Docks Beers helps former Soccer AM star Robbie Knox on road to YouTube brewery

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Grimsby’s Docks Beers has helped a television personality who worked up a lockdown thirst make his YouTube home brew a commercial force.

Robbie Knox was part of the Soccer AM crew that took Saturday mornings by storm in the early Noughties.

Now a prolific social media content creator, lockdown saw him produce a podcast with another Soccer AM alumni, Grimsby comedian Lloyd Griffith, while also launching Bin Day Brewing Company with his friend and business partner Mike Millar.

Lloyd introduced him to Docks, and the potential to ramp up – with last night seeing the launch of Valencian Tip Run.

Robbie said: “The biggest hurdle we’ve faced in starting a brewery was that we know absolutely nothing about starting a brewery, or brewing on a commercial scale!

“Fortunately, the guys at Docks chose to ignore our ineptitude and looked after us like a stray cat they’d found in the woods. They’ve been amazing to work with and I think we’ve made a fantastic beer together.

“We wanted to create the perfect beer to relax with after a busy afternoon taking an old mattress to the tip. Valencian Tip Run is the drink for the man or woman who doesn’t play by the rules, except for at the tip because if you don’t play by the rules there, they shout at you!”

Their goal now is to build a brewery to serve their 100,000 strong YouTube community – simultaneously creating great content and great beer.

Robbie Knox, left, and Mike Millar await the fruits of their labour at Docks Beers – Valencian Tip Run!

Robbie and Mike have visited the King Edward Street brewery several times over the last few months to assist with the recipe design, pilot brew and commercial brewing, and to garner further advice from the Docks team. All their visits have been and documented on video and the entire process has been uploaded to his channel.

Jack Johnson, marketing manager at Docks, coordinated the collaboration. He said: “Ever since Robbie came to Grimsby to let us sample his homebrewed Bin Day IPA, we wanted to do a big brew with him. The homebrewing videos he produced over lockdown got tens of thousands of views and he was inundated with requests to release a beer commercially, so we knew there would be a market for Robbie Knox beer way beyond our usual customer base.

“It’s been a fun process working with Robbie and Mike. They are lovely people and I think they have learned an awful lot about craft beer from our collaboration which will stand their new brewery in good stead. We’re looking forward to seeing Bin Day Brewing Company flourishing online over the coming months and we are proud to have worked with them on their first release.

“We must say a big thank you to Lloyd Griffith who introduced Robbie to our beers during lockdown while they recorded their successful Cooped Up podcasts.”

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A live recording of Cooped Up – now more than 150 episodes and hundreds of thousands of downloads in – was held at the brewery’s venue, Docks Academy, to mark the launch, with more than 2,500 cans sold in the first 24 hours. It went on sale exclusively to channel subscribers on Monday, and is now available through Docks.

The name builds on the Bin Day Brewery moniker and the 100 hand-zested oranges that went into the 5.2 per cent pale ale – described as perfect for summer evenings.

Mike said: “One of the key things for us is to be open, honest and transparent about everything we do, more so than any brewery has been before. This is partly because social media is at the core of our business – we want everyone watching our channels to come on the journey with us – and partly because, frankly, we don’t really know what we’re doing yet.

“So, launching our very first beer with Docks was a perfect fit; they welcomed us in, answered our questions, and let us shove our cameras in their faces, while still managing to be super-professional in the process.”