Rainbow Project: Passing the torch

What started as an idea in the mind of Ryan Witter-Merithew, to bring collaboration, creativity and a bit of energy to the UK brewing scene has come to a close with 5 years of fabulous beers and a super engaged audience keen to see what inspiration can come from 7 colours.
 
Over these 5 years, we have all made many new friends, found amazing ways of pushing the boundaries and tickled our consumers interest in what we can do. Some of the beers have lived on and continue to delight us each year - Key Lime Tau and Yellow Belly being great examples of the end products of the project. 
 
Not only that, it has punctuated a time of great excitement and growth for the breweries involved. We’re all in far different positions than we were back then, and the UK beer scene has changed beyond recognition. Amazing beer is now far easier to get hold of and our community has grown exponentially.
 
It felt like the right time for us to move on to something else, but then throughout the festivals, talking to other breweries, suppliers, and of course, drinkers, we were reminded of the bigger picture that all of this is a part of. One particular conversation with the team from Kicking Horse planted a seed.
 
Perhaps the Rainbow Project in its current guise with its current roster of breweries had run its course, but that doesn’t mean there is still value in the idea. The breweries have always been fluid, so why stick to them now? As a collective, we have an opportunity to keep the ethos of creativity, innovation and international collaboration going for the next five years of the scene, and who knows, maybe the next five, and the next five.
 
Passing the baton
 
We decided that the Rainbow Project was dead... and then brought it back to life again.
 
Bruce Gray and the team from Small Bar and Left Handed Giant have played a huge part over the years in making sure that the Rainbow Project reached the West Country. As a fairly new brewery with big ambitions, and long standing connections to the project and the scene, we think he’s the perfect person to take the reins.

We’ll still be involved, helping wherever we can (and quality testing the beers), but for now at least, it’s over to the new wave…

Left Handed Giant will be revealing all the UK & Overseas breweries involved in the near future, so watch out for announcements!
 
Long live the Rainbow Project!