ShinDigger’s Guide To Pouring The Perfect Workplace Pint

22 May 2019

With a hop(s), skip and a jump ShinDigger recently came forward to supply our workplace with free flowing beer! We spoke to Harry Day about their story, the resurgence of workplace drinking and what's in the pipeline for their brewery. Make sure to stick around for a handy guide on pouring the perfect pint too..

When ShinDigger’s very own Harry Day enters Colony, a feeling of hushed reverence descends over the Social Bar. In that very moment, Harry’s ability to set up a beer tap seems to transcend most of the other innovative and groundbreaking ideas that take place here. Cynics might say it's just a thirst for beer, brought on by a glimpse of his T-shirt's ShinDigger logo. But the workplace has come to see a free flowing beer tap as a necessity over a perk, so we had to had pick a good one.

Fosters thankfully (sorry guys, love you really) weren’t available, so we asked around the local block and with a hop(s), skip and a jump ShinDigger stepped forward to supply us with their West Coast Pale Ale.

It seems to be going down well, too well. We're on to our second keg already! Cynics again may interject to say this is solely down to the amount of poorly poured pints our members have conjured up (again - sorry guys, love you really).

The concept of alcohol in the workplace does sound a little strange. Our co-working space at Piccadilly is fuelled by coffee, tea, beer and chatter (oh, and Skittles!). But on any day ending in ‘Y’, beer seems to be the one that gets the people going. Most characters on Mad Men get through a quart of Whiskey before you’ve even thought about having your elevensies decaf and Alpen Bar - you can’t help but think problems would arise if that became the norm. However, forward thinking companies are slowly but surely testing out what works best for employees wellbeing and the occasional jar in the office seems to go a long way to improving the work/life balance.

Here at Colony Piccadilly we’re wedged between Piccadilly Station and Manchester University’s Northern Campus. ShinDigger too started off in a similar proximity. Co-owners, Paul and George, studied at the University together. Investing spare cash into a home-brewing kit, they made the most out of what their kitchen had to offer. Shortly after, they started selling ShinDigger at house parties. That’s where the first seeds were planted, and from there it grew and grew, and grew, and grew and..

Five years later ShinDigger are brewing 80,000 pints a month, releasing over 20 beers - distributed from Brighton to Aberdeen. There’s plenty in the pipeline too! Manchester based artists, brands and entrepreneurs are set to work alongside their new releases, such as the highly anticipated LUSH.

I like ShinDigger, I really do. It’s cool, tastes great and the cans look like Van Gogh has been let loose on MS Paint. Crucially, it’s available in my favourite bars - YES, Volta and Band on the Wall. Manchester bars. I guess the question that follows is - why has Manchester worked for them?

Harry reckons that it’s the best city in the UK to work in a start up environment. There’s space, time and most importantly, a whole lot of talent. Word travels fast here and on a bike you can get from one side of town to the other in 15 mins (which he seems to do regularly, going from bar to bar).

So back to the tittle of this piece - how to pour the perfect workplace pint. Here’s some top tips from the experts at Shindigger..

‘Pour with confidence but don’t let the beer free fall to the bottom of the glass. Don’t be afraid of a bit of head and it’s absolutely fine if your cup runneth over.’

Here’s one they made earlier..

Harry’s favourite ShinDigger beer is Everything’s Peachy. Aptly named as things seem to be going in the right direction for them, and why not.

Cheers to that!