I do this is what I want at this particular point in my life’.” H e’s clearly not alone. %ig 'rop sold more than million bottles of beer last year and wants to sell million in . %ut its product range isn’t aimed at nondrinking youngsters, it’s for people like 5ob. “%ig 'rop is aimed at people who like beer, and we don’t target a particular gender or age demographic,” he said.

“If you don’t like beer, then you’re not going to like what we’re doing, because we brew beer, it Must so happens that it’s without the usual alcohol.

“The way I now drink alcohol ² a lot less than I used to in the &ity ² is partly how I use %ig 'rop. “The $ustralians have a wonderful term although they don’t use alcoholfree beer yet because it’s not really a thing there at present. They’ll have a beer and then a soft drink, then a beer, and they call the soft drink the ¶wedgie’ ² a wedge between the two, so I think about it a bit like that.

“2ur market is a whole range of people ² it’s me, it’s my dad, it’s people who are driving, anyone who isn’t drinking, or wants to drink a bit less on a particular occasion, who might think ¶2., I can have a lemonade or I can have a beer, so, I’ll have a beer, one that tastes great and is alcoholfree’.

“I’ve even heard of people who mix %ig 'rop with alcoholic beers to create a beer shandy that isn’t sweet. <ou’re drinking something that’s about .

“I might drink %ig 'rop during the week and have a diff erent beer at the weekend.

“I am not against alcohol. I very much enMoy a glass of red wine with Sunday dinner or a beer or two if I go to the pub with my friends. I’ll have a gin and tonic on a hot summer’s day ² that’s À ne. “I like to see it as increasing choice for consumers, and increasing the portfolio of drinks that you may consider as part of your repertoire.

“If we’re talking about the hospi tality trade, I think consumers are increasingly realising they don’t have to put up with what they’re being off ered.

“It’s not good enough for them to go up and say ¶I’m not drinking ² what have you got"’ and be off ered a lime and soda.”

)ebruary marks another chapter in the company’s story. It’s the month that %ig 'rop unveils its rebrand, moving away from artwork inspired by its Suff olk roots to a bolder, more colourful identity refl ecting its increasingly international reach.

The company is also launching a crowdfunding campaign via the Seedrs platform as it seeks to expand its global operation.

&leverly, the structure of the company means unlike many craft beer operations, it’s not held back by having its own brewery, instead contract brewing in batches with a range of partners. &onseTuently it’s free to grow both without the need to invest in expensive kit and bigger premises and being rela tively unencumbered in terms of logistics as it can create its product where needed either in the 8. or overseas through subsidiaries to “ If I’m meeting business contacts at lunchtime, I know I can have a couple of Big Drops and get the psychological bene t of having a beer Rob Fink, Big Drop Brewing Company

help avoid any existing tariff s or those that may arrive with %rexit. 5ob said “While some brands such as 0eantime in *reenwich or &amden Town are linked to places, our selling point is the alcohol level so we don’t need to talk about provenance in the same way.

“It’s not Must about trade tariff s ² there’s also a sustainability perspective to this. We already have 'utch and &anadian subsidiaries and we’ll be starting to brew in Sweden in the next few months. The Tuestion is ¶Why do I need to brew my beer in the 8., put it on a freighter and ship it to &anada when I can brew it in Toronto where it’s sold"’. “It’s also the fact that any brewery I’d have been able to aff ord when setting up the company would have been very small ² unable to keep up with demand. “If our forecasts are right, we shall be one of the 8.’s biggest inde pendent craft breweries in the next three years.” For that growth to happen, obviously, more people have to buy the beer

Big Drop’s Galactic Milk Stout delivers depth via lactose and costs £1.49 in Holland And Barrett

so what can Wharfers expect when supping the brand"

“Maybe you’re going out for a business lunch or a social meeting, but you still have to go back to work in the afternoon,” said 5ob. “I’m now and I know that, if I have a beer at lunchtime, I do feel it ² I’m less productive. “But if I want to go to meet my friends or some business contacts, then I know that I can have a couple of %ig 'rops and get the psychological beneÀ t of having a beer ² the pop of the cap, the À ]] of the carbonation, the smell of the hops ² without the impact on productivity.

“I push that all the time. 3eople may say ¶It’s not Tuite beer, is it"’ and I say ¶1o, it is’. That psychological eff ect isn’t the alcohol, it’s your brain releasing dopa mine because you’ve told it you’re drinking an alcoholic beverage.

“If you order a Big Drop, you know perfectly well that you’re getting a non-alcoholic beer but that feeling and the sensation are still there.” Go to bigdropbrew.com or bigdropbrewing.seedrs.com