What’s yer name and where d’ya come from?
My name is Michaela Charles and I’m originally from Cliffe in Kent although I now live in Walthamstow with my husband, Daniel, and cat, Schrodinger.
What made you decide to become a brewer and how did you get to where you are now?
Having come from a small village with five pubs it’s easy to think good beer is in my blood! I was raised on Gadd’s and Shepherd Neame and always encouraged to be curious with beer. My first job was at a certain huge pub chain. I really enjoyed the cellar management and in time I was given some very good opportunities including brewing a beer for the national beer festival.
I like to think I persuaded breweries to give me hands on experience but in honesty I probably hounded them into it! It’s entirely through the generosity, of both time and knowledge, of these senior brewers that I got a foot in the door. It’s a quality that is so often overlooked in so many other industries but sets brewers and their teams apart.
From there I gave up bar work completely and became second brewer at Clarence and Fredericks. I was trusted to release beer under my own brand, Upstairs Brewing. That took a back burner when I was asked to run the brewing operation at Pitt Cue in Devonshire Square and the real creativity started. Since then I haven’t looked back!
What’s been the most challenging thing about establishing your brewing career?
The big challenge for me was the jump between brewery assistant and brewer. I give so much credit to the willingness of brewers to teach, especially Duncan Woodhead.
There’s a lot of talk of sexism in the industry. I’m lucky enough not to have experienced much of it first hand. I think the brewing industry as a whole is much too savvy for that now; however, the pub trade has a bit of catching up to do.
What’s the best beer you’ve ever drunk and why?
The best beer I’ve ever drunk was a bottle of Left Hand Milk Stout some twenty years ago. It was ice cold and served in a goblet and it felt like falling into a kinder egg. Divine! Second to that is the pint of Whitstable Bay Pale Ale I’d have after work in my local. Always a pristine pint of hoppy heaven.
And what about the best beer you’ve brewed?
The best beer I’ve ever brewed is the Rauchbier I produced for Pitt Cue. It was a smoked German Lager that I researched whilst in Bamberg. It took ages to brew each batch and it went perfectly with our mangalitsa pork and pickles. Crisp, smokey, clean and conker red. An absolute beauty.
And the worst? 🙂
The bacon beer. The boss insisted we should have one so I brewed it. It was revolting. I then brewed the Rauchbier and we never discussed the bacon beer again.
If you were only allowed to keep one beer style forever, what would it be?
English pale ale. It can be everything you need between crisp and refreshing, and malty and comforting. Park beer, Sunday lunch, music festival and celebration.
Other than the obvious two (Covid and Brexit), what do you think are the biggest challenges facing the independent brewing industry right now?
Every brewery seems to need a Unique Selling Point. Great tasting beer doesn’t appear to be enough. I used to drink Whitstable Bay or Gadds, say, because I knew their beer was spot on. But now a brewery needs something extra or other to compete. I don’t mean to say that there’s anything wrong in appealing to a niche, but the beer has somehow become secondary. I would love to have a brewery that has a flying fox circus on the mezzanine and an actual squirrel on the can but I would still like people to come for the beer.
What are you most looking forward to about brewing for Beerblefish?
Yeast! It’s been a little while since I’ve exercised my creativity and a brewery team that uses blended yeast is a great place to get it going. I love the subtle manipulation to create enhanced flavours. Lots to get my teeth into.
Which Beerblefish beer is your favourite at the moment?
My favourite is Infinite Improbability Saison, it’s a yeast I really enjoy for its distinctive pep and a blooming refreshing beer too!
If you could brew any beer in any style, with no restrictions on price or quantity of ingredients, what would it be?
A pale ale with Icelandic spring water. And then the same thing with Burton and London water. That would be a nice experiment and a scenic road trip.
So, there you have it: all about Michaela. Thanks, Michaela, for undergoing this interrogation!!
