Meet the Brewer: Alex Hill, Green Duck

Alex Hill is head brewer at Stourbridge’s flagship craft brewery, Green Duck. The brewery was founded in 2012 and Alex joined the team in three years later. Since then he has been instrumental in driving the brewery forward and developing interesting new brews which are available in many locations across Birmingham. 

We sat down with Alex to find out some more about the man behind the beer. 

What was the first beer you drank?

I think it was probably a tepid bottle of Becks. 

Is there a particular beer that got you hooked on craft?  

Brewdog’s Dead Pony Club was a real game changer for when I first tried it almost ten years ago- there was just so much flavour in it. I can safely say I wasn’t going to go back to Becks after trying this brew. 

Where does your interest in beer stem from? 

I’ve always enjoyed cooking (and eating) so the interaction of flavours and techniques with the application of science drew me in.  

What are your favourite beer styles? 

In my humble opinion you can’t beat a pale ale on cask or a New England IPA on keg.

Hopping Mad: Alex Hill, Green Duck’s head brewer hard at work.

Is there a story behind the name Green Duck? 

Not an interesting one! It was the founders sons’ favourite colour and the outline of the duck was on some design work he was doing at the time. So that was that really. We may have to come up with a more elaborate story someday. 

Are you brewing more cask then keg still? 

We’re orientated towards cask but are continuing to experiment with new beer styles all the time. 

How many litres of beer to brew a week/month?  

We average between 5000-8000 Litres a week. 

Which Birmingham venues to you supply to? 

A variety throughout the centre and the wider area. But we are always looking for more 

Any new brews on the horizon? 

Plenty! We try and release a minimum of 3 new beers a month on cask alongside our core range. Then on top of that in the ‘noir’ craft range we release at least 1 or 2 a month alongside barrel aged beers etc.  We recommend visiting the tappy and website regularly to check out our new brews.

Green Duck’s craft noir range-launched in summer of 2020.

How have you adapted during since the outbreak of Covid-19 ? 

We moved quickly to a fresh beer home delivery service alongside bottles and cans. We’ve learnt not to plan to rigidly and just be as fluid as possible- if you’ll pardon the pun. 

The local beer scene is really developing but what else does it need? 

I think it needs to own itself and believe that it can stand up to the likes of Manchester etc. The quality of the product coming out of Birmingham breweries is second to none.  

Is there anything that the government could do to make life easier for Britain’s brewers? 

Reduction in duty would be nice! This would facilitate growth and it would make beer more affordable. The cost of quality ingredients and world class production equipment mean that beer isn’t that cheap to make, especially if we start adding in high amount of fruit, hops etc. We’re one of the most taxed beer industries in Europe, the price doesn’t have to encourage irresponsible drinking, just reduce the operating costs a little to create growth.  

Alex Hill spoke to Andrew Tromans on 19.10.2020

You can find Green Duck on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

All photo supplied courtesy of Green Duck Beer Co (Thanks guys)