The land of plenty
For Signature Brew, London isn’t just the centre of the world, but a muster point for artists, creatives, and musicians
Robyn Gilmour
Saturday 08 February 2025
This article is from
Beer Cities UK
issue 114
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“People won’t think twice about heading to the arse end of an industrial estate for a great show. We’re blessed to have a plethora of weird and wonderful venues and creatives on our doorstep that are always willing to partner with us, and to do more of the exciting, curious and eccentric things that make London such an engaging place to live and work.”
For Tom Bott, co-founder of Signature Brew, cities are more than places where opportunity congeals, and cultures collide; they have a magnetic pull for creatives, who so often gather there in the hope of finding one another, and collaborating when they do. There is something ethereal — or perhaps whimsical is a better word — about that creative instinct, but cities are unquestionably better for that impulse to make and create, and share experiences.
There has never been a time when Signature brew hasn’t approached beer from an interdisciplinary perspective. “It was back in 2011 when we first started collaborating with musicians. At the time that’s all we did at Signature Brew,” says Tom. “My background has always been in brewing and we could see beer changing around 2010. We knew we wanted to be part of this beer revolution that was just kicking off and that whenever we went to see our favourite bands play the beer was crap. Great gigs deserve great beer, and that would become our mission.”
Tom also says that, back then, his main motivation was to drink beer with interesting people in exciting places. It was as simple and complicated as that, yet today, that prevailing interest is still what fuels the brewery. “Working with artists that share our passion for brewing and drinking great beer is what makes Signature Brew come alive,” says Tom. “We would have never thought it possible when we first started back in 2011 that such an amazing network of artists would open up to us like they have.
“The collaboration process is always tailored to the artists we’re working with, but key parts will always be present. To kick off we prioritise getting the artist into our space so they can see what goes into making great, boundary-pushing, fresh beer, and at the same time we can learn about them as artists and individuals. The artists' experiences, and often their touring habits, are the key ingredients they’re bringing to the collaboration, and we’re riffing off what they love in beer to create something that is both representative of them but more importantly a beer they’d be proud of and enjoy.
“In my opinion it’s important that we don’t prescribe the process, that way we can go on a bit of an adventure and end up in some weird places! We’ve paired a 7 minute flute solo by Mogwai to a Chilli IPA in a Glasgow boozer, and tried our hand at creating a beer that could replace alt-J’s pre-show G&T. One thing we insist on though is the artists being fully involved and completely buying into whatever direction we’re going in.”
Most recently, Signature has collaborated with Scottish legends turned worldwide sensation, Travis, on a lager named after their most recent tour and track, Raze the Bar.
“We worked with a member of Travis’ team way back in 2016 when we brewed a beer called ‘Polar’ with the band Millencolin who linked us up with Travis during the Summer of 2024,” says Tom. “We spent a day at our brewery and music venue with the guys and one thing became glaringly obvious, they all absolutely LOVED beer.”
Interestingly, ‘Raze the Bar’ was written by Fran Healy about the closure of Black and White Bar, a much-loved New York haunt for Travis and scores of other local creatives. The track fictionalises the final night of the Greenwich Village bar, and all the characters who frequented it, before the venue closes forever. Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Brandon Flowers of The Killers even join the party, supplying additional vocals on the track.
This tribute to a much loved local, connects The Black and White Bar to all the boozers the band had known and loved, and the cities they’ve found home in, even if only in the form of a quality pub. Travis bassist, Dougie Payne, says that “back in the mid 90s we rehearsed in a small room above the legendary Horseshoe Bar in Glasgow. After rehearsals, being on the dole, we could just about scrape together the price of a pint — sometimes we even managed one each — and that precious, delicious and much-needed pint was always a classic lager. Who could have imagined that one day we would have the opportunity to create our very own beer? We are honoured and delighted to, in collaboration with the master brewers at Signature Brew, pay homage to the Horseshoe Bar, to the joy of a good lager, and to Glasgow with a can of our Raze The Bar lager”.
Raze the Bar is a London beer, but it’s also a tribute to all the other cities that feed it, come before it, and come after it in people’s often weird and wonderful journeys through life. Though a haven for creatives, London tells the stories of other cities, what was made there, and where art, culture, and creativity is going next.
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