GOOD FOOD GUY
HARD CRAFT
Taken from this month’s Cotswold Life magazine
WHY RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN OF THE CRAFT DRINK CO. IS MY UNSUNG HERO OF THE COTSWOLDS DRINKS SCENE
Just last week, we celebrated much of the region’s best food and drink at this year’s Cotswold Life Food and Drink Awards. As I write, I don’t know who will get to claim the coveted awards, ‘the Oscars’ of the Cotswolds food and drink scene, but I do know that the awards tell only a part of the story.
Having worked with local producers and suppliers for well over 15 years, I have seen first-hand the amount of hard work, dedication, passion and pure determination that goes into creating those award-worthy end products. But there are other, often unsung, heroes out there who toil away behind the scenes to bring us those amazing products, without any of the fanfare.
Richard Chamberlain of The Craft Drink Co is one such hero in my book. He has single-handedly made enjoying great craft drinks easy. That bottle of Severn Cider, that pint of Butcombe Rare Breed Ale and that glass of Chase Distillery vodka may have more in common than you realise – they were probably brought to you by Richard, the ‘middle man’ of the Cotswolds craft drinks industry.
For me, as a retailer of local food and drink, Richard is worth his absolute weight in gold. He’s like the Airbnb of the craft drinks industry, putting producers and stockists in touch with each other: local brewers and producers benefit because selling through The Craft Drink Co means fewer deliveries for them to have to take on, while restaurants, pubs and shops can order with one simple phone call – and when you consider that at Warner’s in Upton-upon-Severn, we stock over 35 local drinks brands represented by The Craft Drink Co, that’s a huge amount of admin we save each week! But perhaps the greatest benefit of all is that the consumer gets to enjoy an amazing range of craft drinks that they might well never had had the pleasure of trying before.
Like many of the best ideas, Richard’s was simple and from humble beginnings. After managing local food and drink shops, he wanted to do something bigger for the local producers he had come to know. Some of the first brands to come on board with his new idea were those he already worked with, such as Cotswold Brewing Co, North Cotswold Brewery, Benson’s Apple Juice and Cotswold Cider Co. By the end of his first year in 2014, he was representing seven brands, all with a very ‘Cotswolds’ feel to it. Thanks to a strong relationship with Sheldons Wine Cellars in Shipston-on-Stour, Richard was able to spend time on that ‘unsung’ bit behind the scenes – the days spent visiting businesses across the Cotswolds, presenting and persuading them to stock his portfolio of Cotswold drinks. Fast forward to 2022, and The Craft Drink Co now represents over 170 craft drink brands or producers, with a reach that has trickled out of the Cotswolds to take in the whole of Central England and parts of Wales.
There’s no doubt that the UK’s artisan drinks market has undergone a huge transformation over the last decade which has helped boost Richard’s business – but without him acting as the glue in the middle holding everything together, many of these genuinely great craft drinks producers may have slipped by unnoticed. A bit like Richard himself – my unsung hero of the Cotswolds drinks scene!
GUY’S TOP CRAFT DRINKS
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IPA
Stroud Brewery’s Organic IPA is fat, juicy and driven by American and New Zealand hops, alternatively Hook Norton’s Flagship IPA, with its fruity punch and sweet aroma, will always hit the mark.
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DRY CIDER
You’d be hard pressed to beat Pearson’s Dry Cider, a clear and lightly sparkling cider or alternatively, try the oaky, tannin-rich Prior’s Tipple Vintage Cider, made by Isaac Nixon at Stanway.
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LAGER
Purity Brewing’s Lawless Lager follows 500-year-old Bavarian brewing laws to achieve traditional purity with just four ingredients or try the fruity and floral aromas of Hawkstone’s 3.8 Pilsner.
