Swimming There So Well — Neptune Brewery in Bootle, Liverpool
Every beer shares four ingredients, and chief among those is water.
The recipe for a brewery, however, is far more complex. While water has been central, both materially and symbolically, since Neptune Brewery launched in 2015, there are many other elements behind the success of this husband-and-wife-helmed outfit in northwest England.
Photography by Matthew Curtis
The ability to produce deliciously drinkable beer is among these. But chatting to owners and founders Julie and Les O’Grady, I get the impression that commitment to brewing technique is just one example of the clear-eyed conviction running through their approach.
While the couple laughs often during our conversation—having cheerfully allocated an evening in their usual six-day working week—Julie and Les have always been serious about their ambitions for Neptune, whether that concerns the contents of a glass, or changing the culture within beer.
The certainty of their manner could make it seem like Neptune’s numerous awards, collaborations, and expansion were inevitable. But let’s put this in perspective: how many breweries begin when someone decides to swap fish tanks for fermentation vessels?
Neptune Brewery’s first home was literally next door to Neptune Aquatics, a business Les ran for more than 20 years located in Maghull, eight miles north of Liverpool city centre. Having had his fill of selling fish and the equipment required to keep them, he craved a new direction.
At that point, Julie—who married Les in 1991—was an NHS manager, and she learned about Les’s self-described “harebrained idea” when he returned from a pub trip with his oldest school friend Geoff Wainwright (Neptune’s third owner, who focuses on the non-production side of the business). Having only brewed at home for 18 months, Les and Julie nevertheless felt confident about their plan.
“It wasn’t for [our] consumption,” Les says, of the homebrewed efforts for which they sought feedback. “It was always with a view to start the business.”
He and Julie had been familiar with the Liverpool scene for several years, and from 2012 they began meeting various brewers and enthusiasts at the (since-closed) 23 Club in the city centre. The atmosphere there, plus positive comments from people with expertise, had spurred them on.
““Sometimes you feel people have pigeonholed us into just doing cask, pales and bitters. We’re much more than that.””
“It was like a little club, but it wasn’t insular,” Julie says. “It was fantastic. I’d feel very comfortable having a drink and chatting to people.”
The importance of a welcoming environment is a significant strand in the Neptune story, while winning a 2014 blind-tasting competition with a homebrewed English bitter also signalled the course the couple were plotting. (The triumphant brew would later be released under the Neptune banner as Riptide, though it has since been retired.)
Readers may recall that sessionable, traditional drinks weren’t necessarily the obvious choice for would-be brewery founders in 2015. Back then, the UK’s Society for Independent Brewers (SIBA) wrote of an “amazing and ever-expanding range of beer styles”, and reported that the proportion of beer put into cask by SIBA members was expected to drop from 84% to 68% in 2013. If Les and Julie considered this, it didn’t stop them selling all their beer in cask in Neptune’s first year of trading.
“It was a combination of experience [in business] and confidence that we’d be OK,” Les tells me. “Even then, we started fairly modestly, on a one-barrel [brewing] kit.”
Les ran Neptune by himself for a year, while Julie handled marketing duties alongside her work, by this point for Liverpool City Council, before she went full time as the brewery’s head of sales and events in 2018.
“We've never wanted to go too big before we felt ready,” she tells me. “We have no one backing us [or] anybody with a pot of money. Everything we have, we put in.”
When we chatted in October 2022, that approach meant Julie and Les were aiming to relocate Neptune—at that point a team of seven— to a larger brewery site. There are also plans in place for a separate bar in Maghull town centre, ensuring the established trade from their original taproom is maintained.
The bar is scheduled to open in April 2023, with the brewery move completed in December 2022. Over time, plans will see Neptune’s capacity more than double in size, to 25 hectolitres. Julie says that extra room in the brewing schedule will mean greater volume of the brewery’s core range, while also opening up further space for experimentation.
“We’re passionate about cask beer,” she tells me. “Getting people away from the idea that it means ‘old man’ beer. [But] sometimes you feel people have pigeonholed us into just doing cask, pales and bitters. We’re much more than that.”
Les hopes a larger brew kit will ultimately mean he can try his hand at producing more European-influenced lagers, as he was delighted with Amongst the Waves, a German-style pilsner Neptune released in 2022. Like all their beers it was naturally carbonated, meaning it was conditioned without the addition of extraneous carbon dioxide. It’s a less common approach for keg and canned beers, but something Julie and Les have stuck with.
They’ve also kept their beers unfiltered and unfined, meaning each one is suitable for vegans. Some cask ale veterans might raise eyebrows at pints made without isinglass finings—typically made from the swim bladders of tropical fish—which are traditionally used to ensure beer shines pleasingly clear. But 2021 accolades for Merseyside’s Best Brewery and Best Beer suggest most punters feel Les and Julie are hitting their targets: brewing faithfully to their favourite beer styles and maintaining consistent quality.
“If we don't feel a beer is right, it’ll never leave the brewery,” Julie tells me. “Because we've been so cautious about how we brew, we've only drain-poured five beers in seven-and-a-half years.”
One of those casualties was Les’s first try at Mosaic, which is now one of Neptune’s flagship beers. He says there was nothing wrong with the batch—it just didn’t taste exactly how he’d envisaged. Either way, crowds of drinkers (including this one) have been delighted by subsequent iterations. On cask it’s juicy yet balanced, lip-smackingly moreish thanks to that single, titular hop. On keg, the cooler serving temperature meant my most recent pint recalled that enduring 90s ice-cream brand, the Solero.
Another Neptune beer nods more obviously towards a familiar treat. On the Bounty echoes the coconut-filled chocolate bar through its blue label even before the expected flavours hit home, with the dryness of North American Sabro hops levelling out the sweeter notes. The stout is only brewed at certain times of year; Julie tells me the taproom’s supply sold out during the previous weekend.
“We’re very grateful for the people who buy our beer regularly, trade and general consumers, because there's so many beers to choose from,” she adds. “It's quite humbling in some respects, and something we'd never take for granted, especially as things tighten up [in the UK’s economy].”
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As someone who has been involved with the Liverpool branch of CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale) for over 35 years, and presently serves as its pubs officer, Steve Downing is deeply connected to the city’s beer ecosystem.
Still, I can’t help but be impressed that he’s nursing a pint of Shifting Sands, Neptune’s 4.3% pale when we begin our chat over the phone. With commendable (and I would guess characteristic) diligence, he’s even asked the licensee of The Augustus John—where he’s presently located—for their thoughts. A background mumble is audible as Steve is told Neptune’s customer service is “very good indeed”.
From his perspective, it’s notable that the brewery’s beers have succeeded both in cask and keg formats. He’s clocked the brand’s popularity with younger drinkers, which he feels is partly driven by the 100% vegan range.
As well as distinguishing between dispense methods, Steve tells me that some locals may not define Neptune as a “Liverpool” brewery due to Maghull’s position north of the city (though the main brewing site is now in Aintree, closer to central Liverpool). Regardless, for many, it seems questions of territory are secondary to those of taste.
“We always have Neptune on at our festival [CAMRA’s annual Liverpool event],” Steve tells me. “People expect them to be there.”
On his cycle rides home through Maghull, Steve enjoyed numerous stops at Neptune’s original taproom. Julie says the seating there meant conversation invariably flowed between strangers, and transferring that atmosphere to the new bar is important for her and Les.
““We always have Neptune on at our festival. People expect them to be there.””
“We’re very proud of what we've created,” she tells me. “We had a really good mix coming into the taproom. Obviously, we'll be getting more people and new people in, but we want to try to keep that [feeling] because the community is important to us.”
Sometimes that community ethos might mean borrowing a Ukrainian brewery’s recipe to raise funds to aid the nation’s fight against an illegal Russian invasion. At other times it means supporting local groups such as domestic abuse charity Sefton Women’s and Children’s Aid, a cause which is particularly important to Julie, who experienced an abusive relationship before meeting Les.
One initiative Neptune has consistently backed is making the beer scene more welcoming for everyone, with Julie sparked into action by seeing so few women at beer festivals.
She founded Ladies that Beer (LTB) in the year Neptune started trading, though the group, which organises meet-ups and generally encourages women to enjoy beer, is independent of the brewery.
More in-house involvement comes on International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day (IWCBD), a global event where women are invited to brew together and in which Neptune participates annually. When Covid-19 restrictions threatened the 2021 edition, Julie recruited her daughter, Rebekka, to ensure Neptune could still brew in support of the scheme.
“It's great to have women come to learn how to brew,” Julie says. “To give them that power, that knowledge, is important because we've all been mansplained to.”
The chance to brew is just one of the reasons why long-standing LTB member Gaynor Doyle enjoys the group so much.
Gaynor, who runs Liverpool Cake Company, was at the small gathering of female friends where Julie first floated the idea for LTB. Since then, she’s attended plenty of meet-ups and brewing trips in Liverpool and further afield.
“Julie is very passionate, forward-looking, and has got us involved with things which we wouldn’t otherwise have been part of,” Gaynor tells me. “She’s made our little social group into a nationally recognised organisation within the beer scene.”
“I think Ladies That Beer is valuable in ensuring beer is less and less seen as a man’s thing, but for me, the main value is in it being an open, welcoming group for any woman to attend,” she adds.
Les says that while more women now work in the industry, it’s key they’re encouraged to consider “more prominent, less stereotypical” roles, especially brewing. Julie agrees things are heading in a positive direction, but feels there’s a long way to go.
“I believe women offer a different perspective,” she says. “For bar owners, how can you make it more welcoming for women or LGBTQ people to feel safe and able to have a good time?
“It’s about letting people know we won't stand for anything less. As more breweries and bars say these things are important, I think that will help.”
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That willingness to speak up helps explain why Neptune was chosen by brewer and BBC Radio Four presenter Jaega Wise for a 2022 International Women’s Day collaboration. (Speaking for Neptune, Julie says she and Les only collaborate with people “who we like, respect, and whose beer we enjoy”.)
Jaega, who is head brewer at Wild Card Brewery in Walthamstow, North London, picked Neptune as one of four female-led UK breweries whose work she admired. Despite gale-enforced train cancellations sabotaging Julie’s trip south, the pair chatted via telephone throughout the brew day to ensure a joint effort.
The result was Deep Roots, a juicy pale ale named for the intention of sowing positive seeds within the industry. It was the first time Jaega had worked with Neptune, though she’s frequently seen the team at beer events and enjoyed “many, many” drinks with Julie and Les.
“I've only ever got absolute positivity from them,” she tells me. “They speak really intelligently on issues, on inclusivity, and in terms of getting people into their tap room and making sure everyone's having a good time. I just think they're really an admirable couple.”
““They speak really intelligently on issues, on inclusivity, and in terms of getting people into their tap room and making sure everyone’s having a good time.””
Jaega also makes a point of telling me how much she enjoys Neptune’s beers, with one glass usually leading to several. But it seems clear that for her, it’s a case of personality as well as pints.
“They're a very open brewery, really down to earth, and [Julie and Les] always have time for you,” she says. “They're just thoroughly great people.”
Along with the move to a larger premises, late 2022 also saw Neptune’s branding refreshed. Julie praises the company’s designer John Paul McKeown (known to all as JP) for the distinctive trident-stamped can art, which is almost always paired with a water-linked beer name. That he’s also the partner of Julie’s daughter Rebekka reinforces Neptune’s family-run credentials.
But as the Neptune team explores new territory, some things—not least that focus on consistency and community—look set to remain the same.
“I envisage doing what we do now, but slightly bigger,” Julie tells me. “I wouldn't want us to grow too big, because I like what we're at. We’re hands-on people; if you go too big, you can lose that.
“And I’m trying to push Les more to the forefront because it’s not just me. It’s very much a two-way thing.”
Les grins and says he doesn’t suit the role of brand ambassador. Still, whichever way the duties are divided, it seems to be working.
“We are a team in the truest sense of the word,” Les says.
