It's fair to say a lot has happened over the past two years and we continue to live in interesting and challenging times. As we go eyes wide open into 2022, I wanted to take time to write down some objectives for the year and also to look back on what we've achieved since our business was turned upside down back in March 2020.

Ricky in his natural habitat at The Ale House, Reading.

The start of the pandemic was, for us, a moment of pause and reflection. At the start of March 2020, we'd just hired a full time brewer with Ricky Moysey joining us from Bingham's Brewery and were looking ahead with optimism. By the end of the month we were frantically packaging what we could before locking down the business, full of uncertainty and with some terrible things happening in the world. Ricky was placed on furlough once the scheme became active, and wouldn't return until August 2020 when things started to fully ease for the first time.

After taking time to consider our options and form a plan, I started on the task of repackaging and selling through our remaining stocks. We were fortunate on two fronts here. Firstly, we weren't sitting on too much in terms of cask and keg and secondly, the support we received locally to help us get through it was absolutely incredible. Another stroke of luck was that I'd spent January and February rebuilding bottle stocks after Christmas and with some help from our amazing neighbours Siren (and Wild Weather) we soon had a courier contract in place and packaging with which we could safely ship those bottles all around the country. And ship them we did! As well as mail order, we had the van and a furloughed friend's car going out every Friday to deliver beer locally.

Once the stock had been sold, and with a small business grant in hand, I had renewed confidence that we could survive the next few months. We started brewing again at the end of April to replenish bottle stocks - and cask, as by then we had a small army of local folk demanding more bag-in-box ale to drink at home! Even with more help from the same friend, who was incredibly generous with her time, it became clear we couldn't package enough bottles with our manual filler to keep up - and so our attention turned to contract canning.

Before lockdown, there was very little demand for our bottles. We'd opened the tap room in November 2019 and were basically producing them for that plus a handful of very supportive local stockists. Cans were what retail was demanding but we had no means by which to produce small quantities to a good quality. After some research, we selected a contract canning partner (Can It in Bolton) and chose two beers in Spellbinder and Overflow to trial the process with. Packaging 2x1000L into small pack was simply not something we would've considered before lockdown. Nearly 5000 cans would've taken us an age to shift! We received those 5000 cans back in early July and by August, they were all gone. With more familiarity with the process and armed with satisfactory DO (dissolved oxygen - a key measure to quality in packaged beer) figures, next we sent two hoppy beers in Oregon Trail and Anomalous Materials next. Those sold even quicker, with Oregon Trail West Coast IPA in particular proving a big hit with our trade and retail customers.

In August 2020, with hospitality re-opening and Ricky back from furlough, we ramped up production. Our third set of beers went off for contract canning and we started to restock cask and keg for our wonderful direct on-trade and wholesale customers. We never did quite manage to catch up and, having spent that grant money and a timely business rates rebate on a second hand canning line in September, demand remained strong for cans. We enjoyed a good few months trading up to the end of 2020, hitting sales volumes in excess of pre-pandemic levels with can sales driving business growth. We ended the year 24% up on 2019's revenue figure despite a slightly lower overall production volume.

Ruth fresh from digging the mash on the first ever canned batch of Oregon Trail.

A second lockdown in early 2021 brought a fresh challenge (January in particular was incredibly tough) but we had the tools with which to weather the storm and set our sights on making plans for when lockdown would eventually end in April. The furloughed friend mentioned earlier was Ruth Mitchell. Someone who I'd known for a few years, first meeting her on a Beer O'Clock show crawl around Bermondsey (which we think was around 2014). Ruth lives in Wokingham, just up the road from Finchampstead, and seeing me struggling with local deliveries offered to help out. During lockdown, Ruth was furloughed from her National Sales Manager role at Devon's amazing Utopian Brewery and through the various lockdowns was an incredibly supportive friend.

As signs of lockdown easing appeared towards the end of March 2021, I was lamenting how much I'd miss not having Ruth around. A conversation started. Like many, lockdown had given Ruth time to think about what really made her happy and spending more time at home with her partner and mad sausage dog was important enough to her that, despite us not being able to match the salary of a national sales role, Ruth joined us as Head of Sales, Events and Marketing in April 2021.

Ruth brought some much needed commercial experience and strategy to the business, having also formerly worked for West Berkshire Brewery, Adnams and Charles Wells across various roles. We were organised and focused as we headed into the summer. Things felt vaguely normal again with events returning and the calendar filling with festivals and our much loved collaboration brews. We added a bright tank to help reduce fermentation times and in September purchased two second hand 15HL DPVs from our friends at Beatnikz Republic in Manchester, which combined added around an additional 40% capacity from where we started the year. With that capacity online in October, November 2021 delivered a record sales month for us with 109HL sold (of around 700HL total for the year - a 50% volume increase on 2020). Whilst December with the uncertainty surrounding Omicron saw that dip, we're heading into 2022 in a strong position, ready to build upon the incredible 81% revenue growth we achieved in 2021.

One thing I've said repeatedly is that the support we received in 2020, for all its challenges, gave me the confidence that we could push on as a business and that I needed to be less risk averse. Although that aversion to risk did mean we’d gone into the pandemic in a good cash position with no debts. Our success in 2021 has further cemented that view. On the brewing side, with Ricky able to focus fully on production, the beer we're producing is the best it's ever been. In Oregon Trail we now have a recognised flagship to stand behind and in Ricky and Ruth (plus our great tap room crew), we have a fantastic team on which to build. And build we shall.

Adding that extra capacity in September has pushed our current space to breaking point. We spend far too much time moving things around and struggle to work efficiently. It's clear that we need to take on more space and the hunt is now well and truly on. In order to let me focus on that strategic project, and in recognition of her fantastic contribution to our success in 2021, I'm thrilled to promote Ruth Mitchell with immediate effect to the role of Operations Director - a role in which she will oversee all day-to-day business operations. Ruth will be hiring a small sales (trade and retail) and logistics team as we steadily scale things up this year and I'm excited to give her complete freedom to execute upon our vision.

When I started Elusive supported by my amazing wife Jane, without whom we wouldn’t exist at all, our vision was not of a large brewery with tens of employees. We wanted something we could call ours and be proud of, supported by a small but passionate team. A place where everyone felt welcome to join us for a beer. Our aim in 2022 is to find a new home in Wokingham (or expand in our current Finchampstead location, but that’s not looking too likely due to lack of available units), add 2-3 full time staff across sales, logistics and production and continue to build upon the sustainable growth we've achieved, without taking on heaps of debt or over extending ourselves. Slow and steady wins the race. Ultimately, if we can continue building towards being a community focused and employee owned business, then that's more important to me than pure growth.

With thanks, as always, for the incredible support we've received from our many retail, direct trade and wholesale customers,

Andy, Jane & Team Elusive X

State of the Elusive Nation, January 2022