Purity Brewing
Brewing as pure art
Never compromising on quality, Purity Brewing is one of the most respected craft breweries in the UK, creating fine beers that can offer a memorable experience even to the most seasoned of beer enthusiasts
Brewing outstanding beers with a conscience, consistency and attention to detail without any prejudice, was defined as Purity Brewing’s mission in 2005 when its founders – Paul Halsey and Jim Minkin, started the business. Over a decade later, the Warwickshire-based brewery has become a multi-award-winning company that has successfully built a national network of customers, targeting international expansion as the next key step to fully realising its potential.
A triad of core values – Pure Quality, Pure Eco, and Pure Community, underpins all the activities Purity undertakes. The strict adherence to these principles is viewed as the critical contributor to the business’ success. “We are dedicated to brewing the best beer possible and to do so, we need the best raw materials and suppliers,” begins Paul, who is also the Managing Director of the company. “It is important to work with people who match our values and want to produce a product of the highest quality. We collaborate closely with our malt and hop suppliers to ensure the quality and the consistency of their products, so they can meet the Pure Quality standard we have set,” he points out.
What is truly emblematic of Purity, however, is its eco credentials that demonstrate the company’s commitment to supporting the environment by using only natural ingredients and getting involved in recycling programmes. Paul elaborates: “At Purity, waste water from the brewing process is recycled through a wetland system. This sustainable ecosystem helps minimise carbon emissions and encourages wildlife diversity. Similarly, the brewery’s spent hops are used as a fertiliser on the local farm and spent grain is currently being used to nourish goslings at a farm in Leicestershire. What is more, Purity also uses the latest heat and steam recapture technology to reduce energy consumption at our 90,000-hectolitre brewery. Another telling example of our conscientious approach lies in the fact that we use only 2.5 pints of water to make a pint of beer – a stark difference to the industry standard of brewers who use eight pints.”
Also synonymous with Purity is the brewery’s keen support for cultural events in and around Warwickshire. “We have supported festivals such as Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul, Mosely Folk, Camper Calling, and Lunar. In addition, we are an official partner of Wasps Rugby and the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, also supporting numerous other rugby union teams including Coventry Rugby and Birmingham and Solihull Bees,” Paul remarks.
Flagship brews
The combination of these three fundamentals has understandably piqued the interest of the industry, which led to Purity being named 2018 Brewery of the Year by the Good Pub Guide. Moreover, each of the beers in the brewery’s range has also been recognised externally in the past few years, raising its prestige further. Most recently, the Lawless Lager and the Mad Goose were pronounced winners of a Gold award at this year’s SIBA Midlands Beer Competition. The former won in the Bottle/Can Premium Lager & Pilsner (4.5 per cent to 6.4 per cent) category, while the latter beat its competition to the Cask British Bitter (up to 4.4 per cent) award. Other flagship brews crafted by Purity include the golden ale Pure Gold, the amber ale with a sweet finish Pure UBU, the pale ale Bunny Hop, the American-style Longhorn IPA and a black IPA Saddle Black.
“With over 2000 breweries operating in the UK at the moment, the market is certainly extremely competitive, with all of these breweries fighting for space in the same bars. Coupled with the fact that pubs are closing at an alarming rate, we are facing a significant challenge that needs to be addressed,” Paul analyses current business conditions. “Our response is continual investment into our quality assurance programme and R&D to ensure the beer we make remains the best it can be. We are also looking to start exporting and we have just appointed an Export Manager – Colin Cordy, to organise the process. We are really excited about taking Purity to different parts of the world and our focus in the next year or so will be to establish a presence in Northern Europe, Russia and Asia.”
Business investment
Surely, intensifying international trade activities is not to come at the expense of additional UK expansion. Instead, Purity is determined to bolster both revenue streams simultaneously. “To this end, we will make the most of the investment we received from the Business Growth Fund (BGF) in August aimed at supporting our organic growth strategy. Part of the investment will be used to implement our expansion plans across the UK, as we are targeting sales growth in the North and the South East of England,” Paul reveals.
Backed by the aforementioned financial support from the BGF, Purity will also test its own boundaries in terms of new product development in the next three years. Furthermore, the company is considering the purchase of more fermenting vessels to increase its capacity and accommodate anticipated growth in demand. Following a clearly-defined business model and never backing down from its dedication to quality, Purity can relish the prospect of its brands rising to a well-known status worldwide. Cheers to the prospect of many more perfect pints!