Finding My Way Back

18 months and then some of reality, reckoning and beer

There's a version of this post I've written in my head a dozen times. A clean, confident recap. Bullet points. Lessons learned. A tidy bow on top.

This isn't that version.

Every time I sit down to write, I find another reason not to publish. But the last 18 months have been the most educational, exhausting, and occasionally exhilarating period since I put the Tilt & Pour name out into the world. And if I'm going to write about it, I'd rather do it honestly than dress it up.

So. Long Story Short.

Where I Was

If you've followed along for a while, you'll know Tilt & Pour started as a blog a place to write about Northern Ireland's growing craft beer scene, highlighting breweries, people, and pints worth seeking out. Pure enthusiasm. No real pressure attached.

Then it grew. All my savings were invested, a limited company formed, and after navigating all the legal groundwork we started brewing. First a Helles, which felt like an enormous leap. Then more releases. We've been incredibly fortunate to have Mal and Suzanne at Heaney Brewery in Bellaghy to make our beers a reality. I can't overstate what that friendship has meant to Tilt & Pour and me. Distribution through Salty Buoy. Stockists across Northern Ireland. Festival appearances. Actual cans with our name and my friend's artwork sitting in actual fridges.

And somewhere in the middle of all that growth, I hit a wall. Hard.

Not dramatically. Not a single moment. More like a slow accumulation of doubt, fatigue, and the kind of anxiety that comes from caring too much about something you're not sure is working.

The Honest Part

Before I get into this, I want to be upfront about something. I'm fortunate. I have a day job, actual income and anything for Tilt & Pour I do when and where I can, without taking a wage. My outgoings are limited compared to those running full-time operations. Whatever Tilt & Pour has experienced over the past 18 months, it's a fraction of what others in this industry carry every single day.

That said.

From the outside, running a small craft beer brand looks like: nice cans, cool labels, fun festivals, Instagram posts of pints in goldenlight. And those things are real, I won't pretend they're not. We've had genuinely brilliant moments: releasing a variety of beers, collaborating with fantastic breweries, and being invited to festivals like Portrush Beer Festival, CAMRA events, and Jubilate.

But between those moments? There's anxiety, and the relentless comparison of your product to others. There are spreadsheets. Emails that don't get replied to. A million pages of legislation. The constant mental arithmetic of whether a batch makes financial sense. And the quiet, persistent question of whether you're building something or just running in place.

Nobody really wants to talk about that part. So I'm talking about it.

Whatever Tilt & Pour has experienced, it is only a fraction of what others in this industry carry every single day.

The Pricing Dilemma and Why It Keeps Me Up at Night

This is the one I wrestle with most.

Craft beer is expensive to make especially when you're small. You're paying for ingredients that cost more per unit than a macro brewer pays for a pallet. You're paying everyone in the supply chain: energy, cans, labels, distribution, storage. Every step has a cost, and everyone in that chain deserves to be paid fairly (and on time) regardless of whether you're having a good month or a bad one.

So you price accordingly. And then you watch someone pick up your can, check the price, and put it back down. That moment is brutal every single time.

The industry-wide conversation around craft beer pricing is complicated, and I don't think there are easy answers. Consumers are being squeezed from every direction and heavily marketed to by the big players. The cost of living is real. Asking someone to pay a meaningful amount for a single can when they can get a 12-pack of something 'familiar' for less per can is a genuine ask. I understand the hesitation. I genuinely do.

But here's what I'd like more people to understand from the other side: that price difference isn't margin. For most small independent producers, it's survival. It's the gap between breaking even and closing down. Without access to direct to consumer markets, breweries will continue to suffer further due to our archaic licensing laws. When you choose an independent can over a macro one, you're not paying for a brand story, you're funding the next batch. The next opportunity to make something genuinely great.

That price difference isn't margin. For most small independent producers, it's the gap between breaking even and closing down.

At the time of writing, I'm aware of several breweries in Northern Ireland seriously considering selling, offloading parts of the business, or pausing production for the foreseeable future. That's not rumour. That's reality.

I don't say any of this to guilt trip anyone. I say it because transparency matters, and this industry has historically been terrible at having this conversation openly.

What I Learned (the Useful Bits)

Eighteen months is long enough to accumulate real lessons, even if they're not the ones you expected.

The first is that consistency beats intensity. I spent a lot of the early period trying to do everything at once: releasing beers, writing content, attending every event possible, managing stockists, planning the next thing before the current thing was finished. Slowing down and doing fewer things properly turned out to be far more effective than doing everything at half speed.

The second and this is more a reaffirmation than a revelation is that the community is everything. It's infrastructure. A continuous sounding board. An open, honest discussion. The Northern Ireland beer scene is small enough that relationships genuinely matter. The connections I've built with other brewers, distributors, bar owners, and fellow beer enthusiasts aren't just nice to have they're critical. Collaboration over competition isn't just a nice phrase; it's the only practical strategy when you're this size.

The third, and this one took longest to accept: not every period needs to be a growth period. Sometimes maintaining what you've built, keeping quality high, and surviving a difficult stretch is the win. I spent a lot of time feeling like I was failing because I wasn't accelerating. I wasn't failing. I was learning what the business actually was.

The Beers That Got Me Through

It would feel wrong to recap 18 months of Tilt & Pour without talking about what's actually been brewed. Here's everything since our last post:

• Facilitate This - 6% NZ IPA Collaboration with Heaney Brewery all the Nelson Sauvin & Nectaron!

• Exemplify - 4.5% Coffee Oatmeal Stout Collaboration with Exemplar Coffee - Batch 1 Brazilian Coffee

• As Above So Below - 4.9% Hazy Pale KRUSH KRUSH KRUSH 

• Long Story Short - 3.2% Table Beer - Beer 52 Beer - Batch 1 - Brewed In Belgium (330ML Can)

• Meridian Drift - 5.5% IPA Featuring Mandarina Bavaria, Citra & Superdelic Hops! 

• Calculated Chaos - 5.5% Keg Only - DDH Mosaic Sour Pale Ale

• Pure Here - 4% Lager Keg Only

We've also been fortunate to collaborate beyond:

• Field & Tide - Beer Hut Brewing Co collaboration with Tilt & Pour and Loughran Brewing Stores. Dry Hopped Saison 4.1%

• Jubilate Pale Ale - Boundary Brewing Collaboration with Kinnegar, Bullhouse, Galway Bay, Loughrans, Heaney, Tilt & Pour, Wicklow Wolf, Bee Hut & Modest Beers - Cheers Jordan! 

• Festbier 6% Out Of Office Collaboration with Our Brewery, Tilt & Pour, Bells Brewery & Ulster Sports Club!

• The Nod - Our Brewery Collaboration with Tilt & Pour 5.5% NZ XPA 

Every single one of these involved people giving their time, expertise, and trust. That doesn't go unnoticed.

Where I'm Going

Honestly? I'm still figuring it out. And I've made peace with that.

2026 has been interesting and has given me considerable food for thought. There's fear, opportunity, limited capital, and a lot of ideas. Sometimes all at the same time.

What I do know is this: I'm still here. Tilt & Pour is still here. The beers are still getting made and people are still drinking them and that means absolutely everything to me.

If you've bought a can, said hi at a festival, shared a post, or just read this blog at some point Thank You. Genuinely.

The Northern Ireland craft beer scene is worth fighting for, and this community is a big part of why.

Now go drink something local.

Cheers! 

‍