As a companion piece to the cross disciplinary multi-media magazine we call Brewing Folk, this regular gathering represents yet another feather in the pluming cap of Verdant Brewing Co’s extra-curricular activities - encompassing a podcast, the Beer & Book Club, and regular parties at our Penryn taproom - not to mention our ongoing dedication to bridge the worlds of music and beer with our regular collaboration brews. Once a month our dedicated congregation of carefully curated guests, ably hosted by resident DJ Doug Shipton, will share their wisdom and their wax, while the bar plays host to a mutable array of your favourite hop-forward beers and special guest collaborations.
The return of Pour Decisions for a second season of carefully curated and lovingly arranged listening events indubitably also heralds the return of our resident black wax botherer and diligent programmer, Doug Shipton. We have it on good authority that in our absence over the last three short months, Doug has not been resting on his laurels. Regular sightings have been reported of our man emerging from recorded music establishments, charity shops, and boot fairs across Europe sporting dusty knees, black palms and a twisted back, in an effort to harvest the finest platters for the bulging Brewing Folk 2026 calendar.
Doug Shipton
As co-founder of Finders Keepers Records and owner of Fundamental Frequencies, Doug has spent practically his entire adult life testing not only the patience of his significant others but also the craftsmanship of South London house builders, by trying to buy every record under the sun and cram them all into one first floor room. A cornucopia of far flung delights filed in practically no discernible order, there you will find skronky jazz anti-dancers propped up against Kollywood funk, and Peruvian surf scattered amongst pan-Asian pop oddities. To your B-Music layman (not to mention said disgruntled partners), this cavalcade of unpronounceable well-travelled vinyl is arguably a health and safety hazard, but in the right hands they make perfect sense.
A celebrated champion of the overlooked, misunderstood and maligned, his label is responsible for introducing the wider the world to the likes of Turkish folk hero Selda Bağcan, Persian pop princess Googoosh, as well as Polish cinematic prog behemoth Andrzej Korzyński and Lollywood playback royalty Nahid Akhtar (amongst others!). As such our resident knob twiddler constitutes the cosmic glue that binds these very special gatherings together.
Listen to an exclusive International Covers mix.
Kit Sebastian
Imagine a Studio Marble Arch recording session tea break where John Barry is stirring a freshly brewed pot as Rogerio Duprat rummages through the cupboards looking for the sugar. Meanwhile, Conny Plank and Jean-Claude Vannier are arguing over who gets the best mug, when Zafer Dilek suddenly pops back from the shop with the biscuits… You are now about a third of the way to wrapping your head around the veritable pop hydra that is Kit Sebastian. Their self-sufficient soft-focus pop noir has digits in more cross-continental pop pies than any record collecting pedant could dare to pin on them. Still, Kit Sebastian occupy a pigeonhole entirely of their own.
Comprising the London-based duo of Kit Martin and Merve Erdem, their multi-lingual baroque pop – rooted in a combined Anglo-French-Turkish heritage and informed by a shared love of Italian and French cinema - first brought them to the attention of Brighton’s Mr. Bongo in 2019, before they recently set pen to paper with Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder imprint. Their sporadic Club L'internationale nights have been melting dance floors up and down the country for years with their open-hearted and free-minded music policy, serving up a heady blend of Anatolian rock, Latin pop, yé-yé and belly dance disco to ravenous crowds. With their far-reaching borderless sets earning them DJ support slots for the likes of King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, their thoughtful and breezy selections represent the purest distillation of their international influences, making them a fitting curtain raiser to our 2026 programme.
Thursday 30th April
Tate Corner Bar - Southbank, London
18:00 - 23:00
Free Entry