EP-159 Tom Palmer and Todd Matteson of Mondo Brewing Company

The UK brewing market is getting pretty crowded. It’s now home to more than
2,000 breweries, including nearly 110 in London alone, all crammed onto an
island that’s roughly the size of Michigan. And when you consider the
divide between modern and traditional breweries, constant debates over
cask, keg, and the price of beer (to mention only a few of the
oft-discussed topics), its no wonder conversations about British beer can
maybe get a little…tetchy…these days.

Despite it all, the UK’s most forward-thinking breweries, be they young or
old, are still finding ways to thrive and expand. It’s almost as if all of
this competition has become a driving force for the most eager and
entrepreneurial beer makers out there.

When U.S. expats Tom Palmer and Todd Matteson founded Mondo Brewing Company
three years ago just a stone’s throw away from London’s iconic Battersea
Power Station, it became London’s 81st brewery. Although they’ve dabbled
with distributing throughout the capital and into some of the UK’s more
buoyant beer markets such as Bristol or Manchester, their local market of
South London is where they’ve really thrived.

Through pubs and bars in boroughs such as Brixton and Clapham, as well as
their own brewery taproom, they’ve quietly built up a reputation for
producing a solid range of beers. They might not be as talked about as,
say, Cloudwater or Beavertown, but having just undergone an expansion that
will see Mondo increase capacity by 80%, and with plans to open their first
London bar in 2018, this is certainly one London brewery that’s riding an
ascending curve.

The trick for smaller breweries like Mondo, of course, is to find the right
balance between own-premise sales and through key accounts. For Palmer and
Matteson, it’s all about building strong, personal relationships. An
example of this is the relationship Mondo has with restaurant chain
Dishoom, for whom Mondo brews the house beer. Keeping up with these
relationships, while ensuring steady turnover at its own sites, will be key
for this London brewery’s success in the long term.

We talk about all that and more today. Listen in.