IN THE heart of east London, Jaega Wise has been working tirelessly to build her brewing empire for over a decade. 

She started out as a co-founder and head brewer at Wild Card Brewery, a craft microbrewery based in Walthamstow, and has been a driving force behind its success. 

Hailing from Nottingham, Wise, a chemical engineering graduate who previously worked in Water Treatment and International Chemical Trading, could have easily pursued a more lucrative career. 

However, she decided to follow her passion for beer and use her knowledge to craft unique, high-quality brews. 

Wild Card Brewery has won numerous awards for its premium beers and has become a favourite among beer enthusiasts. What started as a kitchen table dream among friends William and Andrew in 2012 has now grown to include two taprooms in east London. 

Wise and her team use the latest technology and sustainable ingredients to create a range of delicious beers that are both classic and innovative. In addition to their core range, the brewery also releases exciting special editions every month that showcase their creativity and expertise. 

Despite the challenges that come with running a successful microbrewery, Wise remains dedicated to her craft and committed to growing her business. With her passion and expertise, the future of Wild Card Brewery looks bright. Speaking to The Voice Newspaper  following her inclusion in the respected Waitrose list of the ‘10 most influential women in food today’, she explained why there’s no resting on her laurels. 

“It’s borderline overwhelming really, to be in the company of people who are literal legends. 

“Claudia Roden is on that list, Andi Oliver is on that list, it’s pretty unbelievable to be honest, I was quite shocked.”

She added: “I’ve been working for a few years just generally in the food space, I wrote a book last year, number one best-selling book, just saying! 

“I work super hard but honestly, to even be in the same sentence as some of those legends, to be honest I was frankly amazed, but I am going to grab that accolade and take it.” 

A businesswoman, author and rising star in the world of food and drink, Wise also cohosts BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme and presents Beer Masters alongside James Blunt on Amazon Prime. 

Having left Loughborough University with a different career choice in mind however, how did she end up brewing beer? 

“I come from a chemical engineering background and they are actually part of the same family,” she enthused. 

“A good example is we studied yeast activity, enzymatic activity, fermentation, it’s all part of the same family. 

“So lots of people do a degree in chemical engineering and go and work for Heineken, Molson Coors or Carlsberg. Lots of people go and work in oil and gas as well as lots of my friends did, or in the City where they are making lots of money, but essentially the two are part of the same family. 

“It was super helpful coming from a strong engineering background, it gave me a running start.” 

Wise also co-owns The Tavern on the Hill, situated on Higham Hill Rd, Walthamstow, which is famed for its Caribbean roasts and attracting famous faces. 

She’s a busy and very ambitious woman who knows the sky is not the limit. She also knows she can’t do it all on her own. 

“I have an amazing team, everyone is super supportive of each other and it’s one of the key things that I would say, you can’t do anything alone. You need help, you need friends and you need a solid team around you. 

“Within the business we have Will who looks after the sales, Andrew who looks after the finance and I look after the product. So just generally we are all really good friends but also we recognise the things that we are really good at, so we build the strongest foundation that we can. 

“Business can be testing. The pandemic was horrific for everybody and I think it’s at times like that at extreme stress, I think you really find out what kind of company you are and what kind of person you are as well.” 

Wise’s involvement in The Tavern on the Hill is the most ironic element of her journey to date, having worked there over a decade ago, to have come full circle and now own the venue, is a rich source of pride. 

“I used to work in the basement of that pub when we first started ten years ago. The pub had failed during COVID so they let us come and use the pub and effectively take over the lease. We had a Jamaican food vendor in there and one of the things you have to do in a British pub is you have to do a Sunday roast and we did a spin on it. 

“The household I grew up in you have a normal roast dinner but you might have jerk chicken, lamb or pork. You would have rice and peas, you would have plantain, macaroni cheese, mostly a quad-carb meal. 

“We did that as a normal thing and it went kind of insane on TikTok, it went viral and then celebrities started coming and then Stormzy came, that was kind of crazy. 

“That day I called the team and said I was going to be a waitress for the day. It was great.” 

If you ever see Wise on the job down at her brewery you will know that while she is grateful for all of the celebrity endorsements, the back breaking hard work she puts in is also for reasons that might not garner the column inches of the hottest blogs, nevertheless it’s just as, if not more important. 

A fierce advocate for equality within the brewing industry and a leading force in bringing in new rules in the UK that banned sexist, homophobic, and racist labelling on beer, there is a distinct purpose to her work beyond preparing pints. 

“One of the things I noticed in this industry was that there wasn’t very many women at the top. It’s something that causes you general issues by the way you are spoken to, by the way you are treated. 

“One of the things that really always bothered me was the fact that out there in the world there was this culture of belittling women on branding in a way that was seen as cheeky or fun. 

“It was one of the things that we decided to try and change. So there is a group called the Portman Group, whose job it is to look after alcohol labelling and it wasn’t in their rule book to stop labels that were deemed as sexist, racist or homophobic. 

“So, it would be a problem in the UK to have a can of beer that looked like it was aimed at children, that would get you pulled off the shelves. 

“But if you had a sexist label, that was perfectly acceptable within the rules. So what we decided to do was change the rule book. 

“It was a lot of work, I worked with a trade body and got lots of signatures from people all over the country and it’s now been added into the rule book.

“And that is all alcohol all over the UK that is being sold, so if you see an issue you can complain to the Portman Group, an independent body who can launch an investigation and potentially have that product pulled from the shelves.” 

She added: “I’m a big believer if you want to see something change, get stuck in and change it. It might be things that perhaps don’t make you the most popular but you have to get involved.”