New Scottish Brewery – Lerwick Brewing Co

Posted by on May 6, 2013 in Scottish Beer | 3 Comments

Lerwick3

Shetland – a place I have unfortunately never visited – sounds like a tricky prospect for a potential new brewer to set up operations. Not because of the location; more the way the locals go about their drinking. A hundred miles north of the Scottish mainland, the islands may seem remote, but according to John Mercer, Shetland has a good distribution network connecting to the rest of Scotland. Established out of necessity, the regular transportation of goods and people brings the distance down, and means beer certainly has the capability to reach markets south, if there’s a will on the part of the people that make it.

This is where John comes in, with the launch next month of the Lerwick Brewing Company. I spoke to him the other day about the challenges of opening a brewery there – for years, Shetland had only one; Sonny Priest’s Valhalla Brewery on Unst.* Being a cosseted Edinburgher, I was expecting tales about struggling to get materials, or ingredients – but it seems as if the issue of concern to John as he begins is how to fit his beer into the Shetland drinking culture. A fan of real ale, he’s keen to bring this to the local market – but acknowledges that this could be a tricky proposition.

* Type ‘Unst’ into Google Maps to see where Britain’s most northerly brewery really is. Then zoom out…and zoom out…and zoom out…

Shetland has relatively few pubs, apparently, in relation to other areas of Scotland, and few of those that exist have cellars – at the moment, the demand simply isn’t there for pints of cask ale. Instead, as John filled me in, the islanders largely drink at home – or, sociably, in the homes of friends and neighbours. House parties and drinking visits are common – so off-sales are all-important. As such, Lerwick Brewing Co will be starting with two beers; 60°North (a pilsner) and Skipper’s Ticket (an 80/- style Scottish ale), both distributed in force-carbonated 330ml bottles. John’s keen to move on to bottle-conditioned beers in the future, but is mindful of keeping things manageable at first.

This is something that strikes you pretty quickly, when chatting to John – he seems extremely grounded and realistic. Whilst wanting to introduce something a little different for Shetlanders (he told me anecdotally the most popular beer there is McEwans Export – with the abundance of littered red cans earning it the nickname ‘the Shetland Rose’), he will brew what will sell, at least at first, to create and build the brand. I think part of this comes from the family structure of the brewery business – alongside him, his two brothers will also be playing a part, even though only one (Jimmy) actually lives on Shetland – John himself is based in Stonehaven.

They already have a full-time employee in place on site, though – the brewery is a stone’s throw from the Lerwick ferry terminal, in an old gas depot. The 12bbl kit is in place, as are the three fermenters and seven conditioning tanks. At the moment, the only thing outstanding is the bottling line. Once that arrives, their pilot brews can go into commercial production (hopefully in June), and then make an appearance on the mainland. John also confirmed that e-commerce will be a big part of the business, so expect to be able to buy online and get the beers that way.

The Shetlands might have a small beer-drinking population (relatively speaking), but once Lerwick get going the locals should be really taken with what the Mercer brothers are doing. If everything goes to plan, the rest of us in Scotland will get a chance to find out, as well…

Keep up with the progress of the Lerwick Brewing Company on Facebook, and the website. Thanks to John for taking the time to speak to me.

3 Comments

  1. Jim Darroch
    May 7, 2013

    Been to Shetland and even Valhalla. The pubs tend to be in hotels and, while keg bottled Valhalla can easily be found, real ale is not so easy. There are no ra outlets in Lerwick, so I can see why he’s going for bottles, although I think he’s crazy even trying.

    Next thing there will be a brewery on Fair Isle.

  2. Richard
    May 7, 2013

    You don’t think it’ll work Jim? Shetland too small a market to support two breweries?

  3. Lerwick Brewery | MFBR
    February 17, 2014

    […] out there about Lerwick at the moment, but there’s a great introductory post by Rich of The Beer Cast and it’s a good idea to keep up with Diary of a Beer Girl, the daughter of one of the […]

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