Welcome to The Pellicle Mixtape, a regular feature where I (Pellicle co-founder Jonathan Hamilton) ask people from across the food and drink industry to create a playlist set to a theme of their choosing.

The hope is to gain a small insight into that person and their place of work through not only their song choices but also the thought process and level of obsessiveness they put into their mixtape. I’ll also be asking them what they’ve been enjoying eating and drinking recently, and finding out what else has been exciting them in the world of food and drink.

This week in the Pellicle Mixtape Series, after a short hiatus [someone has been busy setting up a brewery—Ed], we are thrilled to have Stacey Ayeh of Rock Leopard Brewing Co. in southeast London. Stacey started his career in the drinks industry as the first UK representative for fruit cider brand Kopparberg. The first to bring Kopparberg to supermarkets and pub chains in the UK, he moved on to Swedish-owned Nils Oscar Brewery in 2008, securing listings with the likes of Waitrose, Tescos and Greene King pubs at a time when craft beer was still a niche market.

As focus shifted to locally sourced beers, Stacey secured a sales role at London Fields Brewery. Following this, Stacey’s entrepreneurial spirit inspired him to create his own business.

“Until this point I’d only ever considered that I could sell beer that other people had made; making my own seemed out of the question,” he says. “I could see there was opportunity for me to create a new brand for customers to enjoy and experience a depth of flavours and cultural heritage missing within the industry at that time.”

Thanks to Missing Link Brewery in Suffolk, Rock Leopard found a home to cuckoo brew with confidence, sharing equipment alongside five other emerging breweries. Missing Link provided the opportunity to commit to small quantities to fine tune flavours and introduce the brand to peers, bottle shops and distributors and more importantly—consumers.

Today Rock Leopard Brewing has a range of four core beers and four specials including Step Up—an ongoing collaboration with Manchester’s Cloudwater, where a portion of profits go to good causes—and How Are You On Your Good Days? A direct response to the global Black Lives Matter movement.

The Pellicle Mixtape Volume 15 — Stacey Ayeh of Rock Leopard Brewing Co

I've made this very easy on myself by not sticking to one genre. That's what I've told myself, but the reality is it’s quite difficult to do a really good mixtape and make the songs fit in if it's not one or at least a series of closely related sub-genres.

So, an attempt has been made to just touch on the kinds of different music that I like. As always it turns out to be more interesting, the songs that didn't make it. I've always felt that there are two kinds of music. Headphone music that you listen on your own or party music. This was of course, before the reality of 2020 hit.

Anyway, enjoy!

Freak Show — Royce are a band that I came across through a friend of the family. The lead singer is related to the family and two years ago we had an amazing opportunity to go and see them live in Klaipeda, Lithuania. It was fantastic. In fact, the song that I really wanted to put on this mixtape is Coming Home but I can't do that as I already chose another song called Coming Home.

All Up — I love Ocean Colour Scene and this song gives a good flavour of what they are all about.

When I was growing up Osibisa, The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, The Commodores and Wilson Picket were the music my parents were playing all the time in the house and this song is so fantastic. I love it.

Miriam Makeba — Pata Pata a song that needs no introduction. If you're going to have a beer and for a moment, lose yourself, lose your inhibition then you can do no wrong by setting yourself up with good vibes.

Babatunde Olatunji — it's all about the drum and bass. And then, of course, you've got Black Legend if you want to talk about drum and bass. This song was what my days at Bournemouth University were all about.

Paolo Nutini is my man. All three of his albums are amazing.

I got into hairspray rock and roll music in the mid-80s and bands like Skid Row, Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard and Poison are the ones that stood out for me. This song by Cinderella is my delivery soundtrack song. Whenever all deliveries are done it’s Coming Home karaoke all the way home.

Roachford — The master of infusing rock and soul music.

I love dance music so Crystal Waters — Gypsy Woman has to be on here. A classic!

And speaking of classic dance tracks — Kevin Saunderson. There are no prizes for guessing who our beer Savage Scene (Inner City Pale Ale) is dedicated to.

Ofori Amponsah is a Ghanaian Highlife music icon and Baby—well this song—this is my party trick. Whenever there's a BBQ and it's 6:59 I line it up and ask—what time is it?

If you want to talk about funk you have to come right. Betty Davis is all about the funk.

We can't leave Joan Armatrading out of this mix. That would be a travesty.

Maria McKee's ability to tell a story through music is incredible and she's also an amazing activist for change. Check out You've Gotta Sin to Get Saved & the self-titled albums. Panic Beach is a seminary protest song.

Timberland and Elton John. I'm out.

Bonus track: Black Stacey — Saul Williams

What have you been drinking recently?

I think sometimes it’s been a case of what have I not been drinking. It’s all research of course!

I’m very pleased to see Eko Brewery bringing something new to the lager scene with their Eko Gold. I have also been enjoying beers from: Iron Pier, Elusive Brew, Common Rioters and the barrel-aged stuff Cloudwater have recently been releasing.

Where/What have you been eating recently?

Recently there has been a few farmers market events near where I live in Thamesmead and I have enjoyed some burgers from Eat Meat Cheese Repeat, Jollof Rice and Beef Suya. Also I make the best pizza in town on Friday nights and I refuse to hear any differently. Especially from those who are forced to eat it in my house!

What have you been reading recently?

I live in a house of comprised of two self-employed people and two children. We have tried to keep on top of their education during this nightmare and so there has been very little time to read anything other than Key Stage 7 and 10 textbooks.

But I recently got back into reading The Price of The Ticket by James Baldwin and was about to loan it to someone when after recommending it, they said they couldn’t get hold of it because it was out of print.

I bought this book when it first came out in 1985 with buy wages from doing paper rounds and also working in a factory stuffing envelopes with ‘marketing’ material. After seeing how much people are selling it for second hand; I’ve packed It away and it’s a vault. Never to be opened again until I need some ransom or getaway money.