Looking back and forth at the end of one year and the start of another. These are uncertain times but we’re looking back with gratitude and forward with excitement and hope.
January
In January, our lockdown mural from 2020 was looking proud amongst our new mezzanine (now a taproom) and our incredibly stylish and practical brewery floor.
Our first team members Sarah, Marketing & Events Manager and Wes, Sales Manager started in their roles albeit in a creative way as they worked from home and we didn’t have any beer yet. We got to know each other and came up with a plan, drawn from our experience so we’d be able to hit the ground running later in the year.
Read more about our brewery build via the links below.
February
By February we were meant to have our brew kit but the stars had not aligned in our favour. Because of unprecedented pressure on UK ports (shoutout to Brexit and COVID) our kit was to be delayed by 8 weeks.
We worked with Leeds-based company SSV Limited to design our kit but their manufacturing is done in China, meaning our kit was still yet to begin its long voyage to the UK.
By this point all our head brewer, Vinny wanted to do was to brew.
March
In March, we announced our core range! Our aim was to keep it simple and do it well, to precision brew four sessionable beers that you could enjoy by the pint. We worked on colour concepts that represented ideas reflected in the beers and flavours you’d taste.
Find out more about each beer below, as if you haven’t already!
April
In April, we spent a lot of time watching a real-time tracker of the container ship with our kit on it. Our brew kit was meant to be loaded up the Evergreen, the ship that famously blocked the Suez Canal, but lucky for us, it was turned away last minute. Otherwise, we may have still not been brewing for months!
The stars were on our side this time though as the Suez Canal had cleared by the time our ship reached it. Our luck was beginning to change.
On April 26, not only were the pubs re-opening, our containers arrived and the kit was in. We all then went for our first team drinks. It was dreich. We had to sit outside. But we celebrated nonetheless.
May
Most of May was spent with SSV setting up our kit and getting it ready for commission. On May 26, a month to the day of our kits arrival, we did our first brew, our first batch of Pale Ale.
June
June was a busy one. Vinny kept on brewing until we had all four core beers in tank. Our brewery signage went up so everyone knew we had officially arrived. We kegged and released our first beers. We also enjoyed the sun on The Shore and the Water Of Leith’s signets when they made an appearance.
Keep an eye out for a cheeky picture of Wes with the first embodiment of our taproom.
July
On July 1st we finally all four of our beers in keg and The Jolly Judge hosted us for our first-ever event, a Tap Showcase to introduce ourselves to the Edinburgh beer scene.
Then we did our first ever canning run so we could get our precision brewed beers even further afield, worked with bottleshops for the first time and launched our online shop.
August
Vinny spent August making sure we had plenty of our core range in stock while he also planned for our first special release. We tried to convince you that Stout could still be enjoyed in the summer and our first merch dropped.
September
September saw us release our first one-off special, Nelson IPA, which honestly, has been so loved it will make a comeback one day don’t worry. Vinny drew on his Kiwi roots to make a beer with the Nelson Sauvin hop that showcased its vinous gooseberry qualities. September also saw us open our taproom!
Check out the links below to learn more.
October
In October, we had our first collaboration brew. Fresh off their win of Scottish Brewery of the Year, Fierce Beer came down from Aberdeen to brew a Rye IPA with us.
Learn more about the beer and the collab brew day via the links below.
November
In November, we released the Rye IPA with a first pour across the Fierce Beer bars and our taproom. The Water of Leith Trust helped us deliver a keg across The Shore to our closest customer Teuchters Landing.
November saw our team grow to five with our Taproom Manager, Gemma, joining us.
We also took our beers to our London Launch with a can sampling at Kill The Cat and our beer festival debut at the London Christmas Beer Market.
December
December saw Vinny brew the next beer in our modern hop series and our last beer of 2021, Ekuanot IPA. We also held our first brewery market so we could create a one-stop-shop of local Edinburgh traders before Christmas.
We learnt how to heat a warehouse taproom just in time for our newest arrival, new member of the taproom team, Eloise.
