THE DRINKING BUDDIES WHO BREWED UP A BUSINESS
AFTER a few pints in the pub, James Beavan and Robert Faulkner had the bright idea of quitting the rat race and starting their own beermaking business.
Unlike most similar alcoholfuelled hair-brained ideas, though, the two pals actually ploughed every last penny they had into carrying out the masterplan.
In May 2014 James, 31, was a restaurant manager for Brains in Tenby.
One day he was having a few beers with his friend Robert, 35.
“We were both just chatting one evening, having a drink as you do, and were saying Tenby needed somewhere that sold real ale,” said James. “Everything sold in the town were brands like Boddingtons.
“We had the idea to start our own brewery, based around real ale you could enjoy on the beach.
“The next morning, after we had sobered up, we talked about it, looked at each other and said ‘this could actually work’ and went for it.”
James immediately left his job and they set about learning as much as they could about brewing.
“As part of the research process we met with a guy from Tenby called Brian Dooley who did small-scale stuff through his Preseli Brewery,” said Swansea Uni graduate James. “We made a batch with him. “In the autumn he rang us to say he was retiring and asked if we wanted to buy his equipment. That is how Tenby Brewing Co was born.”
The most nerve-wracking part was the first batch they made.
They would have been out of cash if it flopped.
James said: “We brewed our first beer, called Barefoot Blonde, in January 2015. It was a delicious pale ale and quite hoppy.
“We added some Thai lime leaves to give it a refreshing taste.
“We were very short of money. I had given up my job six months before.
“I had to drive night taxis all through the winter to save money and Rob was still balancing managing a pub in Tenby.
“We needed this first batch to work because if we couldn’t sell it we couldn’t afford more ingredients.
“I will never forget the first time we were in a pub and we saw our beers on the pump clips, it became very real,” said James. “Three pubs in Tenby hosted it to start with.”
The beer proved an incredible success. Within four months they were invited to Brewfest by Otley Brewery and 12 weeks ago opened their own bar in Tenby called the SandBar.
They have now made 14 beers and in the past 120 days have sold 40,000 pints. That is the equivalent of a pint every 4.2 minutes and 333 pints a day.
Looking back, James has no regrets. He said: “Two things I didn’t like about the corporate life were crushing unsociable hours and that it was very target-driven.
“It was all about the quarterly outlook whereas I wanted something a bit more long-term.”
He added: “You have to have faith in yourself as well as your business partner. We work well together. We are both quite good at putting aside our feelings and doing what is best for the business.”