Spotlight On.........Eden Brewery

One of the most exciting smaller breweries in Scotland at the moment is Eden Brewery which is located at St. Andrews, Fife. I was introduced to their beers when i received a gift pack of their beers from my brother-in-law at Christmas. The gift pack contained 2 bottles of their 19th Brew, and 1 bottle each of their Clock Brew, St Andrews Blonde, Rum Barrel Oak Wood Aged beer, and Shiwreck IPA (all 330ml bottles) along with a lovely Eden Brewery branded 330ml capacity glass (perfect as i only had pint glasses which always look wrong when a 330ml is poured into it) and a t-shirt. The goodies didn't end there though, there was a voucher for £5 off when i spend £25 or more at Eden Brewery and a voucher for a free brewery tour as well.

I managed to drink all 6 of those beers before the end of boxing day and all of them had gone down really well - a nice variety of styles but every single on of them well crafted and incredibly tasty. Most impressive to me had been Rum Barrel beer from the oak wood series. I've tried a number of beers down the years that have sought to gain flavour from the process of  using spirits barrels but found a lot have been far too strong tasting and too much like the spirit rather than a beer. This rum barrel beer though was perfectly balanced. I've since heard a few friends mention that they've tried Eden Brewery beers and the feedback is always 100% positive - it seems the word is quietly getting rolled out about them and the future is bright for this brewery.


I got in touch with Siobhan Macleod, tour coordinator who along with Head Brewer Scott Gowans answered some questions about their operation and their beers.

Q1: How long have you been brewing and how did you get started?

Outside The Brewery

Our head brewer Scott Gowans started his brewing career studying Brewing And Distilling at Heriot Watt University, graduating in 2004. His first job was a summer placement working at Scottish & Newcastle in 2003 in Fountainbridge Brewery.

 

Q2: How much do you produce and where can people get your beers?

We do 4 800 litre brews per week which is both bottled and racked (our maximum capacity!). Our beers are widely available in the St Andrews and East Neuk area but also in bars and bottle shops in Dundee, Perth, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Recently we have just started sending 18 casks per month down to London which is sold on to various pubs and bars and we also send beer to Aberdeen once a month as well. We have an online shop on our website www.edenbrewerystandrews.com where people can buy our beers and we do use this to shop internationally as well. We do our best to announce new stockists via our Facebook and Twitter.

Bottling Line

 

Q3: What brews are your most popular and have you noticed any changing trends in demands from consumers?

Our Oak Wood Series is the most popular speciality brew that we do – this involves ageing beer in Rum, Bourbon and Whisky barrels for between 2-3 months and each batch is unique which our customers really like and those batches tend to be the ones that sell out quickest.

Generally we find that our lighter beers sell best – our 19^th Brew, St Andrews Blonde and Shipwreck IPA are very firm favourites and are asked for most often. Our Porter does have its own following though and more and more people seem to be turning towards darker beers, particularly in the colder months.

 

Tour Room Set Up

Q4: How do you approach the creation of a new beer? Is there a characteristic that is typical of your brews?

Usually we approach a new beer by discussing with the entire Brewery team (a team of 7) and decide what we want to brew for eg. Event or style of beer eg. IPA, barley wine. Our brews vary a lot as we try to do something different so that we can offer our customers a variety of beer styles to help inform them of the many flavours, styles and complexities of beers on offer.

Q5: Do you brew for what you feel there’s a market for or do you create for your own palate

A bit of both is involved in creating new beers. Often we will create for what there is a market for but we will adjust this for our own palates and what we enjoy.

 

Q6: Where do you see your brewery in five years time?

Spent Grains Being Picked Up

We are in the process of developing an expansion plan for the brewery at the moment and aim to go from a 5 barrel brew plant to a 20 barrel brew plant within the next 2 years. In 5 years time it would be great to see us with a wider distribution network nationally and internationally.

 

Q7: Have you had any brewing disasters?

Cleaning Out The Mash Tun

Brewing here (having only been brewing 18 months!) we have been quite lucky and have not had any major disasters. We carefully monitor new brews and keep an eye on them closely as they develop in conditioning tanks. Last summer we did have one exploding Bourbon barrel which was affected by rising temperatures ( a rare thing in Scotland!) while ageing in our warehouse.

Scott - During time spent at larger breweries I have seen a few disasters where automatic valves have opened up and dropped beer down the drain or even dropped caustic into the beer. It’s always scary when something like that happens.

Q8: Do you have any tips for home brewers?

Keep all your tanks and equipment sterile and take your time, never rush a beer and give it time to mature. Brewing can be much like cooking and choosing your ingredients to compliment each other is key to creating a good beer.

I'm looking forward to seeing what beers they produce in the future and also looking forward to drinking all the beers i bought from their stall at the Farmers Market at Castle Terrace, Edinburgh on Saturday there. I recommend anyone around on a Saturday or at Stockbridge Market on a Sunday to go along and have a look. They had an excellent deal where you get 5 beers for £10 (2 19th brew and 3 others) with a free glass. I got two of those and two £2.50 beers on top of that to get to the £25 mark so i could use my voucher from that Christmas gift pack. I also look forward to perhaps going on the brewery tour sometime in the summer.

My purchases from the Farmers Market

Look out for my review of all those beers n the coming weeks and for more information about the brewery and their beer club and the online shop at their website.

You can also get their beers here