Camber Landing - Part Two
Power of Two. We meet Andrew Dumas from Camber Beer + Camber Landing.
“I’m impulsive and mildly impatient. Things come together quickly, or they don’t; I don’t tend to marinate on things too long.”
How did you get started on the road to creating beer?
Andrew. I was living in New York from 2007 onward. My friend bought a house out at the tip of Montauk. Back then, it was still a sort of fishing town, very blue-collar with a famous surf wave. All the wealthy people and cool people went to East Hampton. Montauk is another 10 or 15 miles and is considered a rustic little place. By 2009, we rented a room at our friend’s house. Several key bars, restaurants, and other businesses opened, and the popularity of Montauk went wild. So by 2012 and 13, it was the most popular town in the Hamptons for those under 40s to party for the weekend, go to the beach, and surf. And it still is amazingly popular.
Around 2011, a small company called the Montauk Brewing Company was started by three local guys. They started brewing beer with a basic kit with a little red barn that they used as a taproom and a brewery. From the start, we latched on; we were wearing Montauk Brewing Company hoodies and hitting the beer everywhere we went. They had progressed into New York City and through Long Island within three years. By 2022, Montauk Brewing Company got bought by a private equity company, a huge success story. Not unlike Camden Town Brewery here in the UK. So I was there to witness this development of popularity in Montauk.
In 2016, my wife and I moved to Hackney in East London. We saw many trends, like craft beer rising, health, fitness and healthy eating trends. We’d seen them plateau in New York. We invested in several drinks companies, East London Liquor Co., Forest Road Brewing Company, Sekforde Drinks, and other places; we’re interested in the drink market. I got to know the founders of a couple of those companies and was paying attention to the drink space, knowing that the trend was building.
Then COVID-19 happened. We wanted to get out of East London. Randomly we found Camber; we had never been here before. The only thing we knew about it was that kite surfing was popular and that it was a sandy beach. So we arrived in an Airbnb here, and we’re like, wow, this place is cooler than we anticipated. And the beach reminded us of Montauk. The area reminded us of Montauk in the late eighties, early nineties. The dunes look a lot like what we were used to over there. Also, it’s pretty close to London. There is a local scene of fishermen, artists and builders. Plus, there is Dungeness and Rye nearby.
In early 2021, I started thinking about creating a Camber Beer through the relationships I’d had by investing in a brewery and a couple of other beverage companies. I met a great designer, social media people, and photographers through networking. We had a fantastic idea and initial designs on a mood board in no time. It all happened quickly from that point.
So Camber Beer was born. How did you get it out there?
Andrew. In October 2021, I filed the paperwork to start a company, and by January the following year, I had the first 5,000 cans of beer in my garage, with no real plan or experience on what to do with them.
We made a launch tote bag with free beers, and I drove around probably a hundred places in the area. I introduced myself to everyone around Camber, all the hotels, restaurants and shops around Rye. And the periphery, so Hastings, Tenterden and the surrounding area.
One of the exciting things that happened was all this time we had been living in Camber was during COVID-19 and the lockdowns. So we had only met a few people besides our neighbours. Through that initial introduction, we made a new group of friends and contacts I started seeing all over town. It was a great way to meet the community. I pitched to those who would listen to me with a decent amount of success; we got up to about 20 accounts last year as the summer hit, in cans and on tap.
I drove around our first about 120 kegs, delivering them myself, and now I have a whole new admiration for the people doing that job full-time. That was the start of Camber Beer. And I was channelling what Montauk Brewing Company had done but in my immediate area and looking to branch out to the next ten and 20-mile radius.
We had a positive year; I worked part-time on this project while working my full-time job. And I sold 25,000 beers! We also had a baby last year, so I was proud of our accomplishments.
But we still needed a physical space to control our brand experience, sell beers, talk to customers and sell our merch. Trying to grow a brand via other people’s businesses becomes hard to control. The only place where we could control our brand experience was on Instagram. That was the biggest thing I had been thinking about towards the end of last summer. We could scale up Camber Beer once we interact directly with our customers.
How is life in Camber, and has living here influenced your beers?
Andrew. Shortly after moving to Camber, it became apparent that a few things dictate life here. Firstly the wind. It’s either super windy, so I like to kiteboard. When it’s not windy, that opens up many options; you can go to the beach; running on the beach is great. Swimming, but the tide is another massive determinant, but you can work that out.
Summer in a beach town, many tourists like to visit Camber Sands. The roads get gridlocked, and the beach gets busy. Then on a beautiful summer’s night at 10:00 pm, when you’re at a barbecue with friends, that summer feeling is good. Those are the driving factors of living here.
We named our first three beers after the important things. So Tide Lager is our 4.1% lager; it gets compared to Camden Hells. The graphics on the can are representative of the waves and the tide. We have Windswept, which is an American-style IPA at 5%. Not hazy like many others; it’s crisp, not overly hoppy, and very drinkable. The can looks like a meteorological wind chart. And then Summer Ale is our flagship beer, our session pale ale, 4.6%, quite hoppy, but much lower Alcohol by volume (ABV). The graphics on that can show the contrast between the dunes, the sunset and the sea.
So you’ve found the venue you were looking for, where people can experience what Camber Beer offers and teamed up with Rae. How did that come about?
Andrew. So when we started Camber Beer, I knew all the places to visit in Camber, but I only knew a few people in Rye, purely because of the lack of socialisation through COVID-19. I was knocking on every door, pretty much cold with no intros. So I walked around Rye at length with a massive bag of beers and called in on businesses.
Every time I visited Rye, I rewarded myself with an Allpress Coffee from Rae. I’ve been subscribing to their coffee since my time in London. So that initially got me through the doors at Rae. I found they have great curation of jewellery, textiles and even drinks from local vineyards like Tillingham that we like. We always chatted with Alexa and Eduardo, who had also previously lived in Hackney.
We knew we had similar tastes; my wife and I would shop at Rae and enjoy chats. They’d always expressed an interest in opening a shop in Camber where they hang out and walk the dog, Ruby. Once, I became convinced that Camber Beer needed a physical location. Honestly, there was only one place in Camber that was even remotely for sale, even though it wasn’t.
I started thinking about what we could do in addition to the space being a tap room. I brought up the idea to Alexa and Eduardo, and they expressed a lot of interest in coffee, a deli and doing a version of Rae out in Camber.
With Camber Landing, the four of us would talk at length about what the shop could be, how it would work, and all these different things. Fifteen to 20 conversations, there were some fits and starts because the building wasn’t for sale, and then the legal process to buy it took eight months. I was back in the US then, so we talked via Zoom calls every two to four weeks, and I’d update them. We decided that Camber needed a nice, family-friendly place to have coffee, good pastries, and a family-friendly bar. Somewhere to buy wine and beers, homewares and candles and such. There was no retail in Camber whatsoever like that.
We got the keys on February 27th 2023. There were five local builders, Eduardo and myself. We had a huge task because we knew we needed to open for April 29th, the first May bank holiday. In a tourist destination, you’ve got to make hay when the sunshine, when all the people are in Camber. It took us exactly two months to when we had our friends and family soft opening.
I’m extroverted; I like to do things in the community and get involved. We knew it was a priority for us and Camber Landing. So we organise weekly events which we publish every Monday. We do beach cleans, beach yoga with a partner, and beer and wine tastings. We do Cornhole Tournaments. Kids and coffee are our most popular event every Wednesday at 10 am. So we are building a reputation for being the community centre. It’s great to tell a family you should return another day because we have something happening.
I’m not saying Camber needs to change. But with that Montauk business model in mind, how do you picture Camber evolving?
Andrew. Montauk has a small motel called the Surf Lodge; it has 30 rooms, is a surf-style place and does concerts on Sunday nights. I could imagine a super casual beach motel reasonably priced in Camber. Plus a family-friendly pizza and craft beer place. Camber doesn’t need a fine dining restaurant; it’s barefoot casual out here.
During the school summer holidays, tourism is crazy, and everything is buzzing. But we have a much longer period of good weather from early April into October or November. More and more people are seeing that and relocating here.
In the mornings, when there’s no wind, people run and stand up paddle boarding on the beach, and on the days there is wind there, there are hundreds and hundreds of kiters and windsurfers out. Camber has an extreme sports element. Many people are here to kiteboard or learn how to kiteboard. That adds an element of adventure to how people experience the beach.
Read Camber Landing Part One with Alexa from Rea.
ANDREW DUMAS
Camber Beer
camberbeer.co.uk
Instagram. camber.beer
Camber Landing
67 Lydd Road, Camber TN31 7RS
Open daily: from 8.30 am
camberlanding.com
Instagram. camber.landing