Branding for Breweries is the podcast for beer brands, breweries, and marketers who want to grow sales, attract customers, and stand out in today’s crowded indie beer scene. Hosted by Tim Weaver (The Brand Weaver), each weekly episode features real-world strategies and interviews with top names in beer, branding, and marketing.
From building loyalty with storytelling to maximising taproom footfall, this is your no-fluff guide to brewery success.
Follow on Instagram @brandingforbreweries or visit www.thebrandweaver.co.uk
How to Future-Proof Your Brewery Brand | John Holl on the Future of Beer
What will separate the brewery brands that succeed over the next five years from those that struggle?
This week on Branding for Breweries, Tim is joined by beer journalist, author and All About Beer editor John Holl to talk about how breweries can future-proof their brands in an increasingly difficult beer market.
John has spent nearly 20 years covering the beer industry, speaking to brewers, founders, drinkers and operators around the world. So what does he think the breweries most likely to succeed understand that others are missing?
We get into why so many breweries have ended up looking and behaving the same, why copying successful breweries is a dangerous strategy and why having a genuine sense of what your brewery stands for could become increasingly important.
We also talk about brewing with intention, finding a niche beyond simply making great beer, brewery branding, taproom experience, changing consumer habits, low-ABV beer, GLP-1 drugs and why tiny details like uncomfortable seating, dirty glassware or even the wrong thing playing on the TV can quietly cost you customers.
And John leaves brewery owners with one very simple challenge:
Take a hard, honest look at whether your brewery is still what you actually wanted it to become.
In this episode:
• How to future-proof a brewery brand
• Why copying other breweries makes it harder to stand out
• What authenticity actually means for breweries
• Why breweries should brew with intention
• How to find a niche and build an audience around it
• Why beer needs marketing rather than simply being expected to sell itself
• How taproom experience influences customer behaviour
• Why front and back of house need to work together
• How beer drinking habits are changing
• What GLP-1 drugs could mean for the beer industry
• What brewery owners should do over the next 90 days
CONNECT WITH JOHN HOLL
John Holl
https://www.johnholl.com/ (https://www.johnholl.com/)
All About Beer
https://allaboutbeer.com/ (https://allaboutbeer.com/)
CONNECT WITH TIM WEAVER
Branding for Breweries
https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/branding-for-breweries (https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/branding-for-breweries)
The Brand Weaver Collective
https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/ (https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/)
THANKS TO OUR SHOW SPONSOR, CHARLES FARAM
Supplying and developing the best quality hops from around the world to help brewers create great beer. Grower-owned and brewer focussed.
https://charlesfaram.com/uk/ (https://charlesfaram.com/uk/)
If you enjoy the show, hit follow on Spotify and share the episode with someone else working in the beer industry.
Rock on 🍻
23 Sept 2026
The UK Beer Market Is Broken. What Can Breweries Do?
CAMRA says the UK beer market is broken. So what can independent breweries actually do about it?
This week on Branding for Breweries, I’m joined by Ash Corbett-Collins, Chairman of CAMRA, following the release of its new Beer in the UK report.
The report raises some pretty uncomfortable questions about access to market, brewery ownership, the influence of the major brewers and pub companies, and whether drinkers really have as much choice at the bar as it appears.
But I didn’t want this to become an hour of us agreeing everything is terrible.
I wanted to know what breweries can actually do.
We get into:
🍺 Why brilliant breweries can still struggle or go under
🍺 Why independent beer is being locked out of parts of the pub market
🍺 The “illusion of choice” drinkers see at the bar
🍺 Why breweries should shout much louder about their independence and where their beer is actually brewed
🍺 How breweries can turn their drinkers into campaigners
🍺 Why CAMRA wants breweries to tell them about the problems they’re experiencing
🍺 Why inviting your local MP into the brewery could genuinely help
🍺 How CAMRA, SIBA and the wider industry can work together
🍺 Why CAMRA is starting to show a few more teeth
🍺 What Ash wants CAMRA to become over the next few years
If you run an independent brewery, this one is well worth a listen. There are some massive problems discussed, but importantly, there are also things breweries can start doing about them.
HELPFUL LINKS
Read CAMRA’s Beer in the UK report:
https://camra.org.uk/beer-report (https://camra.org.uk/beer-report)
CAMRA:
https://camra.org.uk/ (https://camra.org.uk/)
Contact Ash Corbett-Collins:
ash.corbettcollins@camra.org.uk (mailto:ash.corbettcollins@camra.org.uk)
CAMRA Campaigns:
campaigns@camra.org.uk (mailto:campaigns@camra.org.uk)
SPONSORED BY CHARLES FARAM
Supplying and developing the best quality hops from around the world to help brewers create great beer! Grower-owned and brewer focussed.
https://charlesfaram.com/uk/ (https://charlesfaram.com/uk/)
CONNECT WITH TIM WEAVER
Branding for Breweries:
https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/branding-for-breweries (https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/branding-for-breweries)
The Brand Weaver Collective:
https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/the-brand-weaver-collective (https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/the-brand-weaver-collective)
If you enjoyed the episode, follow Branding for Breweries on Spotify and share it with another brewery owner who needs to hear it.
16 Sept 2026
The Rebrand That Took Big Hug Into Sainsbury’s & ASDA | Matt Williams
Big Hug Brewing had good beer, genuine purpose and more than a decade behind the business.
But when a Sainsbury's buyer told Matt Williams the liquid was great while the range was “all over the place” and the logo was weak, it confirmed something Matt already knew. The brand needed work.
So Big Hug rebranded.
In this episode, Matt joins me to talk about what changed, why they moved their People & Planet purpose right to the front of the brand and how that transformed the conversations he was able to have with major retailers.
We get into:
• Why individual beer designs can work while the overall brewery brand doesn't
• The brutally useful feedback Matt received from a Sainsbury's buyer
• Making charitable and environmental impact tangible to drinkers
• Creating consistency across cans, taps, beer mats, merchandise and the taproom
• The ASDA pitch that was stopped after just six minutes
• Why Matt believes the rebrand was essential to landing Sainsbury's and ASDA
• Balancing commercial growth with genuinely sticking to your values
A cracking real-world example of what can happen when the beer, purpose and brand finally start telling the same story.
HELPFUL LINKS
Branding for Breweries
https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/branding-for-breweries (https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/branding-for-breweries)
Free Brewery Newsletter
https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/brewery-newsletter (https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/brewery-newsletter)
The Brand Weaver
https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/ (https://thebrandweaver.co.uk/)
Branding for Breweries book
https://amzn.eu/d/04KdwFsw (https://amzn.eu/d/04KdwFsw)
SPONSORED BY CHARLES FARAM
Supplying and developing the best quality hops from around the world to help brewers create great beer. Grower-owned and brewer focussed.
https://www.charlesfaram.com/ (https://www.charlesfaram.com/)
Who has been a guest on Branding for Breweries
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Harriet Kelly
Ben Walton
Jez Galaun
Madeline McMahon
Laura Emson
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 41 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
70
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
Contact Branding for Breweries
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
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