Hope Beer - canning line

Origins

The story of Hope Beer is inspiring, even from its modest beginning. Four friends with diverse career paths, who shared a passion for beer and business, whose kitchen table discussions into the small hours progressed to the formation of Hope Beer in 2015. Hope Beer has since gone from strength to strength and all beers are brewed, bottled, kegged, and now also canned at their brewery in Dublin.

Growth

With a portfolio which includes a core range of five distinct beer styles, seasonals, and limited editions, their sales are now close to €1 million. They have won several awards, including enterprise awards and an Alltech International Craft Brewery award, and they export to Italy, Russia, the Netherlands, and France.

The Beers

The best stories lead to discoveries and Hope's core beers are crafted to do just that. Each beer has its own distinct name, story and taste experience. A perfect example is 'Handsome Jack', a 'balanced and intense' IPA named after a good looking and unstoppable 17th century pirate called Jack Criss who 'plundered his way through Spain and Italy'. Further discoveries are encouraged as each beer is crafted to be the perfect accompaniment to food. Hope's tasting notes recommend that it is paired with 'roast meat, Indian dishes, strong and salty cheese and carrot cake'.

Challenge into Opportunity

When the pandemic began, most businesses and business owners were plunged into a period of suspended operations and uncertainty, and the brewery was no exception. Co-founder and Managing Director Wim de Longh explains:

'We were massively relieved when we ended up being busy for most of 2020 as at the start of pandemic things were looking bad.'

Responsiveness and flexibility were key to counter the challenges. As a result of the closure of the hospitality trade, demand was heavily tied to packaging formats - in particular, the small-pack format. Wim continues:

'Last year saw a fundamental shift in how people were consuming our beer and we had to adopt quickly. Prior to the pandemic up to 40 per cent of our output was kegged for the on-trade, 40 per cent was canned and the remaining 20 per cent was bottled, but with the closure of the hospitality sector canned beer now makes up 95 per cent of our packaged beer.'

Bringing Canning In-house

Hope originally used a contract canning service to can their beer, but in order to meet production deadlines they needed to bring their canning in-house. They decided to seize the opportunity and invest in a new canning line which would give them greater control.

Wim was already familiar with ABE equipment because it was the equipment of choice used by the contract canners. Wim approached us to discuss the ABE range and the model which would be the best match for their production requirements. The CraftCan35 was decided on for its hourly capacity and futureproofing capabilities.