It is something everyone who enjoys beer has thought about at one time or another. You will be having a beer with your best mate, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, one of you will say; “You know, we should try brewing our own!”
For most people, it ends there. For a few, it is the start of an exciting new hobby. But on a very rare occasion, it goes even further.
Bradley Cummings and his brother-in-law, Gareth Williams had The Conversation.
“Myself and Gazz – we were really interested in beer and brewing, we had a passion for it,” Cummings says. “We loved the product and loved exploring new flavours. Gazz’s granddad used to homebrew, so we learned from him, and that’s where our journey started.”
It started off as a hobby, although from the beginning Cummings admits “We thought we were pretty good at it.” They made a few trial runs, they started making beer to give to friends and family and sooner or later, somebody had to say it. In 2010, they did.
“The beers we were making were better than what they were serving in pubs. We couldn’t find the beers we wanted to drink in and around South Wales” Cummings says. “So that sparked the idea. We decided to start a brewery.”
That idea was the beginning of a two-year journey. Cummings and Williams embarked on a process of research into the brewery industry, understanding the product and the market right down to the most basic elements.
“We booked ourselves onto brewery tours, and put a business plan together, and launched in February 2012,” says Cummings.
Together, the pair brought with them their background in the engineering sector.
“Gazz is electrically biased, I am mechanically biased, so between us, we have got a good ethic in terms of fix-it-yourself,” Cummings tells us. “When you have got a brewery everything is very new, and you are trying to save on costs where you can. So, it helped that we had the skills to do it ourselves, whether to fix equipment or install it.”
But the proof of the pint is in the drinking, and drinkability is at the very centre of Tiny Rebels’ business decisions.
“We have a real focus on drinkability,” Cummings says. “We make some amazing wonderful, sometimes even a bit wacky, beers, but our key focus is on drinkability. We combine that with a brand that gets people and connects with them on an emotional level. Tiny Rebel is a representation of what Gazz and I are interested in. We put our personalities across in the brand and the liquid.”
From Pints to Gallons
Tiny Rebel has gone rapidly from strength to strength, and keeping up with that pace of growth has been a challenge in itself.
“The biggest challenge is always growth. When you are a startup, the biggest challenge is working out how to grow,” Cummings tells us. “We ended up growing quite rapidly, and we had to learn what that growth meant. Then as we started growing, we faced challenges like competition. To grow you have to both make it and sell it. That’s one of the key things we love about the business is that we own everything end-to-end, from bringing in the malt, to designing the can, to making it and delivering it. We do not outsource any part of the branding, marketing, or manufacturing, and growth affects every part of that business.”
Tiny Rebel with a Cause
While talking with Cummings it is clear that the part of the business he is most concerned about is its people.
“We are very people-focused. It is one of the pillars for our business,” Cummings says. “We are 12 years old in February 2024. We have got people who have been here for 11 years. From day one they have been on the journey with us, all the way.”
Tiny Rebel offers a range of staff benefits, and invests in its people, giving them opportunities for progression and learning.
“We do this not just within their role or department but on a wider scale,” Cummings says. “We do a lot of cross-department training. It is all part of the overall culture of Tiny Rebel. It is a firm with a very family-like vibe. When people come to work, they feel like they are walking into their house almost. It is a culture we could never have built – it has arisen organically from the bottom up.”
A big part of that culture is the desire to create a company that is a force for good, and that has been central to Cummings’ and Williams’ vision from day one.
“Even when we first started brewing back in 2012, we have always been involved in community-led fundraising, offering our services for free to help charities,” Cummings says. “Now we do that on a bigger scale. At Christmas, we open up our bar at the brewery and make Christmas dinners and hand-deliver them ourselves, with volunteers and staff who put their time into that.”
To be an even greater force for good, Tiny Rebel plans to continue its growth trajectory. For the last two years, the company has been focusing on building its foundations by investing in its people, its connections to the community, and the key skill assets within the business.
“It is all to drive continuous improvement within the business,” Cummings says. “We are becoming a more mature business with the size that we are now, and our workforce and responsibilities. Above all, we are going to keep making really exciting beers, giving our core fans a great experience.”
