Leviathan Brewing - heavy metal, collabs & faulty seals
With things starting to look like they’ll be going back to normal very soon, there’s a huge sigh of relief throughout the brewing community. One of those people is Chris Hodgetts (also known as Hogman) from Leviathan Brewing in Birmingham. Chris only started in 2019, not the best timing I’m sure you’ll agree. I caught up with Chris on Zoom over a cheeky beer to find a bit more about what inspired him to start a brewery and how he’s got through this turbulent time,
“I’d been home brewing for over 15 years at home and it was something I loved doing. I was doing large IT consultancy projects at the time, spending a lot of time away from the family. I then had a serious illness which made me think WOW, that could have been it, do I really want to spend the rest of my career in a hotel room away from the wife and kids? So I decided to start a brewery!”
Chris started brewing in December 2019 and all was going well until the pandemic hit,
“The first year is going to be difficult already, but under the extreme circumstances it was really hard. The home deliveries helped but realistically I only had one full month of February which is dead anyways, then pretty much straight away the first lockdown.”
Chris had to speed things up to canning straightaway, while relying on deliveries to keep him going,
“Deliveries worked really well the first time around, I had something like 150 local orders in a short space of time. Having to go straight to can was a challenge, especially with contractors involved as they were in demand so much. Eventually I had to go back to my old job, working remotely upstairs, while sorting deliveries at the same time. It’s been frustrating, I was planning on producing 60 beers in the first year and have only managed 15. Brewing has become a somewhat part time job, but I’m back now full time and ready to start brewing again!”
All of Lethiathan’s beers are music-themed as Chris is a big music fan and a huge metal head, with each beer being named after a song,
“I’m a huge music fan and genuinely love all sorts of music. I listened to everything growing up and I still do, I love all kinds of live music but have a big thing for metal festivals and metal bands. I'm not a creative person whatsoever but sometimes I’ll be listening to something on the radio or Spotify and think, that would make a really good beer name.”
Leviathan did a collab with Lichfields newest brewery Trinity Brew Co. early this year called “Kiss From A Rose”,
“I had a problem with the seal on the door of my kettle, it had caused an entire tsunami of beer to go down the drain previously which was a nightmare. During the brew day I was obsessed with the door, worrying will it happen again. Luckily it was fine but we were then talking about what to call the beer and I said, why not call it “Kiss From A Rose” because I’m obsessed with the seal!”
One of our beer highlights from lockdown was Leviathan’s “You And I Should Ride The Coast”, a cracking IPA, juicy and tropical with an awesome bitterness in the finish. Chris hinted that it may be making a comeback. So we’ve got our fingers crossed!
Chris sent us a few keepsakes, “Fight Fire With Fire” Dark Mild, a well rounded mix of rich cocoa, roasted coffee and red berries and “Every Day Comes And Goes” Breakfast Stout, a rich combo of chocolate, coffee and vanilla, with a bitter warming boozy finish.
It's been a tough start for Chris but he has every hope that things are going to be on the up very soon, as he told us,
"It is frustrating but there are now signs that things are looking up, I've had wholesalers inquiring recently. I'm kind of hoping that this will be a sort of a reset, where we can all forget that last year happened. I tell you what, I can't wait for a beer again at Burning Soul!"
Leviathan are planning for plenty more great things to come with limited batch brews and their taproom opening on the 12th of April. So what better way to celebrate the return of normality (well, sort of) than heading down to support this fantastic brewery!
