What is Vessel?

An independent beer shop located a few minutes’ walk from Plymouth city centre. We stock over 160 different beers from some of the best breweries in Britain and around the world. We sell bottles, cans and draught beer for take away using growlers.

We hold events to enable our customers to try new beers, meet brewers, taste and learn about different beer styles, meet food producers and pair their food with our beer selection. We also offer a small but carefully selected range of snacks, cider, wine, spirits and soft drinks from independent producers, which can be enjoyed on site.

What are growlers?

Growlers are reusable glass bottles that enable you to take away draught beer to enjoy at home and come back for more. We use a growler machine that enables us to ensure the that the beer never comes into contact with the air from the keg to bottle, meaning the beer remains fresh in the growler for over 2 weeks or until you decide to open and drink it. We offer two sizes of growler – a Nugget (750ml) or Flagon (1900ml).

Who are Vessel?

We are Sam and Katie Congdon. We’re both from the South West (Sam is from Plymstock and Katie is from Probus in Cornwall) but we met in Leeds in 2010. Over the next six years we became increasingly interested in beer, and trying the vast range of beer styles from across the world.

We have been lucky during this time to benefit from a renaissance in UK brewing, with new and interesting beers being produced across the country by a proliferation of independent breweries.  We travelled the length of the UK as well as heading to Belgium, Germany and both coasts of the US to visit the best breweries, bars and beer shops we could find.

We both decided that we wanted to bring our love and knowledge of great beer, and our enthusiasm about supporting small independent producers, back to the South West. So we moved back home, and set up Vessel.