A Newcastle craft brewery is raising a glass to securing national listings in six º£½ÇÊÓƵ supermarket chains following its latest signing.
Full Circle Brew Co was founded in 2019 by Ben Cleary – son of the founders of the Lanchester Group of companies – amid aims to bring the family firm ‘full circle’ through a brewing operation.
An empty warehouse was transformed with a brewing facility, taproom, liquor store and event space, from which the team, including head brewer Alex Redpath, have worked hard to produce outstanding beer. Now trading for more than five years, the firm’s core range of Looper, Hoop and Repeater have won multiple awards and are listed in Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Co-op, M&S and Morrisons.
Other key listings include Newcastle Airport for those looking to sup a familiar pint before jetting away on holiday, as well as link-ups with Moonpig, Hoi Polloy barbers and Deep North coffee in Tynemouth. It also created a collaborative beer with Odd Balls of South Shields, raising money for testicular cancer charity.
Its bestsellers Looper IPA and Repeater Session IPA are now listed in most of the supermarkets, alongside exclusive brews like Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man DIPA at Sainsbury’s and Mixtape DIPA in Tesco. The signings mark a major milestone for the brewery, which recently claimed the title of Best National Double IPA from SIBA.
While the off-trade presence grows, Full Circle continues to grow on-trade, with its beers pouring in pubs and bars across the North East and beyond though national listings with Mitchells & Butlers, Nicholsons Pubs and Stonegate venues.
Founder Ben Cleary said: “Looper is our pride and joy, and it’s so exciting to see it land on supermarket shelves while Repeater is our go-to everyday IPA. I genuinely believe Looper is the best IPA in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ – and clearly, both buyers and consumers agree.
“Supermarkets are leaning into independent craft more than ever, and we’re proud to be flying the flag for Newcastle. Provenance and quality matter and craft drinkers want something real. These listings will help us reach even more customers, while reinforcing our brand in the on-trade.â€
The business now employs 22 staff, producing around 10,000 hectolitres per year – or over 36,000 pints a week – and its beers are also exported to 10 countries, including France, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Japan and Singapore. Last year saw the company launch Full Circle as Newcastle’s newest and most unique wedding venue, where beer fans can get hitched in the brewery tap room while watching beer brewing along with an exclusive tour of the facility. Marriage bookings this year have jumped 62%.
Mr Cleary added: “In a time of increased pressure on breweries, we’ve worked incredibly hard to expand and diversify our business. Our team works extremely hard to create our multi-award winning beers and, as well as our national listings, we’re now poured in key regional outlets such as Michelin-starred Restaurants Pine and House of Tides, as well as Newcastle icons The Theatre Royal and The Baltic Centre of Arts.
“The idea behind our on-site, glass fronted tap room is that customers can become immersed in the whole brewing process - from crushing grain through to packaging. This is rare for a brewery but our customers love seeing the process and our brewing team working hard – making beer is a really interesting process and we’ve invested heavily in premium equipment so that our beer quality is up there with the best.
“We launched the taproom as a wedding venue earlier last year and it’s proven really popular with beer fans – it’s such an unusual venue and certainly creates a memorable ceremony.
“Our 2024 strategy was to increase our brand awareness nationally and to be internationally known across the craft beer community. which we’re achieving through sheer hard work, resulting in supermarket and pub listings. But we’re not slowing down – in 2025 we aim to establish more national listings across both on and off-trade and continue our efforts to create a Full Circle eco-system that revolves around a balanced lifestyle which will couple with the development of our first-ever no/low alcohol product coming soon.â€
