Beer Hour: Darron Anley
Darron Anley talks to Jessica Mason about gathering good advice from those ‘in the know’ before going on to create beers with passion, confidence and staying power.
Siren Craft Brew founder Darron Anley always had a hankering to create something. But aside from simply brand-building, there has always been a lot of passion for beer. Blending, barrel-ageing and recognising the playfulness of a complex grain mix have all become hallmarks of Anley’s taste. This is why, still today, in Siren, he has gained tangible and often memorable brews that continue to delight.
“I came to start Siren as a fan of beer,” he says and reveals that in his previous career, he’d “set up a few different businesses” although none of them had any connections to the brewing industry – in fact the last two businesses had involved “selling other company’s products and services”.
Making something of your own
In some ways it is both his capability to pop the hood and see how things work that gives him such a hands-on and fearless approach to business that led him here. Where is that exactly? To a production site in Reading in Berkshire and, more specifically, to a place where he could grow something from the ground up. In Siren, he assembled a business of his own – this time one in which he was invested in, heart and soul.
Indeed, as Anley admits: “I had loved the energy that Brewdog had brought to the UK scene” before quickly pointing out that “it was 2008-2009 in my defence”. But, he says that you already “could see what was happening in the US” and he knew beer was becoming more and more appealing.
“I was really excited about trying to make an actual product and try and understand how to build a brand and see if I could do that,” he explains and says that from that moment things moved very swiftly. “I sold my business in 2011 and, within four weeks, was on a course in how to brew beer. Then, I went to the Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego in 2012 and that was the final decision to go for it,” he adds, grinning.
Advice in the beginning
In terms of guidance, Anley admits that he “got some great advice from Jasper [Cuppaidge] at Camden [Town Brewery]” who he says encouraged him with advice like: “‘if I can afford it double the size of the brewhouse, if not triple it,’ and Kelly Ryan of Thornbridge at the time insisted I get a professional head brewer and even helped with a Twitter campaign to find me one”.
It was at that point that Anley recalls: “I employed Ryan Witter Merithew who was brewing in Denmark, and amongst his own brewery brands was doing the off-the-wall stuff for Mikkeller and Evil Twin.”
This is when things started to get interesting. Siren jumped in with both feet. Every style seems to grab your attention with sheer clout. ‘Helllooo!’ Each of the beers bellowed with warmth intermingled with a satisfying and memorable level of comfort before embracing you in an enveloping hug,
“We started with a core range that, in 2013, was pretty big – an oatmeal pale ale – a West Coast IPA, a Red IPA – because they are my favourite – and a breakfast stout at 6.5% ABV,” says Anley, who agrees that they were “all pretty punchy for the brewing scene even in 2013”.
Jumping in at the deep end
In fact, if you look at the first beer style, you might have been able to predict that this wasn’t any old brewery. Siren kicked off with a barley wine. No messing around.
He remembers: “The first beer we ever brewed, before these core beers, was an 11% ABV barley wine that we put into various spirit barrels with the idea that in a year’s time, the first brew of 2014 would be another fresh batch of barley wine.”
“Then, we would make a blend using the fresh and barrel beers in a way that would be better than the sum of the parts – only use what made it taste better,” says Anley and explains that “the hope was this would become a yearly anniversary thing, but the risk was it was a very expensive trial that could go very wrong”. He laughs: “Luckily it didn’t, and last week we carried out our 12th blending day of Maiden.”
Without a hint of fear, he says: “I did it mostly because I was excited by the idea of making something, I like building things, and I like learning and this industry is great because there is always so much to learn.” There’s that confidence again, shining through.
Anley considers that barley wines are a “must-brew” beer style for Siren and reveals that, in creating Maiden, it is actually one of the things of which he is “most proud”.
For the love of beer
At Siren, Anley recalls that the team also created a barley wine called Scattered Light which was “a love letter to a Cigar City Barley Wine called 3 Wood”. To brew it, Siren “spun the beer through our spinbot and conditioned it on two types of oak, cypress and maple wood spirals” and, in describing it, Anley recalls that “it was delicious”. Added to this, he says Siren also “aged some in Bourbon barrels” and called it The Light Gatherer. Anley speaks of it fondly, stating: “It was unbelievable”.
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In terms of his personal beer taste, Anley confesses: “I love hops, and I love the different expressions – West Coast, Californian are my favourite styles of IPA. However I also really love West Coast Pilsners – we call them Crisp IPAs as the UK consumer hasn’t quite got the message yet, but they are great – lean, crisp, pine, fruit, mid ABV of 5-5.5%.”
Added to this, he reveals that beers he adores often return every year and explains: “I love Red IPA’s, so Liquid Mistress makes an annual comeback.”
Beer ‘can have edges’
In fact, if Anley were to describe a style of brewing that Siren epitomises then it isn’t really confined to style or sessionability. Granted, each beer fulfils a brief to some extent, but it isn’t given a criteria that would fit on a standard brewer’s checklist. Instead, Siren leans in to standing out.
The exciting part about Siren is that, as Anley explains: “When it comes to brewing a beer, we tend to aim for what we want to do with that beer, it doesn’t have to balance, it can have edges, not every beer has to be drunk in pints.”
Put more simply, he says that Siren has “three values that we try to live by – sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much”. These are to be “adventurous” because in this industry there is a sense that you’ve “got to push” and “be bold” and whatever happens “don’t be small”.
Secondly, he advises that it is also important that Siren stays “humble” and shows that it is “always learning”. It appears to be important to Anley that the brewery and its team stay “respectful” and “helpful” to others.
Thirdly, there is an ambition for the brewery to be “lasting” or, put another way “to be here a long time”.
Anley believes that it is crucial that Siren “operate sustainably” and this also means that it is fundamental that the business goes on to “make enough margin to play next year”.
Taking this into account he says that to be “lasting” also means that he needs to “make the right decisions” so that he and the rest of the Siren team can then go one to also “make long term decisions for our customers”.
Challenges for the sector
Anley points out that this is a volatile time for the sector and highlights that things are not helped by the fact that “independent pubs are on their knees”.
Something needs to change. The knock on effects on the sector from “Covid, followed by unreal energy inflation, food inflation, ridiculous business rate increases, wage inflation and pubs are struggling to just get through” he says. “That’s 75% of our business,” says Anley, who also points out that “the export market pre-Brexit was 10-15% of our business, but is now less than 5%”.
“Customers have less money, but are still interested in all the fun stuff so we have changed our release schedule accordingly,” he says and adds that Siren is also now “trying to concentrate on what we think we are good at, telling stories and finding ways to get customers into pubs”.
Anley says: “I think the business issues are the big issues – access to market, energy costs, taxation are all problems. There are lots of businesses doing CVAs or administration and losing their debt with a nice brand and equipment, but there are too many who are doing unsustainable deals that devalue the whole sector – this has always been an issue in any maturing market.”
‘Take action’
Staying relevant in an ever-changing economic landscape is paramount. But how does one brewery do this when so many are struggling? For Siren, the answer is its “blend of flagship beers, regular collaborations, limited releases and fun projects”. Essentially, Anley observes that it has a lot to do with being able to “constantly find ways of appealing to new customers and remind our lifelong fans why they love us”.
This is Anley’s over-arching advice, to just keep going, stay agile and never stagnate. He insists: “There is always something to learn, always be open and listening, but probably most importantly – move – take action.”
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