We speak with Bradley Cummings, the co-founder and commercial director of Newport’s ever expanding Tiny Rebel brewery, about how they got started.
What gave you the idea of stepping out and making your own beer?
My brother-in-law Gareth learnt about home brewing from his grandfather, and he got me interested. We would brew in the evenings and on weekends in my dad’s garage. We’d give the beer to friends and family and we received great feedback. It got to the point where we were brewing beer we’d drink over some of the beers in pubs and shops, so we set to work on a business plan.
You have a brew named Cwtch. Is it important for you to incorporate elements of Wales?
We’re proud of being from Wales but it’s not a factor that we’d want to overtake our focus, which is brewing great beer. We have incorporated little elements of Wales into some products like Cwtch and Clwb Tropicana, but we’re not defined by being from Wales. All of our attention is on the quality of the beer we make, and naturally we’ll include little hints of where we’re from on occasion.
You’ve now taken your products to countries like Denmark and Australia, places known for their beers. Do your products compete well with their own products?
Our beers are doing very well across the globe! We’ve now exported to more than 20 countries, and the reaction has been phenomenal. We get reviews and check-ins from as close to home as France and as far away as Japan! We recently filled a whole container of Cwtch to go out to Australia. That’s a whopping amount of beer!