Brewery Feature: Moon Gazer, Norfolk

Brewery name: Moon Gazer

Location: Hindringham, Norfolk

Mission statement: We have a passion for great-tasting, natural beer – high in quality and rich in flavour. Through Moon Gazer beers we want to involve others with that passion. You see, we think that beer should set out to do one simple thing – bring pleasure.

Dyke's End favourites: Jigfoot 4.0%, Jumper 3.9%, Nibbler 4.0%, Cheeky Jack 5.0%, Pintail 3.9%

When did you start brewing and why?

The brewery opened in 2012 – when David and Rachel decided to give up their office jobs and do something more hands-on in the hope of making something for people to enjoy!

As a smaller, independent brewery, how do you compete in a market often dominated by larger, multi-brand owning breweries?

We have simple ethos – you are only as good as your last pint – so quality and consistency is vital as well as great tasting beer. However you also need to be part of the community – your customers are not just customers, they are part of the team and it's important they care about what you do.

Founders Rachel & David Holliday

You take pride in the 'premium quality, local provenance' of Moon Gazer beers – how important is your location to the beer you produce?

North Norfolk is one of the world’s finest barley growing regions and the farming community take great pride in growing for beer – it really helps to build a pride and team keen to create great beer

What's your favourite hop and why?

That's tricky; we use over 15 hops typically each year, but if I had to choose I would choose Motueka - a soft New Zealand hop which we use in Pintail, our biggest selling beer. But a close second is Ernest, a British hop resurrected from the 1960s.

If you could take one firkin of beer to a desert island, what would it be?

If it’s a desert island it would have to be something golden – I'm actually going to plump for Hopback Summer Lightning as that is the beer that first really got me in to drinking real ale and where my beer journey began. A very drinkable 5% golden ale.

Lastly, will you be attending the Dyke's End beer festival :)?

We will certainly try but the one thing you learn about owning a brewery, is time is never your own!