We needed answers, yet no one was talking. It was hard work and there were times where we felt like giving up, but we knew we simply couldn’t quit. Thousands of desperate, thirsty souls were depending on us.

What we needed was a lucky break to set us on the right path and we got it by going back to basics and establishing the facts.

What we discovered was that in recent years, drinkers in the UK had been served a raw deal. In a world of brewing mediocrity, there were usually only two options: mass-market, tasteless and overly fizzy beer, or local microbrewery craft ales that were simply too hoppy, ultra-creamy, or nauseatingly fruity. The first encouraged you to drink too much and was dull and unsatisfying. The other was needlessly complex, too strong and trying way too hard.

That’s when we realised something that, deep down, we had always known: we’d have to do it the hard way and make the beer ourselves. Taking matters into our own hands, first we developed our flavour profile, then tracked down our ingredients – Hersbrucker and Lemondrop Hops.

The final missing piece of the puzzle came when we recruited a professional master brewer with years of experience to help us finish the job. (Sorry, we can’t tell you his name because we never reveal our sources.)

We put them all together and the result was the lager we’d been looking for all along… Hard Ace.