Jonathan Adnams cycles to work. He must be unique among brewery chairmen, but the emphasis at Adnams of Southwold is geared to saving the environment and cutting back on carbon footprints. So no company car: it's pedal power in Suffolk.
I was almost on my bike, too, when I suggested Adnams had made a large financial loss last year. Jonathan Adnams bridled and snapped: "We did not make a loss in 2008. We made a profit of £1.6m. That was down from £4.2m the previous year."
A pot of soothing tea arrived and the atmosphere rapidly improved. Interim figures for 2009's first half were looking good, Adnams said. He'd bought three pubs from Punch and the company was trading well. For a brewery by the sea, you could say business was back on an even keel.
The cycling chairman admits the company went through a difficult 18 months. A major refit of the brewery, offices and depot was underway at the cost of several million pounds when, says Adnams, "the world hit the buffers". The economy went into free fall, Chancellor Darling increased beer duty by 17% and people stopped going to the pub for a while.
"It's been tough," he says. "But beer sales in our pubs are up this year. We've held prices to share the pain, especially in rural areas. The pub is not dead, but it needs innovation."
Innovation in Adnams' 74 pubs comes courtesy of the spanking new brewhouse that gives head brewer Fergus Fitzgerald the flexibility to make a wide range of beers. My first taste in Southwold was not Adnams' flagship Bitter, but Kolsch, a golden ale based on a legendary style from Cologne in Germany.
There will be a rolling programme called Beers of the World over the next month. Kolsch will be followed by a Belgian Abbey beer in November, a German wheat beer in December, American-style IPA in January and an Irish Dry Stout in February. Fitzgerald, an energetic and passionate young brewer, hails from County Limerick and, as he cut his teeth on Beamish and Murphy's in Cork, he had to brew an Irish stout.
All Beers of the World will be cask conditioned though some may be bottled at a later date. The beers will be available to the free trade as well as Adnams' own pubs. As 93% of the company's beer is sold outside its own estate, it needs that wider market.
The new brewhouse is part of Adnams' commitment to aiding the environment. "Brewing is a sustainable business and we must help to sustain the environment," Joanthan Adnams says. "We have to give something back. There's no point in planning a business if climate change will destroy the planet."
The brewing kit comes from Germany and is based on the Continental system of mash mixer, filtration vessel, and a whirlpool kettle for the boil with hops. The design of the kettle means that heat generated during the boil can be reused for the following brew. Fermentation takes place in conventional square vessels but they're enclosed to stop carbon dioxide escaping.
The brewery has an energy recovery system that recycles C02, steam, spent grain and hops. It saves 30% a year on gas and water. A new distribution depot in the neighbouring village of Reydon saves 50% on electricity and gas. The sunken buildings are almost invisible from the road and have grassed roofs that catch and recycle rain water. "It's in our culture — everything is focused on the environment," Jonathan Adnams says.
He's naturally delighted by the cask beer revival. "Licensees are looking at cask as a way of hitting back at supermarkets. Drinkers are fed up with the global brewers. There are fewer and fewer global players and not many are doing cask beer.
"Consumers are concerned about provenance — where their beers and the raw materials come from. Beer fits with the interest in local food."
The emphasis on the new brewing system and range of international beer styles doesn't mean Adnams is neglecting its core brands. Bitter is one of Britain's biggest-selling standard cask ales, while Broadside is in the top 20 premium brands league. They are mainly available, along with the golden ale, Explorer, in southern and eastern England, but go further afield with wholesalers. Strong beers such as Tally Ho! and Old Ale will be on sale during winter months.
My visit to Adnams came in the wake of The Cask Report and underscored the good news reported last week. Adnams has come through a sticky patch, but is now forging ahead with a highly innovative programme of cask ales.
The Southwold brewery disproves criticism levied by large producers that regionals are stick-in-the-muds living in the past. My first visit — and my first-ever article written about beer — was in 1976, about Adnams. In those days it was fiercely traditional, with copper brewing vessels and wooden fermenters, producing around 27,000 barrels a year. Today production has grown to 130,000. The beers are superb and a growing number of drinkers relish them.
The working day was over. Jonathan Adnams got on his bike to cycle home. I went home, too — by train. We all have to do our bit to save the planet.