Stewart Brewing’s 8th birthday
Last night saw the continuance of a grand Edinburgh tradition – the annual Stewart Brewing birthday party. Now celebrating eight years, the Loanhead brewery are really going from strength to strength – currently construction work is ongoing for their new facility. Located just round the corner from the old, their new brewery is set to triple capacity to 30bbl when it comes online in the new year – solving, at a stroke, the problems they have been having with being at the limits of production capacity.
Stewart Brewing are really one of Edinburgh’s success stories – since 2004, Steve, Jo and the team have created a local brand that offers an alternative to the capital’s other main producer, the Caledonian. Over the last few years, though, there’s been a definite shift in Stewart Brewing’s outlook, which began with the launch of a bottled range to accompany their cask lineup. These have steadily been joined by small-batch, high abv offerings – the recent Radical Road and Black IPA, for instance, were really well received.
At the same time, they have been making a conscious effort to get the word (as well as the beer) out there. Hosting Battle of the Brewer nights, sponsoring local events, and really going for the social media has worked wonders. Just the other day, for instance, they were in the local paper for their ‘cask at home’ service, demand for which has quadrupled in a year.* Hosting an annual birthday party for fans of the brewery is a great idea, and helps to get fans of Stewart beers – of which there are many in the city – better acquainted with the people that make it.
* Before the comments come in – I’m not mentioning that because I was featured in the article as well – honest
This year, the party was hosted by Cloisters Bar – they have a long association, as their house beer Holy Grale comes from Stewart. One abiding characteristic of each of the parties is that the Stewart team come up with a special celebration beer – which, this time, was Stewart’s 8 – an 8% Belgian style tripel. Brewed with orange peel and ground coriander, you can certainly taste the latter – sweet and floral, the coriander is very evident before the sweep snap of a finish. It’s a fitting testament to Stewart Brewing – and the direction in which they are heading. With any luck, as the new facility comes online, much more will follow.
