Talking Scottish Beer with Stewart Brewing

Stewart Brewing has been creating delicious craft beer in Scotland since 2004. How did it all begin?

A visit to Boston from Steve and Jo in 1996 sparked the idea of having their own Brewery one day. Fast forward to 1998 and they started their first brewery in a garage (well, dining room really), and recipes were developed to share with friends and family. In 2002 premises in Edinburgh were secured, tanks and equipment bought on a modest budget and the journey began. Finally in 2004 the first range of cask beers were launched. Listings in local pubs were agreed and sales began to grow! The rest is history.

What has remained the same and what has changed over the years as you have grown?

The three values have remained the same from the very start which are:
1. To Produce beers to the highest quality possible
2. To provide exceptional service to our customers, and
3. To have fun doing it!

What do you love most about working at Stewart Brewing?

The constant variety of things to do, there is never two days the same here at Stewart Brewing and the fast-paced environment is what makes work so exciting. There is always a new project on the go!

Many of the beers are named after locations in Edinburgh. We wondered why these places were chosen and is the fact the business was started in Edinburgh an integral part of your identity?

Scottish heritage is a big part of who we are at Stewart Brewing as we have a proud Scottish name. Therefore, our Edinburgh home plays a huge part in that as well. We wanted to integrate key landmarks and important locations into our beer names to show how important Edinburgh and Scotland is to us. We chose just a few of the cities iconic spots.

Can you give us a few favourites for different tastes or events and your ultimate pairings of meals and beers?

Some of our top favourites and food pairings would be-

Edinburgh Gold- it’s beautifully balanced with a delicate hop aroma, subtle malty sweetness and a crisp finish which pairs perfectly with pizza & spicy curry.

Hollyrood- Heaped with American hops providing a tangy, grapefruit aroma and flavour, balanced out by Scottish malts making it exceptionally drinkable! Pairs perfectly with fried chicken & Tex Mex.

Stewarts Lager- A crisp, dry, and refreshing classic lager with an earthy citrus character from the noble Saaz hops and it pairs brilliantly with hotdogs & seafood salad.

You have so many unique flavoured beers, I love the sound of ‘Cherry on Top’! Who comes up with all the new recipes and where do you get inspiration for the ingredients used?

The process is very much teamwork led. Our Head Brewer, Craig Scotland (yes that is his real name!), has the final say but he loves hearing ideas from the wider range of the team. We also do follow closely the consumer trends of course, to ensure we brew what people want to drink.

What do you add or change to produce the different varieties - is it the variety of grain or the brewing process?

Although beer traditionally only has 4 ingredients; water, malt, hops and yeast, the options for each element are vast. There are so many different options and combinations that can be used to create many different beer styles and flavours.

We are based on a farm near Duns and they grow malting barley for whisky and oats for porridge - where does your grain come from?

We work with a malt supplier to ensure we can get all the grain we need for our brews, the majority of the grain we use does come from Scotland but we do use something form further afield if it’s extra special. Fun fact: Our spent grain actually goes to the local farm for their cattle.

Any special secrets that make your products so good? What makes you stand out from the competition?

If we told you, it wouldn’t be a special secret! We would never ever sacrifice quality however, that definitely is something we will always stand by.

Have you been able to keep producing Beer as normal over the past year and a half? Or have there been quite a few challenges?

We did face a lot of challenges during COVID-19, like everyone else. We had to be persistent however and still try and push through as normal. We did progress into producing larger small pack volumes earlier that we had planned, with the addition of a new canning line, but we have seen the benefits from it since.

Stewart is our Clan of the Month for November which is what led us to you - is the Scottish heritage important to you and the brand and if so why?

Yes, it is something that is very important to us. When we rebranded, the new product labels were inspired by tartan and that’s why we have all the different layers intertwining on them. Our favourite Stewart tartan would be the Royal Stewart. We love how dominant the colours in this are and how much it stands out. We actually have customised jackets for our staff inspired by this tartan!