15 People Who Will Shape Beer, Wine and Cider in 2020

Matthew Curtis – 30 Dec 2019

Derek Bates and Miranda Hudson — Duration Brewing, Norfolk

I’ll admit it, I was as cynical as they come when Derek Bates and Miranda Hudson announced plans to build a brewery in the Norfolk village of West Acre some two years ago. It’s the kind of project we’ve seen successfully pulled off in the US before, with breweries like Tree House and Hill Farmstead becoming vital destinations for beer drinkers. I wasn’t convinced this concept would have the same level of impact in the UK. I was wrong.

This summer I spent a long weekend with Bates and Miranda, who had very recently relocated from their home in Brixton, South London to their East Anglian idyll. They took me to the half-finished, yet already impressive site of their brewery, talking me through every detail: from the floor tiles to the foeders. That evening we ate well (Bates is a highly skilled chef, something that shines through in his brewing—just don’t call him Derek) and drank until the smallest hours. It was in this moment that amongst the flawlessly executed marketing and logistics I also saw anxiety and doubt—or to put it more accurately, I saw humanity.

I’ve met few people in beer who are as driven as Bates and Miranda. The fact this determination is, at its root, fuelled by the humble notion they want to make great beer for as many people as possible to enjoy, is what makes theirs a cause worth believing in. And if my first taste of their in-house brewed signature pale ale, Turtles All the Way Down, is anything to go by, 2020 looks set to be the year of Duration.

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