The People Behind: Attic Brew Co

Attic Brew Co: The largest independent brewery in the West Midlands.

Attic Brew Co. began, not in an attic, but in a bedroom of a shared house in Cardiff. Oli & Sam met at university in the city and, short on cash for beer, Sam started brewing beer in his bedroom. “Those first few beers were pretty rough around the edges” recalls Oli, “but we all loved the excitement of drinking something Sam had made”.

A few years later, both Sam and Oli were working in the corporate world. Sam was now brewing in his spare time in the attic of his [Birmingham/Kings Heath] house and approached Oli with an idea: let’s start a brewery. “As a Brummie, it was pretty tough to find any locally brewed beer in the city” says Sam. “Running a brewery was always my dream, but that was the point I thought, we can do something about this”. 

6 months later, Oli had left his job in London and moved to Birmingham. The pair took on a dilapidated industrial unit in Stirchely and Attic Brew Co. was born. Some savings and a small loan allowed Attic to cobble together a brewery that was older than Sam and Oli put together and, with the help of friends and family, they built the taproom and opened in 2018.

With incredible support from the local community, the taproom was an instant success. Any profits from the taproom were invested into the brewery, which quickly grew to keep up with demand. Attic continued to grow, despite the threat of COVID, and started to sell beer to local pubs and bars. 

The brewery continues to re-invest its profits into beer quality, consistency and growth. It is still 100% owner operated, having never taken on any external investment, meaning it can continue to invest in building a sustainable local brewery. 

Seven years in and Attic is now the largest independent brewery in the West Midlands and aiming to be the best loved brewery in the West Midlands. That means beer that local people can call their own, and also something that shouts about the region  and the city of Birmingham to the rest of the country.

A few weeks ago Olly hopped on a train to Birmingham to brew a collab with our October Discovery Brewery of the Month - Attic Brew Co. It’s rare we get to brew a stout, so given the season and a thirst for something dark and sweet we put our paddles to the mash and whipped up a 5.8% Chocolate and Honeycomb Stout. 

Choose from their Mixed or Lights box and give Attic a go this month 🙂