impossibrew
the beer everyone said was impossible
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this is mark.
he was born in hong kong into a family of doctors.
everyone expected him to become one too.
at 13 he and his little brother flew to the uk for school.
alone, and speaking very little english.
instead of medicine, he found a different calling at durham:
brewing beer.
the pub, it turned out, was how britain made friends.
then, at 22, a routine health check.
his liver showed damage unusual for his age.
no more alcohol. no more brewing.
he didn’t miss the alcohol.
he missed the pub: the friends, the ritual, that first-pint exhale.
back in hong kong, a chat with a traditional herbalist gave him an idea:
what if plants could help you unwind, without the alcohol?
he took the plants back to the uk and asked the experts for help.
every one of them said it was impossible.
until one didn’t.
professor paul chazot, a neuroscientist at durham, saw what mark saw.
together they built the first social blend™.
in 2021 the first impossibrew lager was born.
the first boxes were packed by hand.
in 2022, three months in, a bbc producer emailed. dragons' den.
all five dragons said no.
“the most credible 24-year-old that has ever walked through the den’s door.” touker suleyman
in 2023 our lager and hazy pale won at the world beer awards.
judged blind. no booze required.
the dragons said no, so we asked our drinkers.
on crowdcube, they said yes.
in january 2026 we landed in our first supermarket, ocado.
and mark is back in the pub.
same friends. same ritual. same first-pint exhale.
over 4 million cans later, one sells every 15 seconds.
it’s still far from perfect. we won’t stop until it’s the most complete alcohol alternative in the world.
“it’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” walt disney
