Meantime has a two pronged philosophy. They aim to produce world class beers, but recognise that the drinker needs to be helped to understand the product if they are to appreciate it. Merely making good beer is not enough. Meantime therefore sets out not just to make great beer, but to explain great beer too.

Their attitude to brewing is very simple. It is all about working from first principles and letting the raw materials express themselves. Over its 7,000 year history, beer has evolved in order to satisfy the changing needs of the people who drank it. Beer has always had a job to do. Understanding that job is key to understanding the origin of a beer style. This helps Meantime ensure that when they make a beer it is as authentic as it is possible to be, not merely in terms of provenance of raw materials but also in terms of faithfulness to the intentions of the original brewers of the style.

At Meantime they are acutely aware that London used to be the brewing capital of the world. The London brewers maintained their economic supremacy by maintaining their technological superiority. They were innovators and early adopters. Unlike much of the modern brewing industry, however, they believe in using technology to guarantee quality not in using it to cut corners.

Maturation is at the core of the Meantime philosophy and is what gives Meantime its point of difference from other brewers. Maturation turns raw ‘green’ beer into a final finished product. The secondary fermentation that takes place during maturation naturally carbonates the beer, meaning the condition in Meantime beer is achieved by method champenoise. Lager is the German word for ‘store’. It means maturation.

Maturation costs money and ties up capital. Cutting maturation increases profits and capacity, but cutting maturation also reduces the quality of the finished product. As a result most modern commercial lagers hardly undergo any maturation at all. All Meantime beers undergo a minimum of 28 days maturation.

Meantime do not use pasteurization as they believe that, having gone to extra lengths in order to improve the flavour of beer by maturation, it is pointless to waste that extra effort by pasteurization. They use sterile filtration, where the beer is not heated and therefore there is no risk of damaging the flavour of the beer. Instead the beer is passed through filter membranes, that trap any stray yeast cells, mould spores, or bacteria that may be present.