Glass half full

26. Is this the end?

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 19:01:09 GMT

Season one...done!

As this first season in our new Brewery at the pier draws to a close and the last of the visitors leave the island we are looking back over this first crazy six months. It's been incredibly hard work, long hours and at times very stressful but we're delighted to say that with the help of a brilliant team we survived our first season, and incredibly somehow managed to enjoy it! So as the last of the summer sunsets fade and the Northern Lights return here is a glimpse of what we've learnt and what our plans are for the winter.

A step into the unknown

When we started this adventure about a year ago we had no idea... (I was going to finish this sentence but really that's it... we had no idea!) We knew that there was a market for more bottled beer but we had never run a bar, or a restaurant, or a deli! In many ways we are running a bigger brewery plus three totally new businesses. Looking back I can't help but wonder what we were thinking.

As many of you who know us will know I am the cautious one in our relationship. I'm sure it's natural to have some apprehension about whether you will be able to attract enough customers for your business when it expands, however Nick, who is blessed with the confidence of a king, had no doubts that we would be busy. In fact, he thought our problem wouldn't be having too few customers but too many.

So much to be proud of

In the last week, as things have started to calm down, we have had a chance to look back on the last six months and really appreciate what two rookies and a brilliant team of loyal, hardworking and talented people have achieved. By pulling together we have really managed to pull off something amazing!

Our staff are really the heart of the Brewery and it has a really big heart! All together we have twenty four members of staff on the payroll. We are really proud to say that every single one of our staff are from here in Harris, in fact nearly all of our staff were already our friends (and/or family). We know this is very rare and we know how lucky we have been that so many people have supported us by taking on shifts. I'm sure this contributes to the friendly atmosphere and warm welcome so many of our customers mention in their comments and reviews.

The season in stats

As one of the only places serving food and drink in South Harris we had expected to be busy, however even we were shocked when we looked at the stats! Since we opened on Good Friday Craig and John in the kitchen have cooked 6,366 servings of fish and chips with haddock supplied by Islander shellfish in Stornoway. The deli team have served 6,361 coffees roasted by Sarah at Skydancer in South Uist and Amanda's team over the road at the Apothecary and 1,785 pots of tea blended by Rhoda and Becca at Tiree Tea. We have also sold 7,254 cakes, traybakes and cookies baked by Julie and Sarah at Croft 36 in Northton and Lucy at Berry Bliss here in Leverburgh.

These figures also give a hint of just some of the many small local businesses who have been part of the Brewery's success this season. It would have been impossible for us to have fed and watered the many thousand of customers who have come through our doors this season without their help. In our kitchen we use bread from Stag Bakery and Heike at Mustheb bakes beer bread from our spent grain every morning for our deli counter. Our meat comes from Charley Barley, Skirren Croft and Borve Lodge Estates. Salmon comes from Salar in North Uist, Langoustines are delivered fresh from the pier by Donald and the crew of Valhalla and scallops come from Kallin Shellfish in North Uist. In total our little deli stocks 123 Hebridean items! One local business who we certainly couldn't have done this without is our very own Community Shop, An Clachan. When I left my job there last Christmas they might have thought they had seen the last of me; but every day (sometimes multiple times a day) I'm back at the Clachan for fresh fruit and veg, gallons of milk or an extension lead. They have saved our bacon so many times in the last six months and we can't thank them enough.

Winter Opening hours

Since we moved the Brewery down to the pier we have worked like we've never worked before. We have each worked ninety plus hours a week, we have each walked over 2 million steps and between us we have lost four stone in weight. It's been pretty crazy and as you would probably expect we are looking forward to a calmer winter! So we have decided that we will change our opening hours to coincide with Calmac's winter timetable. This makes the official last day of the season Saturday the 19th of October.....but don't panic our Winter Opening Hours will start on Monday the 21st of October. We are well aware of the importance of being consistent with opening hours, however Christmas is a busy time for events so if we need to adjust our plans we will update our social media and the events calendar on our website.

The Deli

From October the 21st our deli will be open Monday to Saturday 9-5pm. We will be serving hot and cold drinks and a simple lunch menu of Homemade Soup, hot Charley Barley pies and Lucy's giant sausage rolls and our deli counter will be stocked with our usual locally baked goodies to eat-in or takeaway. We have already started brewing beer to be bottled ready for Christmas and we are planning to release the first batches of our two Christmas beers and our Festive Dozen in the middle of November. We have already received our first Christmas stock of Christmas puds, chutneys and sweet treats and this will be hitting the deli shelves soon for the early bird shoppers. In the run up to Christmas we will also be stocking a large range of festive food, increasing our range from local producers and developing a range of our own label products perfect for Christmas gifts.

The Taproom

Our opening times for the bar and kitchen have been a much trickier decision. Traditionally most hospitality businesses in Harris close for the entire winter season. Where our business is different is that we are a working Brewery. We will be brewing, bottling and labelling beer all winter so the lights will be on right through the year. What is hard to predict is how much people will want to come out on cold dark Harris nights. We understand the appeal of the annual Hebridean Hibernation however we wanted to encourage people to get together over the winter. With this in mind we invite you to gather your brainiest friends and join us for our first season of the South Harris Quiz League. On the first and third Thursday in the month we will host a quiz night with the chance to win a mediocre prize and a coveted place on the League Leader Board. The Season's winning team will be announced on the fourth and final round of the season on Thursday the 18th of December. If the opportunity to seize quizzing glory isn't enough to tempt you from your fireside on Thursdays we will also be serving freshly made pizzas to eat-in or takeaway.

On Friday and Saturday evenings from the 25th of October the bar will be open until late and we will be serving a winter menu from 5-8pm to eat-in or takeaway. This will include some of our bestsellers from the last six months and old favourites like Craig's Borve sausages and mash and Apple Crumble. To keep it interesting we will also be serving a different special every week, one week it might be Indian another week Mexican. Updates will be posted on social media every week.

De Thà Dol

We have also added a few special events to our diary. Starting with a last minute Oktoberfest weekend on the 25th and 26th of October. In addition to our winter menu we will be serving German food and beers, Effie and I have ordered Bavarian drindl dresses but we have yet to convince Nick to don the lederhosen! Next up on the calendar is a Fright Night on Friday November the 1st. Halloween isn't just for kids, after the guisers have been we invite you to join us for some gruesome grub, a few tricks and treats and a free creapy cocktail or mocktail for anyone who comes in fancy dress. In November we will also be holding a beer tasting event on Friday the 15th to celebrate the launch of this year's Christmas beers, excitingly Nick is brewing the first batch of Cranberry ale today. On November the 30th we will be joining in with the village Christmas events, so why not join us after the Clachan's Creel Christmas Tree Light switch on for a warm up, mulled wine, carol singing and dinner from our winter menu. Fridays in December we will be hosting Christmas Party Nights with a three course locally sourced menu, live music from Riff Raff and a late license until 1am. We're already getting lots of bookings from groups coming for a work do, a family gathering or a friends' night out. We know it's only October but we would encourage you to rally your friends and book early to get a table and join the party.

So as we say goodbye to Summer 2024 we have one more thing to say to all of our lovely staff, the suppliers who have looked after us so well, the one and only Picky from Woody's Express Parcels and of course the thousands of customers who have passed through our doors. Many, many thanks for all of your support and here's to a new season at the Brewery.

Mòran Taing

NICK, ANNA & SPUD THE BREWERY DOG

25. Fàilte - Welcome to the Brewery

Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:50:16 GMT

Fàilte - Welcome to the Brewery!

The few weeks have been the most excilerating, emotional and exhausting in the history of our little Brewery. Just over two weeks ago our fantastic local tradesmen, friends, family and neighbours were working around the clock to get us ready for our opening on Good Friday.

...and what a Good Friday it was!

It takes a community

When we set our opening date we knew it was going to be a rush to the finish line. In the last two months we have had tradesmen here around the clock. What once seemed like a fairly simple refurbishment project quickly turned into a major renovation. We have made changes to the layout and the look of the "Anchorage" as it will forever be known but the one thing we were sure we didn't want to change was the feel of the place. For twenty five years this restaurant has been the meeting place for people who live and work in South Harris and the thousands of visitors who pass through Leverburgh every year .

Way back in 1997 our friends and Borrisdale neighbours Finlay and Mary Ann MacQueen laid the foundations of the building and opened the first incarnation of the Anchorage. They ran the restaurant for five or six years with the help of their daughters Hannah and Patricia. They were famed for their breakfast which were served from 7.30am(!) and their leek and potato soup. The cafe was a favourite with the island football teams and local people have really fond memories of Finlay and Mary Ann's Anchorage, many of them have also worked here over the years. We are delighted to have their grandson John working with us at the Brewery.

The New Anchorage

The next chapter of the Anchorage's story began when Sally and Maurizio Lessi bought the building. Over the years they extended the building several times to provide a separate bar and an extension to the kitchen and then again in 2017 when an extra dining area was added. The Anchorage became the place to go for the freshest seafood in Harris straight from Leverburgh Pier. With Maurizio in the kitchen and Sally front of house the reputation of the restaurant grew and remained at the heart of the Leverburgh community for many years. Sadly, Sally lost Maurizio however the Lessi name remained above the door for twenty years welcoming thousands of happy customers over the years. For many people, including our family, a meal at the Anchorage was one of the highlights of our holiday in Harris and a place to celebrate the milestones of life. When Sally decided to retire from the restaurant business in October 2021 as a community we knew we were losing somewhere special.

When we started designing the new spaces we needed for squeezing the Brewery and deli into the building, we knew that we had to find a way to honour the love the former hosts had invested in the building. We have made changes so that the spaces work for us and reflect our Brewery's personality but we're conscious that Finlay and Mary Ann and Sally and Maurizio will forever be part of the fabric of the Anchorage.

New look, same atmosphere

The first major change was to turn the old "Dog Room" dining area into the new Brewery. As a nod to our old tin Brewshed our fantastic builder Kenny and his team clad the walls in wriggly tin. The mammoth job of providing enough electricity for the new brewing equipment was tasked to Shonny the electrician. Not only did he do a great job but he did it with a smile even when we were working until late at night. The capacity of the new and improved Brewshed is now doubled so we can not only make more bottled beer but also keg beer for our own taps. We have twelve taps in total one for each of our ten core beers and two for new recipes "House Lager" and "House Ale". The lager proved particularly popular on opening night - it was a full time job for Nick changing kegs!

The next job we tackled was changing the old bar into a bottleshop and deli. This is probably the biggest transformation of all and one we are very proud of because it showcases so many of the fabulous local suppliers and makers of the Hebrides. We are loving working with two local businesses to fill our bakery counter, Croft 36 from Northton and Lucy from Leverburgh and our customers are loving having somewhere to come for tea and cake. We serve our own blend of coffee, The Taproom Roast, from Uist and Hebridean blended tea from Tiree. We also stock products from lots of local producers: Salmon for Uist, Black Pudding from Stornoway (of course) Charcuterie, biscuits and Sparking water from Lewis & Mustard and Wild Eve from here in Leverburgh. One extremely large fridge is reserved for beer so in addition to our own bottled beers we stock ales from small breweries all over Scotland and our favourite beers from Belgium and Germany. We are proud to be the largest delicatessen in the South of the Long Island and the only beer bottleshop in the Outer Hebrides.

Kenny and his team also worked their magic on the largest room which we call our taproom. They have used inexpensive materials like tin and plywood and have created something wonderful. The bench seating was a labour of love for Al and Kenny while Coll took on the job of the ply walls. The skill and hours and hours of work Kenny put into the job have given us a beautiful, warm relaxing space which we will enjoy for many years to come. We should also thank Kenny's long suffering girlfriend Nadia who has barely seen him for the last few months!

Amongst the mess and chaos of the building works another local craftsman worked carefully and quietly - often starting very early in the morning to avoid the dust. Leverburgh decorator Chris Morrison was here for many weeks and must have painted meters and meters of woodwork in our signature' ink' coloured paint. Once the majority of the building work was complete we all manoeuvred around the many deliveries of furniture and equipment that started arriving daily with Picky from Woody's, the boys from Hebridean Haulage and our local posties.

At the start of February our first member of staff joined the team. Ellen grew up in Northton and went to school with our kids. Ellen is the daughter of Harris hospitality legends Croft 36 and has experience working in coffee shops and restaurants in Glasgow. When she decided to move home we were delighted to offer her a full time job. Next came our chef Craig, we advertised for a chef nationally and to our surprise found Craig in Tarbert! It was huge relief to find a great chef who was already settled on the island and wanted a permanent full time position. For the first couple of months both Ellen and Craig were amazing, rolling their sleeves up to help paint ceilings, fill skips and haul furniture. We knew instantly that we had the makings of a great little team and Ellen and Craig played a big part in the transformation we have achieved.

As we watched our countdown to opening tick away, we all worked many, many hours getting everything ready and in the last couple of days a miracle happened. One day people started arriving. Our friends, family, neighbours and even local people who had heard about how hard we were working to meet our deadline. We didn't ask them to come, but a steady stream of people arrived at our door in the last few days before opening. Some brought baking to keep us going, some cooked meals for us as they knew we weren't making it home for dinner and then on that last day they came pulling hoovers, carrying buckets and mops and with vases of freshly picked daffodils. It was truly amazing....It brings a tear to my eye as I write this but the whole community rallied round us. The place was sparkling from top to bottom, bonfires were built, furniture was unpacked and the bar and deli shelves were stacked. Some stayed until 3am and returned at 7am on the day of the opening! This might be often said but it's so true, we would never have done it without every one of the friends who helped. As the first guests arrived for the official opening one of our VIPs was holding Kenny's ladder as he put the new sign above the door. We only just made it in time but we made it!

One of the reasons we took on this project was because we love our community and we have never been so grateful for them and felt so loved in return. Thank you to you all.

NICK, ANNA, EUAN, MORAG & SPUD THE BREWERY DOG

24. BREAKING NEWS

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 14:46:58 GMT

BREAKING NEWS!

Today we're very excited to announce some breaking news . Our first ever Press Release has just been sent to the local media to herald the official opening of our new Brewery on the 29th of March 2024 (a very Good... Good Friday!) For the last few months we have been working hard to get everything ready for our big day and the amazing joiners, painters and electricians of Harris have been here from dusk 'til dawn. We would never have achieved this mad project without their help, their patience and their encouragement and we want to thank them all. We should also thank the poor postmen and delivery drivers who have kept a constant stream of exceptionally heavy packages arriving at our door!

Stop Press, the worst kept secret in Harris

When we are asked in the local shop, An Clachan what we are planning for the new Brewery we have been happy to share as much as we knew (!) but at last we are able nail down the details and start really spreading the word about what we are doing, and maybe more importantly why. This is only the second time I have ever had to write a press release and as you will know, formal is not really us. So a blog post seemed like a great chance to tell all without the blah, blah, blah!

It's now about nine months since we teamed up with our neighbours Euan and Morag and came up with the crazy idea of opening a Brewery Taproom and Restaurant at the Pier in Leverburgh. After South Harris lost two much loved bars and restaurants in recent years, we knew that local people and visitors were hungry for a new place to enjoy Hebridean food, drink and hospitality so our aim was always to share our love of all things local as far as possible. So alongside the new larger Brewery we are also including a Taproom, Restaurant and Deli. The new space means our customers can enjoy beer brewed in house, a full three course meal or fill a shopping basket from the crofts, lochs, hills and seas of the Hebrides. After dark, the Brewery will host regular live music sessions featuring local and visiting artists.

The Taproom & Restaurant

We've saved the big reveal of what everything will look like until we open but here is what you can expect from the new Brewery. From the new Taproom customers will be able to see everything that is happening in the new Brewing space and enjoy twelve of our core beers on tap as well as beers, wines, spirits and soft drinks from the Hebrides and beyond.

The taproom restaurant will be serving breakfast classics like the Full Scottish from 10am and a core menu from midday until 8.30pm. Ingredients have been carefully chosen from small local producers and will showcase locally landed fish and shellfish, Harris raised meat and game, plant- based options and allergy safe alternatives. We have even sourced bar snacks made in Harris!

We can seat up to fifty in the Taproom and (when the Hebridean weather allows) there are extra tables on a shorefront deck and beer garden. For customers on the go the new Bottleshop & Deli includes the largest range of Hebridean food and drink available in the Isle of Harris. The deli shelves will be filled with a carefully curated selection of over 100 beers from breweries across Scotland and further afield as well as artisan food and drink from the Hebrides. From the deli, customers can also order a coffee, takeaway or choose from the grab-and-go counter.

Every Press release needs a quote

It's true that there is always a thank you quote in every press release but there is a good reason for that. We are very fortunate in the Outer Hebrides to have great business support from two local agencies and we might not have considered taking on such a huge project without knowing that they, and their staff were there to help us. This is our official quote... “This ambitious project wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the CNES Business Gateway Covid Economic Recovery Grant and the Outer Hebrides Young Enterprise Support Scheme”.

When we were planning our Official Opening Night we wondered whether to ask people to apply for a free ticket to keep the numbers down but like all the best Hebridean cèilidhs we decided to welcome one and all. From 6pm the bar will be open, local musicians will be playing for us and the chef will be rustling up a few bar snacks to give people a flavour of his menu. We hope you will join us if you're close by or visit next time you are in Harris. The team are ready to welcome you for "Beer at the Pier" very soon.

NICK, ANNA, EUAN, MORAG & SPUD THE BREWERY DOG

23. BEER BY THE PIER

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 14:15:48 GMT

We've been keeping a HUGE secret!

After almost seven months it’s finally time to tell all. The news is out…….. The Brewery is moving!!

We’ve been bursting to announce the good news, let you know what’s been going on behind the scenes and tell everyone our exciting plans.

How we got here

When we opened our little shop here at the Brewery back in May we were really excited to welcome customers down to Borrisdale but even then we were frustrated. We had planned to host tasting events where we could showcase our beers and local food however we didn’t get planning and licensing consent. As soon as we opened the shop we realised that many of our customers assumed that we would have a taproom where they might be able to enjoy a beer and a bite to eat. It was upsetting for us to disappoint our customers and very often we couldn’t even suggest a local alternative other than takeaways and honesty shops.

Sadly, it’s now harder than ever to find a seat at the table in South Harris to enjoy great local food and drink. In the last few years in the immediate area we have lost two busy and much loved licensed restaurants; the Rodel Hotel and the Anchorage at the pier in Leverburgh. The famous Hebridean hospitality has meant that existing businesses have worked harder than ever to try to meet demand, new honesty shops and cafes have popped up however there is still a huge shortfall.

The big idea

In April this year, a month before we opened the shop we accepted an invitation to have dinner with our neighbours Euan and Morag. That night six months ago we had a lovely meal, the beer was flowing and we chatted for hours. We were distracted by the arrival of Euan’s famous baked cheesecake when the evening took an unexpected turn with one question.

If they could help us to move the Brewery to a larger premises with a bar and restaurant, would we do it?

The Big Decision

It was a big decision, it would change everything and was it really what we wanted? We knew we could use a bigger brewing space and it was obvious that the area desperately needed places to eat but could we stay true to our tiny brewery values if we scaled up to meet the demand and could we run a bar and kitchen at the same time? Over the next few weeks we went over all of the pros and cons of the idea and thought of spaces locally which might be available and would be a good fit for what we wanted.

In the end both decisions were no-brainers. Of course we wanted to do it and obviously the perfect place was the Anchorage.

Making it happen

At this point there was one major problem. The Anchorage wasn’t for sale! As many of you will know the Anchorage is owned by Sally who successfully ran the business as a seafood restaurant. After almost 20 years and countless happy customers Sally closed the doors for the last time in October 2021. Since then we have been asked many times if a rumour was true that we were taking over the Anchorage and we could say no with a clear conscience. However, in the last few months when the inevitable questions about what’s happening at the Anchorage have been asked we have had to bite our tongue. In a small community it’s incredibly hard to do anything without everyone knowing all about it but incredibly we don’t think the news has leaked.

Our Big Plans

We are delighted to say that we have now formed a new company with Euan and Morag which we have imaginatively named the Isle of Harris Brewery Ltd. Of course this is a big step forward but we are all determined that the Brewery’s small business ethos will stay the same and in case there was any doubt, Spud will remain as MD! We are planning to start brewing even more beer in our new Brewshed early in the new year. We will also open a taproom serving a casual brunch and dinner menu and a new bottleshop and deli with a grab and go takeaway in time for the summer season. As we will be brewing year round we will also be open year round and we hope to be a place where the community and our visitors will gather throughout the year. None of this would have happened without the patience and goodwill of Sally and the business and cheerleading skills of Euan and Morag. If you have read any of our other blogs you will know this isn’t the first time neighbours have changed our lives for the better.

There is a lot of hard work ahead and a lot of decisions have to be made but we are already loving working together and we are looking forward to welcoming you to the new Isle of Harris Brewery and kitchen down at Leverburgh pier in Spring 2024.

NICK, ANNA, EUAN, MORAG & SPUD THE BREWERY DOG

22. Following your dreams

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 16:29:48 GMT

...and then there were two

It’s that time of year again. A few days ago the sheep from our croft were rounded up and separated from their lambs. It’s an important part of the crofting year in villages all over the Hebrides and it always follows a familiar pattern. For a few days at the end of August, the motherless lambs are noticeably distressed and their incessant bleating is enough to give Clarice Starling nightmares. Nick and I faced our own separation anxiety this time last year when our son Charlie left for University and now change is looming once again. This week will be another difficult milestone for our family as our youngest Sarah leaves the island to study music at University in Ayr.

Sarah is a force of nature. Anyone who knows her would describe her as incredibly hard working, a perfectionist, an overachiever and those of us who love her know she is an amazing daughter, granddaughter, sister and friend. Sarah is also a very talented musician. Just a couple of months after we moved to Harris in 2014 Tarbert School hosted the annual Mòd na Hearadh which is a festival of Gaelic music, art and drama. Much to everyone’s surprise the shy new girl agreed to enter the Gaelic singing competition…and she won! For the next six years Sarah sang every day, learnt to play guitar and travelled all over Scotland competing with the School Choir. And just like that …. She had found her passion.

It’s probably obvious that we are very proud of our kids, but we’re not smug. It’s quite likely that they turned out great despite us … not because of us! There is, however, one part of parenting that we are confident we did well and that is inspiring our kids to follow their dreams. It’s the way we have always lived our lives and it’s something we feel very strongly about. Since we opened the shop in May we have had many conversations with customers who have a dream of moving to Harris or starting a small business and we give the same advice we gave to our kids. If it’s what you want to do you will do it well. Maybe it’s the power of positive thinking, or as our GenZ kids would say manifestation, but it’s true.

Sometimes the fear that exists between our dreams and making these dreams a reality can hold us back. Taking a leap of faith and moving to Harris, starting the Brewery or opening the shop all of these decisions have been scary, and its been hard work realising our dreams but it has been thoroughly worth it. Before moving to Harris we ran a large business we worked long hours and we earned a lot of money. Now we run a tiny business, we still work long hours and we earn very little, but when you’re doing what you love that’s real success!

Now we're on the other side it's easy to tell other people to “Follow your Dream” but doing what you love takes courage and doing a job you love can still be hard work. The often used quote.

“Choose a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”

is well meaning but surely a bit simplistic. Loving your job is a wonderful thing. If you love your job, not only are you bringing home the bacon, but you also get the reward and satisfaction of doing a job well. It’s human nature to enjoy the things we’re good at. And, in order to be good at your job, you need to put in some serious hard work. It’s our passion that motivates us to get up early in the morning to label beers and work through the night brewing and bottling. Maybe what this quote should really say is “the more you love your job the harder you work”

So this weekend as we wave Sarah off on her new adventure, there will be tears. We will miss her but we’ll also be excited for what’s to come and proud of her for having the courage to do what she loves. And to everyone following their dreams, we wish you Safe Travels.

21. Huge News from the Tiny Brewery

Sat, 06 May 2023 17:01:02 GMT

Drumroll please....

For the last few months we have been hinting that we've good news on the way and finally we're ready for our biggest ever announcement. At long last we are ready to welcome you to our home and Brewshed here at Croft N˚6 Borrisdale.

We're opening our own tiny shop

This chapter started way back in 2018 when we finally got the keys to our croft house. For the previous four years the house had been unoccupied. The plumbing and electrics needed replacing, there were holes in the roof and the floorboards had rotted through. There was a lot of work to do ... but first we built the Brewshed and started the Brewery!

At the start of our journey we had no plans to open a shop or have visitors at the Brewery. Launching in 2020 at the start of the COVID pandemic it made sense for us to sell beer online only. Then came an opportunity to sell in person at the Flavour Food Festival and as demand increased we agreed to stock a few of our favourite local shops and restaurants. Over the last three years we have had so many customers ask if we have a shop or a tap room and if they can have a Brewery tour. Some people have gone out of their way to find us but without a space or the permissions in place, it hasn't been possible (or legal) for us to sell beer from the house. Last year, post pandemic it was increasingly obvious that people wanted to visit the Brewery but as the Brewery is also our home we had to think hard about how we could make it work. After lots of head scratching, form filling, finger crossing and hard work our plan is about to come to fruition.

In October last year, as soon as our second summer season was winding down, we applied for planning permission to turn the porch at the front of our house into a tiny shop. In December planning permission was granted and we applied for a variation to our alcohol premises license. The porch was once a draughty old space only fit for wellies and fishing rods but over the last few months we have been working hard to make it a welcoming place to buy a beer or two. We have insulated walls, tiled floors, built shelves, made signage and most importantly filled it with beer.

In a previous blog we shared some of the renovations we had completed in the house, and the shop has had a similar makeover using reclaimed and repurposed materials. We think that when you take on an older house you also take on an obligation to respect the building and the people who lived in, and loved the house before you. We are lucky because our croft house was built by, and lived in by several generations of the same family. Our nearest neighbour's grandfather was a lobster fisherman. He built the house himself and passed the house and croft (the land) down through his family. Our neighbours have shared the history of the house and stories of the people who called it home.

A pre-loved home

We have loved being part of a new chapter at N˚6 Borrisdale but whenever we make any changes we try to be conscious of the memories that live on in the fabric of the building . The porch roof was originally made of wriggly tin so we lined the inside of the roof in tin left over from when we built the Brewshed. We also built shelves from the v-lining [vertical planking] that was originally the finish on all of the downstairs walls. When we removed the planks from around the house we found the name of the original owner written on the back, so we saved them and they now have pride of place in the shop. Some time after the house was built the wooden walls were covered in newspapers to stop draughts. As we removed layers and layers of wallpaper we were able to save some of the old newspapers and we have used these scraps to cover some of the shop walls. We uncovered one particularly chilling headline from the Daily Mail in April 1935 about "Hitler's plans for Europe" but there are also many charming adverts and humorous stories. Our favourite, and possibly the most appropriate for its new setting, is an advert for Younger's Ale which (apparently) "is good for you." I've also indulged my love for interesting old things and decorated the shop with some of the treasures we have found in the house, vintage brewery bits and bobs and interesting Hebridean collectibles.

Fàilte

We have now removed the "Sorry we're busy Brewing" sign from the gate and we will be officially welcoming visitors to the shop on Monday the 8th of May. We will be open every day except Sunday between 10 am and 6pm selling beer and brewery merchandise and we plan to stay open all year round. With the shop now open and beer filling the shelves we hope you will be able to come and visit us, have a chat and see what we have been up to.

Opening a shop seemed impossible when we started the Brewery three years ago but just incase you thought we are about to stop dreaming, our Brewery Bucket List has several more equally ambitious items to tick off, so watch this space for more big announcements from the little brewery.

20. Uncomfortable Change

Sat, 19 Nov 2022 08:15:18 GMT

Growing Pains & Uncomfortable Change

Change in life is inevitable. Sometimes changes are planned, sometimes they are predictable and sometimes they take you by surprise. Many of you will have shared similar milestones to us through life, leaving home, finding a partner and becoming a parent. These are the changes that change you, the sea-changes. Nothing in life stands still for long, however much we fight it children grow, relationships develop and circumstances evolve. S ince moving to Harris and starting the brewery so much in our life has changed. Like the Hebridean weather and the ebb and flow of the sea, change is the one constant.

Our biggest and bravest decision

The trajectory of our life before moving to Harris was somewhat inevitable. We had a huge mortgage and our business was growing. We were on a treadmill; working harder and harder to earn more money and more money to pay larger and larger debts. In July 2014 we made the exciting and yet uncomfortable decision to leave behind family and friends, a supportive community and comfortable work and school lives to follow a dream. The changes we faced were on a grand scale. The children had to settle into a new school and we needed to find a new house, new jobs and make new friends. This was a scary but wonderful time, we knew the changes we were making would mean we would have less money but more financial freedom, most importantly we would have more time together and a better quality of family life. To change “everything” took courage but had a hugely positive effect on all of our lives.

Growing Pains

In the last couple of months our family has been through another major change. Our son Charlie has left home and moved away from the island to go to University. One of the reasons we moved to Harris was to give our kids a better childhood and stronger roots but we also knew that one day our kids would want to, or need to, move away. Despite knowing this change was coming we were in no way prepared when our first flew the nest and it has been a huge adjustment for us all. We had heard of “Empty Nest Syndrome” but we had definitely underestimated how hard it would be, even poor Spud was traumatised! Charlie is an amazingly kind, thoughtful and self assured young man and we are enormously proud of him. We recently went to visit him in the big Windy City and it was really reassuring to see that he is loving his course, making good friends (and eating properly and looking after himself!) It’s ironic that as a parent your job is to raise your kids to be strong and independent and the hardest part of the job is accepting when you succeed and letting go of the reigns.

A winding single track road

At the Brewery change has been a constant theme. When we started brewing in April 2020 we had a clear idea of the direction we wanted to travel. Our abbreviated plan for the business could be summed up in our three key goals; To work for ourselves at home, to brew beers we are proud of, and to earn enough to support our family. We naively thought our unconventional “anti-growth” business model would mean that we would be immune to change but in the two and a half years since our first brew day we have made lots of small incremental adjustments in response to feedback from our customers. The level of demand for our beer was an unexpected surprise and we have had to adapt to allow us to make more beer and make our beer accessible to more people. We have upgraded our brewing equipment to increase production and we now supply beer to our favourite local shops and restaurants to extend our reach. Each of these small adjustments have been steps along our original course towards a much bigger change. Next season we hope to open a tiny shop here in our crofthouse in Borrisdale. This means leaving my job and regular wage to work full time at the Brewery. Leaving this safety net will definitely be hard, but will take us a huge step closer to achieving our goals.

A change of gear & change of beers

Talking change, we have one more (slightly less life changing) change to tell you about. We have listened to your feedback and added four new beers to our core range. It has been great working on ideas for beers, sourcing ingredients and working on the new recipes but these changes also mean that we are saying goodbye to some old favourites. Our best selling style is the IPA, so two IPAs have made the top ten, along with a classic Pale Ale and a Four Hop Ale. We also love brewing our Single Malt and Single Hop beer (AKA SMASH) because it lets us showcase interesting hop varieties and our Chocolate Stout which is Nick’s least favourite to brew, is a firm favourite with our customers so these have also made the cut. The four new beers we are introducing in the next few months are an Oatmeal Stout, a Scottish Ale, a craft lager and a farmhouse style Heather Saison. Some of these beers are ready now and will be included in the Christmas sets and some are still at the “testing” stage. Our bigger batch sizes should mean that more styles of beer are in stock more often and we will continue to brew Special Limited Edition brews, Seasonal Beers and bespoke label batches.

As we enter another season of our life we thank you for being part of our journey and wish you well on your own.

19. Something Exciting is Brewing

Sun, 09 Oct 2022 19:26:39 GMT

Winding down or gearing up.

When you live in the Outer Hebrides life is governed by the weather and the seasons. For the crofting community the busiest time of the year is over; this year’s lambs have been sold, ewes have been sheared and peats gathered. The island's fishermen also have quieter days ahead with the first of the Winter’s storms rolling in from the Atlantic and keeping them from their boats. As the weather changes so does the number of visitors to the island. At this time of ye ar many of the island businesses which rely on the tourist trade wind down or close for the quieter winter months. Most will be enjoying a much needed break but some businesses just like ours are open year round and working hard behind the scenes gearing up for the busy Christmas season. This year we are also working towards the start of an exciting new chapter of our story as visitors return in 2023.

The story so far ...

When we started the brewery we hoped there would be an appetite for craft beer in Harris and we wanted our beer to be available to beer lovers living in and visiting Harris (and, at a stretch, over the Clisham in Lewis!) Starting in the middle of the pandemic when many shops were closed we decided to sell our beer online only. In our first season we delivered island beer orders ourselves every Saturday, however when we started regularly clocking up 300 miles on a single run we knew we needed help. We still offer free delivery for orders over £30 but our friends at Woody’s Express Parcels now do the miles for us. One of the very few negative things about living in Harris is the cost of shipping anything off the island so we were surprised that we had orders from all over Britain and even overseas. This showed us the potential of the business but we knew we didn’t want to grow too big and were cautious about expanding too quickly. Although we had ambitions for our little business they were tempered by our known limits. We wanted to grow just enough to support our family whilst still working from home.

Our first tentative steps forward

In our second summer season we extended our reach by saying yes to some of the local businesses who were interested in stocking our beers. The now closed and much missed Anchorage Restaurant in Leverburgh and the Island Spirit Whisky Shop in Stornoway were amazingly supportive of us and their owners are now great friends. In 2021, we increased production by upgrading our equipment and fermenters and in December made our first in person sale at the Flavour Food Festival in Tarbert. This was a huge turning point for us as it was our first chance to meet our customers and talk about what makes our beer and our brewery special. This is when a plan started to brew!

At this point we had been living in a static caravan on our croft in Borrisdale for two and a half years and slowly renovating the old croft house in any spare time between brewing. Driving home from Tarbert that day we decided that we wanted, one day to open a shop at the house where we could sell our beer but we knew we had to be patient and not overstretch ourselves.

The slower the growth the deeper the roots

This year our beers were stocked in three new outlets; Ardhasaig shop in North Harris, An Clachan in Leverburgh and Scarista House in West Harris however we have had to say no to many more. Demand for our beer once again outstripped supply so, despite vowing to never be tempted b y a bigger or shinier piece of brewing equipment, we took the plunge and upgraded our brewing vessel (again!) Nick collected the new tank on an epic 48 hour road trip from Borrisdale to Bedfordshire and back (via Dunfermline to drop off a bolt of tweed for our friends at Borrisdale Tweed and Manchester to collect a new Brewery van). At around the same time we were given the opportunity to rent some storage at the old coastguard’s hut in Leverburgh which allowed us to free up some much needed space in the Brewshed. This new equipment has allowed us to increase production so that we are now brewing five times the amount of beer we were when we started in July 2020 and although we may have said this before, this is definitely our last upgrade as our tiny tin Brewshed is now absolutely at capacity.

What's next for our little Brewery?

So as other businesses in Harris wind down we have ramped up production and we are now brewing and bottling around 600 bottles of beer every week in the run up to Christmas. We are working on our Christmas beers, some new seasonal specials and gift ideas as well as preparing for the busy Christmas Food Fair in Tarbert on the 2nd of December. We have also been working on some very exciting plans, pardon the pun. We have now applied for planning permission for the shop! If everything goes well with planning and licensing we hope to be open next season. Our growth so far has been in baby steps and this feels like a huge milestone for us. To everyone who has followed our journey and supported us we are so grateful.

18. How to drink beer!

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 20:42:49 GMT

Our guide to enjoying the perfect craft ale.

This blog sounds like teaching your Grandma to suck eggs or maybe that should be “sup kegs” (…sorry!) but this is a blog I have wanted to write for a while. From the way you store and chill your beer to how you pour it and the glass you use - these tips will really help you get the most from your beer. So stick with us for ...

The Isle of Harris Brewery five step “Guide to Drinking Beer”

On our first visit to Belgium we were struck by the very serious business of enjoying a beer in a bar. Many bars in Belgium offered table service long before it became the new post COVID norm. In Belgium, beer waiters or Cicerone are respected in the same way a Sommelier would be in a fancy restaurant. They also demand a far higher salary than bar staff in this country. In Belgium the average beer waiter’s annual salary before bonuses is the equivalent of £9,000 or 50% more than his/her British counterpart.

Now we love nothing more than a pint in a British pub but the Belgian experience takes beer drinking to a whole new level. Most bars invite you to take a seat and a waiter hands you a beer menu and helps you make your choice from the impressive variety of beers and beer styles on offer. Every beer has a different glass which enhances it’s serve and the beer is poured at your table and like a silver service restaurant the glass and bottle are presented to you with label facing. I remember feeling daunted by the number of beers and the sheer ceremony of the experience when we first visited Brussels. I’m sure most of Delirium Cafe’s customers with its beer menu of over 2,000 different beers feel slightly overwhelmed, but here is our take on what the Belgian’s could teach us about how to store, pour and taste beer.

Step One: Storing beer

We describe many of our beers as being “Best enjoyed fresh from the Brewshed” and this is largely because many of our beers are under 7% ABV and “hoppy”. To enjoy the fresh hop and malt flavours and aromas we would recommend drinking our beers within one year of the brew date. The exception to this is darker malted beers with a higher alcohol content like Stouts, Doppelbocks and Porters. We tested this theo ry this Christmas by ageing one batch of our Christmas 2020 Spiced Stout, storing bottles upright, in an unheated dark room for a year. We were really pleased with this experiment and if you were lucky enough to get hold of a bottle we hope you liked it too.

But wait….this doesn’t mean to say that when you receive your beers from us you should open the box and dive straight in! Our beers are best chilled to around 8˚c for hoppy beers, 10˚c for British and Belgian styles and 12˚c for stouts and porters. This simple step is probably the best thing you can do to improve the taste of your beer and warm beers can be …lets say…lively! The next important point is that beer should be stored upright. This is to avoid oxidation, and as our beer are unfiltered, this also allows any sediment to settle in the bottom of the bottle.

Step Two: Choosing your first beer

If you are lucky enough to have several styles of beer chilled and ready to drink its worth noting that there is an ideal order to drink the different styles of beer. Generally speaking beers at a formal tasting would be ordered from lightest and lowest ABV to darkest and highest ABV. In our core range this would mean starting with N˚6 SMASH and working towards the IPAs (N˚1, N˚5 and N˚ 8) and finally N˚3 the Chocolate Stout. So by this point you’re probably getting quite thirsty we’re about to perfectly pour our first beer but first we should choose our glass.

Step Three: Choosing a glass

First things first we would never, ever , ever suggest drinking craft ale straight from the bottle of the can. This is a terrible idea as beers are designed to be poured to release carbon dioxide bubbles into the head or foam. If you gulp this down you'll be issuing more pardons than President Trump. If you really start to enjoy craft ales your will discover there are lots of different styles of beer glass which are designed to make the most of the beers character. Many craft beer glasses like ours are stemmed tulip style glasses. These glasses are designed to keep beer cool (because they are held by the stem) and retain aroma due to being a smaller diameter at the rim yet allowing space for a generous head. Another popular stemmed glass is chalice style which have a wider diameter at the rim. These support head and release aromas easily, great for big sips of Dubbels and Trappist beers. A more recent addition to our own glass collection (we have far too many!) is the TEKU beer glass. This is more like a wine glass shape with a wide bottom, narrowing towards the top and widening again at the rim (a bit like the shape of a thistle flower). This is a very versatile glass and suits many different styles of beer. For the very best tasting glass we recommend the AnDer glass which is a stouter version of the TEKU glass with a shorter stem. It also has ridges in the bottom of the glass that encourage a good head. This helps in experiencing smell, foam and flavour. Flutes are straight narrow glasses which suit Helles and Pilsner style beers and a Weizen glass is tall and narrow at the base and suits wheat beers. A Stein is the largest and thickest of the glasses with a straight body and a chunky handle. They are great for German lagers, Belgian white beers and Oktoberfest beers and won’t break with the most enthusiastic “Prost!”

NOTE: We have included this section because, as beer geeks, we think its interesting but if you don't have the correct glass all is not lost, lets face it you could drink beer from any glass, just please, please don't drink it from the bottle!

Step Four: Now for the pour…we’re almost there!!

Start with a cold wet glass. The best way to do this is to rinse the glass in cold running water. Start the pour with the glass and the bottle held at 45˚ and slowly raise the rim of the glass until is vertical and tilt the bottle until it is almost horizontal. For bottle conditioned beer like ours you should pour slowly and stop when the last centimetre of beer is still in the bottle (this is the reason why bottles have shoulders and necks to stop sediment from being poured into the glass) The ideal height of the head is one inch.

Step Five: The best bit…tasting

We’r e now, at last, ready to enjoy our first beer. You can swirl and sniff, scrutinise the colour, opacity, head and carbonation you can sip and coat the tongue, breathe in, breathe out and shake it all about but here is the plot twist. Beer judges may have a Cicerone endorsed way of tasting beer but for the average drinker there is no right or wrong way to drink beer and if you are tasting beers with a group of friends you may all smell, taste and see different things in the same beer. Despite beer's humble origins as a workers drink, in recent years a culture of beer snobbery has started to emerge. Where once everyone drank beer, with "beer connoisseurs" waxing lyrical about nose and mouthfeel there is a risk that the craft beer world could become elitist but we think there is a style of beer out there for everyone and if you like a beer…its a good beer. Even if you don't know your Saaz from your elbow you can get the most from craft beer by following these tips, so give it a try and let us know how you get on.

17. Christmas Beer & Christmas Cheer

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 17:30:03 GMT

Christmas in a Brewery

Christmas in a Brewery probably sounds like many peoples idea of heaven. In reality our Christmas preparations have been long hours, huge "To do" and "To brew" lists, a little bit of stress and nerves.... and we've loved every minute.

The best laid plans...

Our family and friends will know that we are usually very "last minute dot com" about pretty much everything however to get the shelves filled after such a busy summer season we knew we would have to think ahead. It all started back in October when we brewed our first batches of Cranberry IPA and Spiced Stout. After three or four weeks in the fermenter we were ready to bottle and label our first Christmas beers. We also brewed every beer in our core range to make up Full Sets, we redesigned our tasting notes with extra information about the beers and how to get the best from a tasting evening. We ordered new gift packaging, boxes and tape, extra glasses, T-Shirts and beanies and started printing labels and stamping gift boxes and beer mats ready for the first Christmas orders to come in. All this before the Calmac Winter Timetable kicked in! For the first time ever we felt the satisfied glow people must feel when all of their presents are wrapped as the last minute shoppers (including us) are desperately dashing round the shops on Christmas Eve! We thought this year we were really well prepared and we were looking forward to a slow buildup to the Christmas rush when we had an exciting invitation.

Chris and Nicola Loye from Flavour asked us to have a stall at their Hebridean Fine Food and Drink Festival in Tarbert.

One thing we've learnt through moving to Harris and starting our business is this...

"if you're not sure, say yes and work it out!"

The Food Festival would be the first time we had ventured from our little shed and the relative anonymity of the online shop. This was exciting and daunting in equal measure. Starting the Brewery in full lockdown in July 2020 meant that we hadn’t had a chance to sell any of our beer face to face. We would definitely need extra beer so while Nick worked on stock levels I worked through a huge To Do list from Licensing requirements to card readers and price lists. I also developed a rather unhealthy addiction to watching youtube videos on merchandising and display ideas!

Despite the fact that I had been working in shops since we arrived in Harris we were real newbies. We had no idea how much stock we would need so we took as much as we could fit in the car (we actually took so much I had to get a lift with a neighbour who had a stall selling tablet!) We had no idea how long it would take to set up so we arrived early…very early! We were the first to arrive just as the doors were unlocked, the whole family helped set up and we were ready in plenty of time to grab a bacon butty and a coffee from Island bites before the first shoppers arrived.

But First Coffee!

Although we had known that the Festival would be popular we were amazed at the number of people who came out on a cold and wet December Saturday to support local businesses. We saw many familiar faces, some existing customers and also lots of new customers. Harris is a small place and people tend to know each other but we were surprised that many local people hadn’t heard about the Brewery. We had a fantastic day meeting friends old and new and talking about beer and food and Harris. The event was a real testament to the quality and variety of food businesses on the island. There were stalls selling home baked cakes, homemade tablet, locally smoked salmon, fresh locally caught fish and shellfish, chocolate, coffee, honey, ice cream, mustard, ceramics and tableware. We were also treated to cookery demonstrations from local chefs including a rare chance to try the Lewis delicacy of Guga or salted gannet. By half past two we were getting low on stock and by three we were talking about doing more pop up stalls and getting a bigger van! We really enjoyed the whole day and for once Nick’s over optimism paid off, we sold out and I fitted in the car for the return journey.

With the Food Festival behind us we were able to launch into full “Operation Christmas” with the online sales. We received so many gift set orders this year that we had to book appointments on three separate days at the post office in Tarbert. We also sent many, many boxes of beer with our local courier and this year Isle of Harris beer has been sent as far afield as Switzerland. We have written messages on hundreds of beer mats and its been a real pleasure to be a small part of the thought and love that has been sent along with our beers.

Although Christmas at the Brewery didn’t turn out to be the oasis of calm we had hoped for we have loved being part of so many people’s Christmas this year. So as we start our last minute dash for our own presents we raise a glass to our lovely customers with the traditional toast of

16. Middle of somewhere

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 16:42:00 GMT

The Hidden Meaning Behind our Logo

Sometimes one sentence can capture a thought that would take a whole blog to convey! Recently I came across a lovely typography print on Etsy that really sums up my feelings about where we call home.

“Some call it the middle of nowhere, we call it the centre of everything”.

The Outer Hebrides are often described as remote or more theatrically “islands on the edge”. There is still a romantic misconception that we are are on the fringes of civilisation, miles from modern amenities and a step back in time. Visitors are often amazed that our kids catch two buses for the one hour journey to school, or that we drive for almost two hours to get to the nearest Tesco. But we are very proud of where we live and defensive of any suggestion that the island is a sleepy backwater - (Remember the outcry when BBC weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker called the Outer Hebrides “Nowheresville”) Far from feeling like we are in the “middle of nowhere” our little patch of South Harris is the centre of our world.

Adapting to a different pace

Last week we were asked to record a piece for a BBC programme talking about our experience of moving to the Outer Hebrides and it has really made me think back to our old life and how we have adjusted to the pace of life in Harris. What we have found is that many of the perceived inconveniences of living in a remote rural community have now become, not only the norm for us, but actually advantages. Where we lived in Oxfordshire could have been described as “out in the sticks”. Although we lived in a small village surrounded by farmland, we were really well connected to several large towns and cities. Within ten miles there were about ten large supermarkets. We had a choice of any restaurant or takeaway you could imagine. DIY stores, clothes shops, book shops; there wasn’t just one of any these shops near where we lived we had a choice. We could see a band, a film, go to the theatre or even ice skating whenever we wanted and probably because we could do these things "anytime" we did them very rarely.

Looking back, although we tried hard to resist it, our old life was much more driven by materialism, keeping up with the Jones' and having what we wanted the moment we thought of it. When we first moved here we would go to the mainland often to get some of the bright lights we were missing. In the first few years of living here an off island trip always involved eating at as many fast food places as possible, and shopping til we dropped. Having now lived in Harris for seven and a half years we think that one of the greatest things about living in Harris is that nobody judges you on the size of your house, the age of your car or the amount of money you earn.

Good things are worth the wait

There is no denying that we do live in a rural area. Here in Borrisdale we are 25 miles from Tarbert which is the largest settlement in Harris and 57 miles from Stornoway the only town in the Outer Hebrides. To pick up a Chinese takeaway we would have a 114 mile round trip! We can get almost anything we want but sometimes we have to be patient. Newspapers arrive by plane (subject to weather!) and make it to the shops mid afternoon - the Sunday papers are only available on a Monday afternoon! This is often a source of great amusement for visitors but to us its just life on an island. An example of the advantages of delayed gratification on Harris is the much anticipated visit of the "Screen Machine". This is an 80 seat mobile cinema in the back of an articulated lorry that comes to Tarbert once every few months with a programme of films for all ages. Tickets are very much in demand and the school kids all go to see the latest films together. On the mainland I remember going to see a film as a couple and as a family but never as a community.

Everything we need and more

Here in Borrisdale we don't have shops or restaurants or any other amenities (except the fank!) however, we consider ourselves very lucky to live just a couple of miles from Leverburgh which is home to some of the best small independent businesses on the island. During the week I work in a community owned shop called Co-Chomunn na Hearradh or An Clachan. We sell everything from a pint of milk to a lump hammer. There is also also a 24 hour fuel station. From the pier the Calmac vessel Loch Portain takes a winding path through the sand banks and rocks in the sound of Harris three times a day taking local people, produce and visitors to the islands further south in the Hebridean chain. This is a busy route and a lifeline to many local people and businesses. It also brings around 54,000 people a year to Harris making Leverburgh one of the most important routes of entry to the "Long Island". Next to Leverburgh Pier is the Anchorage restaurant and bar and Shonnie’s garage where you can get your car fixed and buy a sack of logs or compost or chicken feed!

By Anne Burgess, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14072619

Joan’s hairdressers, Temple Deli, the Mustard Shack and Borrisdale Tweed (run by our weaving neighbours) all serve the community and visitors to the island from the village and very soon we will also have a coffee roastery and a smokehouse in the village! Four wheeled facilities include the famous Butty Bus, the mobile Post Office and Gus’ mobile shop. Le verburgh also boasts a small primary school, a doctor’s surgery, a laundrette, a fire station, a busy working fishing pier and three churches. From this spot at the far Southern end of the island we have just about everything we could ever want or need.

When we started the brewery we knew we wanted Harris and in particular Borrisdale to be at the centre of our story. So, we chose the name Isle of Harris Brewery and designed our logo with Borrisdale right in the middle of the image. Every bottle, beermat or flyer comes with the hidden message that this great place isn’t the middle of nowhere its the centre of everything.

So to anyone in any doubt we can confidently say this little brewery is right in the middle of somewhere very special.

15. Confessions of a Brewer

Sat, 23 Oct 2021 20:45:26 GMT

The Ancient Art of Modern Brewing or Keeping Real Ale 'real'

I hope we can agree that beer is a wonderful thing. In terms of ingredients and processes its not too complicated and people all over the world have been producing beer for thousands of years. The nuts and bolts of brewing can be summarised in one sentence: Making beer is extracting fermentable sugars from grains, preserving & flavouring with hops and fermenting with yeast.

Brewing has undeniably come a long way from the spontaneously fermented bread beers of Mesopotamia 7,000 years ago. Although brewing is still based on centuries-old principles, advancements in technologies have rapidly changed the modern brewery and the character of the beers they produce. Many of the processes that would have been completed by the brewer are now automated. From precisely roasting and milling grain, controlling mashing temperatures and timings to filtration, carbonation and canning. In most breweries automation is employed at every stage of the brewing process.

So where does our small brewery in Borrisdale fit into this picture.

We like to think that we do things traditionally. We use all natural ingredients and we control every part of the brewing process. However that’s not to say that we are behind the brewing times. We have developed our beers and our methods to make the most of everything that is available to the modern brewer whilst keeping the real ale ‘real’. We’re happy to be open about our ingredients and our methods because we are proud of them. We think it’s what makes our brewery special.

The alchemy starts with grain

Traditionally the brewer’s grain of choice is barley. It makes great beer because it is very “starchy” it has a protective husk and great flavour. To make beer with barley it must be malted. This involves encouraging the grains to germinate in a warm moist environment before kilning or roasting the grains to halt germination. It is at the kilning stage that different flavours and colours can be achieved by adjusting the time and temperature of the roast; Pilsner malt is lightly roasted and black malts are roasted long and hard!

We often boast that we do everything ourselves but we don’t roast or mill our own grain!

We source our malts from Baird’s Malt which was founded in 1823 to supply Glasgow’s breweries. They partner with over 800 British farmers who grow the UK’s best quality barley. Baird’s can supply over 40 different malts and they arrive in Borrisdale in 25kg sacks ready milled. We also use wheat and oats in some of our beers which we source from another British company, The Malt Miller . As their name suggests they mill grains, but what makes them different is that they freshly grind the grain when it is ready to be shipped and will produce from super fine mill to coarse crush on request. We like the service and ethos of the companies who supply us and that matters to us. If we outsource any part of the process to another company we need them to be people we trust.

Hops. The showoff of the brewing trilogy.

Early brewers would have used the whole air dried hop cones or flowers in their beers, however in the early 1970’s hops became available in pellets. Fresh hops are dried and slowly milled at low temperatures to retain colour and avoid oxidation. The resulting sticky powder is compressed into pellets and dried. The natural character of the hop provides both the binder and a protective coating so the pellets don't contain any additives. This results in a processed but all natural product. We like using pelletised hops because unlike whole hops, the pellets sink and dissolve which means they don’t clog filters during the boil and (technical info alert!) the increased surface area improves isomerization of alpha acids. Pelleted hops also store well and can be transported all over the world which means the variety of hops available is almost endless.

As you may have noticed we love hops and we love to experiment so we use several different suppliers. Brewer’s Select were founded in Essex in 2013 to supply the growing Craft Beer market and they source hops from all over the world. We also use The Malt Miller for hops. They stock a range of around 85 different hop varieties in both pellet and whole hop form. We love that they receive dried hop bales and process and vacuum pack them in house. Our other preferred hop supplier is a company in Northern Ireland called…wait for it…Get ‘er Brewed. This is one area where tiny breweries like us have a real advantage. Last year we used an Australian hop called Eclipse in our Single Malt and Single Hop SMASH beer. This was a tricky one to get hold of because it isn’t yet grown in commercial quantities, but as we needed such a small quantity we sourced just enough for one special edition batch from a Home Brew supplier.

One ingredient we have a great supply of in Harris is water and for most beers malt, water and hops are all you need to start brewing. The water is added to the brewing vessel first and heated to the required temperature. Next you add the grain and much like making porridge stir, stir and stir some more. This is mashing. By steeping the grain in warm water the sugars and malt flavours and aromas are released. At this stage the grain is removed and rinsed with hot water or sparged. The resulting barley infused liquid or wort is then boiled.

This sounds simple but to achieve really complex flavours the wort needs to reach and hold different temperatures for different amounts of time and hops are added, sometimes at multiple points of the boil to give the beer bitterness. Other flavourings like fruit, coffee, spices, herbs and chocolate can also be added at this point. For a larger brewing set up this would be automated but we do this all by hand. We use a very clever brewing vessel with a fancy android display to which you can (apparently) BluTooth beer recipes and programme set temperatures, timings & flow rates however we choose to manually adjust the settings in response to what’s happening in real time. It’s very hands on and requires a lot of patience & knowledge of the process but our finished beers wouldn’t be as interesting without the Nick’s constant attention to detail and his tweaks to each individual brew.

After the boil the wort is chilled which involves the beer being pumped around the pipes of a counterflow chiller in scenes reminiscent of Willy Wonker’s factory. From here the cooled wort is introduced to the yeast, and in some cases more hops (this time for aroma) in a fermenting vessel. Right on cue here is a photo of our shiny new fermenter, and our amazing view!

and lastly the unsung hero...yeast

Yeast is a microorganism which feeds on sugar and produces alcohol, carbon dioxide and other compounds that improve the beers flavour. Beer would just be a non-alcoholic barley tea without yeast, however it is often an underrated ingredient in the brewing process. When describing beers we tend to talk about the malt and hop flavours however sometimes fruity flavours such as banana, apple and pear or spicy notes like clove or pepper come from the yeast.

We use half a dozen different strains of yeast on a regular basis. Different yeasts for different flavours, carbonation profiles and alcohol efficiencies. After around two weeks most of the sugars will be used, the beer will have reached its final strength and is ready to be bottled.

This is where it gets interesting!

At the point of bottling most breweries (including micro breweries) complete a number of steps which we have made a decision to forego.

Filtration: to remove the unwanted (but often tasty) bits so the beer comes out clear. Our reasoning for skipping this step is that beer lovers understand that real beer isn’t crystal clear and with a minimal amount of waste the cloudy bits sink to the bottom of a bottle if it’s stored and poured correctly.
Addition of finings: Finings are typically added to fermented beers four to five days before bottling or racking to remove any remaining yeast or protein haze. Common finings are gelatine which is derived from animal collagen and isinglass which is a product made from the swim bladders of fish! We don’t mind if our beers aren’t perfectly clear but we do add an all natural ingredient at the end of the boil to helps reduce cloudiness in the finished beer. The dried and compressed extract of Irish moss known as Protafloc isn’t actually a moss at all but a type of red seaweed called Carrageen and is used in brewing is a traditional plant based fining. We have made a decision to not use any animal products in our beers (unless honey could be considered to be derived from animals) however we have no shame in using one particular animal in our marketing!
Forced carbonation: Most breweries carbonate their beers by directly infusing the beer with carbon dioxide from a gas cylinder at the point of bottling, or canning or at the point of serve for kegged beers. This is known as Forced Carbonation. We never force carbonate our beers. Instead we use a natural process which is only possible because our beers are unfiltered. Having produced the alcohol content of the beer we give the remaining yeast in the fermented beer one final job. By adding a small amount of sugar syrup at bottling stage the yeast is reactivated in a secondary fermentation which produces carbon dioxide. Unlike most breweries we don’t have a canning or bottling line. We add the syrup to the finished beer and fill each and every bottle by hand, adding a crown and manually clamping the bottle sealed to capture the fizz of the final fermentation. Two to four weeks later the beer is “Bottle Conditioned” and ready to drink.

Celebrating Brewing Innovation

This is our first in-depth blog about the ingredients and methods we have chosen to use in our brewery. We’re proud to be able to say that we are brewing beer ethically, sustainably and traditionally but we’re far from a brewing museum. We don’t believe in doing things “old school” if it can’t be justified so we confess we have modern small scale brewing equipment and we use ‘processed’ natural ingredients in the form of hop pellets and seaweed tablets. We let computers manage the roasting and milling of malts and who knows one day we may even have a labelling machine! So maybe this is less of a Brewer’s Confession and more of a celebration of how automation and innovation can improve age old techniques to produce an infinite variety of fantastic beers. If the ancient art of brewing continues to evolve at this rate just imagine what is possible in the next 7,000 years!

14. Falling in Love with Beer

Sat, 02 Oct 2021 15:44:02 GMT

Our Introduction to the world of Craft Beer

In our very first blog we introduced ourselves and skipped over a very important part of our lives…how we discovered our love of craft beer. In this blog we want to take you back to 2003 the year that our first baby was born and the year we were introduced to real ale and a whole new world of beer flavours and styles. Charlie was born in Oxford early in the morning on the 27th of April. At the time our home was a small cottage in the village where Nick grew up just opposite our favourite pub the Plough Inn. When Charlie was just three months old a seemingly insignificant event changed the direction of our lives. The house next door sold and we had new neighbours.

Meeting our beer gurus

The day that Fin and Loz moved in we introduced ourselves over the garden fence. We liked them immediately. Just a few days after that first meeting we set off for a long weekend with family and friends at the Cropredy Music Festival as we had done every year since we met. Fin and Loz were also going and they had been going even longer than us. They were definitely our kind of people! That weekend we arranged to meet ‘on the ledge’ in a field with 20,000 other festival folk. We discovered that we shared a love of food and music but Fin and Loz had another passion - BEER. The Craft Beer movement started in the early 1980’s on the West coast of America and by the 1990’s had reached across the Atlantic. In 2003 we knew absolutely nothing about Craft Beer. Fin and Loz were ahead of their time in recognising the quality and variety of beers available and the value of small independent breweries. It is a popular misconception in Britain that Craft Beer did not exist before James Watt and Martin Dickie started BrewDog in 2007. Long before the BrewDog punks introduced Craft Beer to the masses Fin and Loz were collecting beer and traveling the world visiting bars, breweries, beer festivals and tastings. They knew more about beer and brewing than we could ever hope to learn. This was the start of an amazing friendship and an education that would go on to shape our lives.

In April 2004 less than a year after we met Fin and Loz and just before our daughter Sarah was born, another significant thing happened. Our village was shaken by the news that the owners of our much loved pub had decided to close. We joined forces with other villagers in campaigning against the closure, however as it was a freehold property our hands were tied and sadly we were unable to “Save the Plough”. As homeless Plough Inn regulars we met in local pubs and shared our sadness and frustration at the loss of such an important and viable village asset. It was during one of these get-togethers that someone suggested a positive rebellion would be for the village to host a beer festival. Although this suggestion was met with great excitement we soon realised that, as none of us had even been to a beer festival, the plans should be led by Fin and Loz. Luckily we were in great hands.

The Beer Festival is born

The first Merton Beer festival was held in September 2004. Local businesses sponsored barrels of beer in the Real Ale Bar, we had T-shirts, beer glasses and programmes printed. We also had a beer tent serving ‘regular’ beer, wine and spirits, children’s entertainment and craft and food stalls. In the evening five live bands played our articulated lorry stage. Buoyed by the success of the first event we made a decision to host a Winter Ales Festival the following February. For the next ten years we organised two beer festivals a year. In that time we raised money to build a new playground, completely refurbish our village hall and install a kitchen and toilet at our 14th Century church, St Swithun’s. The last summer beer festival we helped to organise was attended by more than 2,000 people and raised over £17,000 for village improvements.

During this time we joined Fin and Loz on many of their research trips and beer adventures. We visited bars, breweries and beer festivals all over the UK and Europe. Visits to Belgium alone included long weekends in Brussels, Gent, Brugges and Antwerp. We were learning a lot about the beers we liked to drink and started to become interested in how different beers were made. We were also building a community both literally in terms of the village improvements we were able to fund and figuratively. The beer festival was a great focus for our efforts and cemented our friendship. It also brought together our families who were drafted in to help. In the week before the beer festival we built bars and erected marquees, set up electrics, sound systems and stages. We also worked them tirelessly over the two days of the festival as barmen, raffle ticket sellers, food servers and babysitters. The festival could never have happened without them. Loz’s parents, Graham and Isobel were a very important part of the beer festival team. Over the years they sold every one of the thousands of beer tokens we sold. Graham also played a part in our story. He had a saying which has been a big influence on our life JFDI - I never heard him swear but this stood for “Just F******* Do It” It was hard to leave but after ten years of sharing a fence with Fin and Loz we made the life changing decision follow our dream and move to Harris.

Becoming a Brewery

After spending so many years involved with great beers and breweries when we arrived in Harris we knew we couldn’t go back to bland mass produced beer so Nick started brewing his own. From his first brews he developed ambitious recipes, one of his first beers was a Saison with coriander seed and to everyones surprise (Sorry Nick!) it was really good. His expertise had, up until then, been drinking beer so his flair for making beer was a very welcome surprise. He started brewing batches of thirty bottles in our kitchen in Quidinish and shared the beers with family and friends. It was around a year later that our fledgling plans for starting a brewery came to life. In 2015 we bought the domain isleofharrisbrewery.com and started perfecting beer recipes, designing our logo and thinking about beer names, however as we were still in the process of finding a home of our own we had to be patient. In 2018 we moved for our croft in Borrisdale and as Spring came we threw ourselves into building the Brewshed and upscaling our brewing vessels and fermenters. 2019 became the year of building and brewing as we worked on the croft house and the Brewery plans side by side. By the end of that year all of our licenses and permissions were in place ready for the planned launch at the start of the 2020 tourist season. However the onset of COVID 19 gave us a reason to doubt ourselves. By July we couldn’t wait any longer and the Online Brewery shop was opened!

Fin and Loz have now moved from the village where we met and live just outside Munich, surrounded by fantastic breweries and bars, they are still a big part of our life. They are kind enough to review our beers honestly and we spend many hours on zoom sharing beers remotely! We hope to be able to take a break from the brewery very soon to visit them and share some more beer adventures.They are a big part of our story and despite the miles between us still the best of neighbours.

13. SOLD OUT not Selling Out

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 07:04:36 GMT

We might be SOLD OUT but we won't sell out

This summer we have been told multiple times that our beer is as rare as hen’s teeth and heard the lengths people have been going to to get hold of a bottle. For around six weeks during the height this years tourist season most of our beers were SOLD OUT in our online shop. In this blog we hope to be able to explain our decision to risk being sold out to avoid "selling out".

When we moved to Harris in 2014 our new life gave us the opportunity to do the things we love and for Nick this was making beer. He would brew tiny batches of beer from our kitchen table to share with our family and friends and his passion for homebrewing grew. When we started telling people about our plans to start a small brewery we were inundated with support. As well as the many applications for the job of taster, many friends offered financial investment to buy commercial equipment and rent premises. It was a great confidence boost to know that the people who had tried our beers believed in us but this wasn’t our vision for our little business.

In Oxfordshire Nick and I started a company with Nick's dad. Within eight years the company had grown to employ over twenty people. It was a great success, but we worked long hours and had a lot of responsibility and sleepless nights. What we learned from that time was that we loved working together but we weren't driven by ambition or money, so from the outset our plan for the Brewery was clear. We wanted to build a business for the two of us, working from home and without going into debt. We felt that it was important that we have control of the whole process brewing, bottling, labelling and even delivering our beer ourselves. In our first year in business it has been really interesting to see how far we can reach within these boundaries.

On July 9th 2020 when we launched the Brewery the demand for our beers was incredible. Naturally I am much more conservative than Nick and I was nervous that we had so many crates of beer filling our kitchen. Nick will be delighted that I have put this in writing but…he was right. In the three weeks of July we received 99 orders and sold nearly 900 bottles of beer. All this with no marketing budget and a fifteen square meter self built Brewshed. Nick, as usual, was confident but ever the pessimist I was worried that our success in the first month wouldn't continue. Again…he was right! Despite COVID 19 and reduced visitor numbers our sales grew and grew. As we started selling more beer we also increased capacity. We doubled the size of our brewing vessels and fermenters after just one month and now just one year after we launched our batch size has increased three fold.

So we’re brewing more beer…where is it?!

After a busy Christmas we made a decision that we would prioritise time spent in the Brewshed. This meant reducing the time spent delivering beer. So we outsourced deliveries to our brilliant local courier Woody’s and agreed to supply some of our favourite independent island businesses. Our chosen stockist in Lewis was recommended to us by our customers, another COVID start up and a fantastic family business The Island Spirit Whisky Shop in Stornoway. The success of Craft Beer in a whisky shop has been a surprise to both us and owners Iain and Mary. We started with a small weekly order, doubled it and doubled it again! Closer to home an obvious choice for a stockist in Harris was Sally at the Anchorage Restaurant in Leverburgh. This is our local restaurant, just two miles from the Brewery, and our favourite place for family meals and milestones. Again we vastly underestimated the amount of beer Sally would sell and we have all been amazed at the demand there has been for local craft beer.

This year has shown us that our business has a huge potential for growth and we have lots of exciting things planned for next season and beyond but our ambitions for the Brewery are tempered by our original dream of staying at home, being our own bosses and doing everything ourselves. Next year we are planning to supply new local stockists and we’d love to open a small bottle shop here at the house so we can meet our customers and show them what we do. We feel that this is achievable without undermining our original vision. Our preparations for a busy Christmas period are already underway and by the time the last of this years visitors leave our stock levels will be building in preparation for the start of the 2022 season. Our principles have been tested many times in the last year. We have had some incredible offers of help, financial investment, business premises, promotional opportunities and requests from potential stockists. However this would mean we would be working for investors, employing staff and we would be in debt (financial or otherwise) to our backers. The brewery would risk becoming a commodity with a primary purpose of making money rather than making great beer!

We're thrilled that our beers have been so popular but this means they do sell fast. So, the bad news is that we can't guarantee that we won't sometimes be SOLD OUT but we can guarantee that we'll keep working hard to brew great beer, without compromise and without selling out.

12. Off the Rock

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 22:26:02 GMT

Leaving our safe port in the storm

We last left the island nineteen months ago!

That’s 578 days since we saw our family and friends. 578 days since our last Big Mac, our last shopping trip and our last pint in a pub. We have all made huge sacrifices and missed the people we love and things we love to do since the pandemic first appeared at the start of 2020. As restrictions are lifting we are looking back on the last nineteen months with gratitude and looking forward to catching up with life outside our safe haven.

We appreciate that we had a much easier experience of 2020-21 than many of you will have done. Due to the low infection rates the Scottish islands have consistently been in the lowest level of lockdown which has meant it has almost been “Business as Usual” here whilst chaos reigned all around us. However, the Hebridean Islands have faced unique challenges during the pandemic. In 2018 the Outer Hebrides was identified as having one of the oldest populations in Scotland; 38% of the population of Harris are over 60 years old. This is the highest risk age group for becoming seriously ill from Coronavirus. Many vulnerable people live miles from the nearest hospital (some even on neighbouring islands) and health care resources here are limited. It has been a worrying time but the islanders response has been amazing.

In March 2020, at the start of the first national lockdown it was announced that ferries and flights would be limited to essential travel only. This protected the islands from the huge surge of cases that affected other areas of Britain in the first wave of the virus. The community shop where I work took the unusual decision to close to our customers during the first lockdown. Our staff and volunteers shopped for our customers and delivered their shopping straight to their home or their car so nobody needed to have contact outside their household. We were inundated with offers of help; people offered to deliver shopping to their neighbours, local kids made us colourful artwork for the windows, our customers and local businesses made treats, others delivered locally made hand sanitiser and restaurants sent us lunches. In such an uncertain situation and with so many vulnerable customers we felt that the extra work was worth it and our customers were so grateful. We were equally grateful that we could do something to help. It was a scary time but it showed community spirit at its best.

During this time Harris was probably the safest place to live in Britain. However we still strictly followed the rules of social distancing, wearing masks and sanitising hands. We were lucky that during the second lockdown, in September last year, an exemption was made for the islands which meant we could meet with small numbers of friends in our homes. Most public meeting places such as cafes and restaurants close in Harris during the winter months and meeting outside would have been very challenging given the Hebridean weather!

We did still ‘suffer’ some of the same COVID problems you may have experienced. Shops ran out of toilet roll, bread and rice however, people here didn’t panic buy or resort to supermarket rage. The shops shelves being empty are a fairly common sight in Harris during a stormy winter spell. In a normal Hebridean winter freight ferry crossings can be cancelled for days at a time and when you live over fifty miles from the supermarket you tend to stock up anyway.

Every day since the very start of the pandemic the Chief Executive of NHS Western Isles Gordon Jamieson has recorded an update for the island communities. Despite the fact that for so many days, weeks and even months we had no COVID cases, advice and reassurance has been delivered every day without fail and is shared on social media and talked about in shops. In Harris we have fortunately only had a handful of confirmed cases of COVID throughout the pandemic and by mid June NHS Western Isles had vaccinated 91% of the eligible population (the highest percentage in Scotland) Amazingly there were no cases of COVID in Harris in 2020, however last month, as restrictions were eased, the first Harris cluster was reported. Unfortunately our family became part of the statistics about three weeks ago when we found out Sarah had COVID-19. Unfortunately she was not old enough to be get her vaccination but thankfully after a short illness she returned to full health.

So this is the longest time we have gone without getting “off the rock” but we have never felt marooned here. We have felt an enormous comfort in being in a place where we know everyone and people are so considerate to each other. When we moved to Harris in 2014 we yearned for the buzz of life off the island but as the years have passed we have realised that there is nothing we need or want away from here. We have realised that we miss no- thing but of course we have missed the people we have been separated from terribly.

The storm seems to be passing and we are cautiously venturing away from our sheltered port. As soon as we have had a pint in a pub and hugged our friends and family we will be back with an even greater appreciation of our amazing island home.

11. Bad News & Blessings

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 19:34:59 GMT

When COVID came to Borrisdale

On Sunday July 18th we received the call we were dreading. One of Charlie’s colleagues had taken a Lateral Flow Test and tested positive. Throughout the Pandemic Harris had only a handful of confirmed COVID infections. Despite this, people living and working in Harris haven't been complacent. We have followed the guidelines, sanitised, social distanced, worn our masks, taken tests and cheerfully accepted our jabs. However, in a small close knit community the spiders web of connection between people can have an immense effect. As a busy working family we have a high amount of (safe) contact with visitors coming to Harris as well as contact with friends, family and colleagues who live here. Our family is like many others in Harris. During the summer we take on extra jobs to help the local businesses that look after the thousands of tourists who visit the island. I work at the grocery shop An Clachan in Leverburgh and on a Saturday I do a holiday home changeover. Charlie is now finished at school and has been working full time at the Anchorage Restaurant. In the school holiday Sarah works in an Art Studio during the day and at Flavour Restaurant in the evening. Nick and Spud make beer! Between us we work for six local tourist businesses.

We knew Harris wasn't immune to the virus but that late night call on Sunday was our wake up call.

Charlie tested and was negative. Nick and I tested and we were both negative. Sarah tested and we watched expectantly as the control line appeared … closely followed by a second. She had tested positive. Our immediate thought was that the test must have been wrong, so we did another. The second test was also positive.

We rang all of our contacts and arranged a PCR test at the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway on Monday morning...and then the phone started ringing. Almost immediately we started getting calls from friends and neighbours offering to bring shopping, prescriptions and treats. Our fantastic local Doctor (Dr Andrew Naylor MBE) rang to check in on us and the test and protect and COVID response team at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar rang us to offer practical and financial support.

All of my friends at the shop tested first thing on Monday morning and were all negative so thankfully the shop, which is such a lifeline to the community, didn’t have to close. The Anchorage Restaurant were told they could open after a deep clean but the owner took a typically community minded decision that to protect her staff and customers she would close. One of Sarah’s fellow workers at Flavour Restaurant also tested positive and so they closed and despite testing negative their other staff isolated. In all six people in Harris tested positive that day and many businesses in South Harris were affected. “The Harris Six” as they quickly became known were a real shock to the community. The virus was in our little corner of the world, in our workplaces and in our homes.

So for the last four days we have been isolating, and we've taken it very seriously. We have only left the house to walk Spud on the Croft and have our PCR tests. However, being “stuck” at home hasn’t been a hardship. We have had some lovely weather during our isolation week. We have finished painting the porch, done a little weeding in the garden and I have read books I didn’t think would ever make it off my bedside table. We have also been reminded how many local friends we have, so many people stepped forward to help us…and help keep our spirits up!

On Tuesday morning we had an unexpected surprise when a visitor joined our isolation bubble. This uninvited guest first appeared several years ago in the Bays of Harris. A four foot tall Father Christmas has been standing and patiently waiting in the Manish bus stop for the last six or seven years. In this time he became a bit of a minor local celebrity and gained further notoriety in 2018 when Billy Connelly visited his bus stop for a photoshoot with John Maher. John was the Buzzcock’s original drummer and now lives and works in Harris as a photographer, this is one of his shots from that meeting.

Being responsible hosts we let him isolate in our little yellow van where we found him on Tuesday morning and took him with us to the mobile COVID Testing site in Tarbert to get the all clear. We also let him take advantage of such a rare outing from his bus stop to have a quick selfie at “that Layby” and introduced him to Isle of Harris Brewery’s finest!

As soon as we finish our isolation on Monday we will all be back at work and Father Christmas will be back home in Manish where he belongs. Thank you again to everyone who has come to our rescue this week or just given us a reason to smile!

10. It's our Brewery Birthday.

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 01:34:21 GMT

Today is the Brewery's First Birthday!

At the end of April 2020 we brewed our first batch of beer as “proper” brewers. Just over two months later our shelves and our kitchen was full of beer, glasses and T-shirts and we were ready to launch the website and the online shop on the 9th of July 2020. In the run up to the launch Nick had spent months working on recipes. As an experienced home brewer Nick was confident that he could brew great beer but in our naivety we set ourselves the crazy goal of launching with ten different styles. It took several months and many batches to perfect the recipes. Luckily we had friends and family who were happy to be our testers and provide feedback. Our favourite reviews during this time were “tastes like licking a rusty tractor” & “I didn’t hate it!” Hopefully you won’t recognise the final beer from these descriptions!

While Nick focused on the beer I was working on our logo and label designs and building our website. I had been furloughed from my job at the local shop and the weather was amazing , however for three months I spent an unhealthy number of hours fussing over fonts and copy and images. In late June we spent a fabulous sunny day out and about in South Harris taking photographs of the beers in the Harris landscape and then back to our croft for a photoshoot of our teenagers modelling the merch!

Our social media accounts had, for many months largely featured pictures of Spud’s early morning walks. The patience of our early followers was rewarded on the 30th of June when we started our countdown to launch by introducing one beer a day for ten days. The response was great. Our first order came in seven minutes after we launched. We were in business!

Of course we had hoped that we would be busy but we had no idea just how busy we would be. Within two days we received our first repeat order and lovely comments and reviews started coming in (No Rusty Tractors this time!) It was immediately obvious that we would struggle to meet demand with such a small batch size. So, we increased capacity and started brewing and bottling five days a week. As tourists returned to the island on July the 15th we started brewing for eight to ten hours a day and delivering beer every evening to local customers, holiday cottages and camper vans all over the island. We were stupidly busy but so happy with how everything was going.

By September the island started to return to its quieter hibernation setting as visitors made their way home. We were fortunate that, due to the very low number of cases of COVID infection in the Western Isles, October’s announcement of tiers of restriction levels meant we were placed in a lower level than the rest of Scotland. This did, however mean that no visitors could come to the island.

Undeterred, in October we brewed our first Christmas beers; a super strong Spiced Stout and a fruity Cranberry IPA. The gift sets were a huge hit and we wrapped and packed hundreds of bottles of beer to be sent out to Christmas trees all over the UK. Sadly, our own Christmas was not quite as planned. We were looking forward to our family spending Christmas at Croft N˚6 but just a few days before the big day, stricter COVID restriction meant we had to change our plans. Nobody knew at the time that travel restrictions would remain in force for months after the turkey leftovers were finally finished.

At the start of the second Lockdown everything slowed down and we had a chance to catch our breath and make some plans. We had already bought a new larger and very shiny brewing vessel and started upgrading fermenters to cope with bigger batch sizes. We also applied for permission to sell our beer wholesale which meant that our beer was on the menu at The Anchorage Restaurant in Leverburgh and on the shelves of the Island Spirit Whisky shop in Stornoway when the first visitors arrived at the end of April.

On the 27th of April 2021 exactly one year after we had brewed our first commercial beer we repeated the recipe and labelled a special batch of our N˚1 India Pale Ale as a Brewing Birthday Beer. The last two months have been a bit of a whirlwind of brewing, bottling and labelling as we have tried to keep up with demand, and one year in we’re still amazed by the response we have had to our little Brewery and our beers. We have lots more exciting news coming up but first we’re celebrating our birthday. No champagne for us…we’ll have a beer!

9. Midsummer in Harris

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 07:52:56 GMT

A Late Night Trip to Scarista Beach on Midsummer's Day

Here in the Outer Hebrides Monday the 21st June was officially the longest day of the year. The sun rose in Stornoway at 4.20am and set at 10.34pm. In reality at this latitude an 18 hour day means that dusk and dawn virtually meet. With clear skies and a full moon just three days away Monday evening was the perfect time to enjoy a get together with friends on the beach. After a busy day in the Brewshed and the local community shop, Nick and I grabbed the camping chairs and some bottles of beer and headed to Scarista Beach to meet with friends.

Scarista or Sgarasta Mhòr in Gaelic is one of the hardest won beaches in Harris but also one of the most spectacular.

The white shell sands run in a crescent between Ceapabhal, a 300m high promontory at its western end and the Marram grass dunes at Borve. To reach the beach we parked in the gravel lay-by at the end of the salt marsh. We followed the sand path through a five bar gate and onto the grazings where we were eagerly met by newly sheared ewes hoping for food. We passed the old bus which, although now rather weather worn, was for many years a meeting place for the local scout group. Tucked into the dunes next to the beach, many an adventure must have started from this unlikely meeting place.

My own memories of Scarista go back to the early 80's. When I was around ten years old my cousins and I set out along this same route heading excitedly to the beach. Half way across the dunes we were attacked from above. Unknown to us, hundreds of terns were nesting in the sand and were protecting their chicks by dive bombing us! Fortunately, forty years on our trek to the beach was this time much less eventful.

As we left the grazings we were met with the machair in full flower. Machair is a Gaelic word which describes the fertile low lying grassy plains that flank the exposed Western coasts of Scotland and Ireland. This time of year the predominant colour of the machair flowers is yellow with bird's foot trefoil winning out against the white clover. As we passed through the last of the dunes our view widened to take in the backdrop of the North Harris hills, the vast sands and the expanse of the Atlantic. We have now lived in Harris for seven years and the stunning beaches and mountains and seascapes still take our breath away.

In Scotland the traditional festival of Beltane (Latha Bealltainn in Gaelic) was celebrated between the Spring and Summer Equinoxes. Rituals were performed to protect the cattle, crops and people, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires were kindled, and their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers.

We came well prepared for our own Baltane festivities with a feast of cheeses and oatcakes, homemade tiffin, wine and beer. To celebrate the start of the summer we opened the first bottles of Gorse Beer made with Leverburgh's finest flowers picked just three miles from Scarista. After many hours of laughter, conversation and friendship the fire had burnt low and at one o'clock in the morning we buried the last of the fire's embers, packed our bags and made our way back past the Scout's bus and the hungry sheep to the car.

As the days start to draw in we are grateful for this amazing island, our lovely friends and the beauty of each season living and brewing in Harris.

Happy Beltane everyone!

8. Bailing the sea with a creel

Wed, 26 May 2021 08:24:52 GMT

Time management for control freaks

The title of this blog "Bailing the sea with a creel" is a Gaelic saying I once read which has come to mind many times since we started the brewery almost a year ago. I imagine it would have been used to describe a fools errand or a job that has no chance of success but in the case of the brewery we have had success way beyond what we could have imagined, however we have found we are fast running out of space and our to do list is endless. We need to find a way to swap our creel for a bucket!

As Scotland emerges from lockdown we are looking forward to the islands becoming much busier. We now have a larger brewing vessel and larger fermenters and we have been working them hard for the last few months in preparation for visitors returning to Harris. However, more brewing means more bottling, labelling, packaging, paperwork and more stuff. We're doing our best to prepare for the seasons ahead by making changes that will make life easier for us without losing the Handmade and Homemade quality we value so much about our product. We know that what makes our brewery special is that we have a hand in every part of the process from grain to glass and every beer is brewed, bottled and labelled right here on our croft. Our goal is to reduce our workload and squeeze everything in to a normal(ish) working week and a tiny Brewshed. To resolve the challenge of lack of space we're looking at ways to make a new beer conditioning room and labelling / packing room which will mean we can finally get our kitchen back! So how about the To Do list....

If you have been following our blog from the start you will know that we have an almost masochistic urge to do everything ourselves. Of course we brew the beer ourselves, and it makes sense, at least to us, that we print and label our beers by hand as it means we never have to change a beer to match a pre-printed label, we print labels to match the beers. This idiosyncrasy has had an unexpected benefit during lockdown as we could change recipes when ingredients became unavailable. You may have wondered how our N˚9 Brown Ale became a "Light" Brown Ale and now you know! We also knew that at some stage we would like to offer a bespoke label service and this month we were delighted to be asked to provide bespoke beers for the wedding of Martha and Dave which took place on Scarista beach. They chose three different styles of beer and we designed and printed special labels for their guests to enjoy a personalised toast. We loved how they turned out so we made some more bespoke labels for another very special event our son Charlie's 18th Birthday! This service will now be available on request for all of our beers with ten weeks notice. If you have a special event coming up drop us an email and we will send you some samples (of labels not beers!)

One of most time consuming jobs on our to do list is delivering beer. For orders to be delivered off the island we pack your beer on our kitchen table and take them to Leverburgh where they are collected by our local courier - Woody's. After a sixty mile drive to Stornoway and a two and a half hour ferry journey across the Minch your beer arrives in mainland Scotland. For all deliveries on the island we have been "Doing it Ourselves". Every Saturday since July we have driven to addresses throughout Lewis and Harris in our old Landrover or our bright yellow van. We have discovered places we had never been and met many of our lovely customers as we delivered their orders or surprised people with gifts. Saturdays are definitely one of our favourite days but unfortunately the many, many miles we have clocked up have taken their toll on our old vehicles. So far we have resisted trying to work out how far we travel on a typical Saturday but a quick calculation by Mr Google reveals that our last delivery run was 251 miles long. Our Landrover is celebrating its quarter century this year and we have decided that he should be enjoying an easier old age. We have two solutions which will be good for our engine and our sanity.

Because we don't yet have a bricks and mortar shop of our own, we don't want to lose the direct contact we have enjoyed so much with our customers so we will continue to deliver beer ourselves when we can but we will delegate all other deliveries to Woody's. We will cover delivery costs for orders over £30 but for smaller orders we will have to pass on the delivery charge of £4.80. We hope you will agree that this is a great reason to order a few extra bottles and benefit from FREE delivery. Our second solution is to make our beer more accessible across the islands by supplying beer to other businesses. We have been very busy behind the scenes filling in forms and completing all of the paperwork needed to allow us to sell wholesale and we have chosen a small number of shops and restaurants in Harris and Lewis as our new stockists. We are delighted to announce that a selection of our beers are available to buy at The Island Spirit Whisky Shop in Cromwell Street, Stornoway and The Anchorage Restaurant in Leverburgh, South Harris. We also supply beer to luxury Guest House Ceol na Mara in Direcleit, North Harris. We are delighted to be working with these fantastic local businesses to make our beers more readily available and we are very grateful for the interest they have shown in our beer and the brewery. In the next few weeks we will be building our stock levels so we can supply another two stockists in Harris.

We're excited to see where this journey takes us and we're so pleased to have you along for the ride. Time management for control freaks is an ongoing dilemma but for now we will keep working hard and keep bailing.

7. Home wasn't Built in a Day

Sun, 28 Feb 2021 16:10:13 GMT

Making an Old Croft House our Home

I remember when I started this brewery blog thinking I didn't want to be one of those people who share relentlessly for the first few months and then disappear....I know we have been quiet lately but we haven't been putting our feet up (honestly!)

Our first Christmas was really successful with our Christmas beers and full sets being sent to people all over the UK. Nick really enjoyed designing the new beers and produced some eye-wateringly strong brews that have had some great feedback. We decided to brew an extra batch of Spiced Stout and let it age for a year so watch this space for its return for Christmas 2021 and we loved the Cranberry IPA so much we have brewed some more as an occasional guest beer in the range. With Christmas and new year behind us we started brewing our original ten styles and they are now being bottled and conditioned so before long the shelves will be filling back up. You may be thinking at this point that 'surely that hasn't been why you've been too busy to blog!' Which brings us to some non-brewery news.

Since we moved to Borrisdale about two and a half years ago we have been living beside the brewery in a static caravan while we renovate the house. We have, until now, carefully shared beautiful images of the house and our wonderful views avoiding anything less photogenic. So for the first time we've dared to turn the camera around and show you what Instagram hasn't.

The Story so far. We bought the tenancy for the croft in 2018. The croft is around four acres and stretches from the top of the hill behind the house to the sea at the bottom. We were incredibly lucky to be assigned the tenancy as it had been for sale and empty for about four years before we bought it . From our Instagrammable photos I'm sure you will agree that the view is outstanding. We face South across the Sound of Harris with uninterrupted views to the Uists, Pabbay and the smaller islands. Borrisdale and our neighbouring village Strond are known for the quality of the light (which is important when daylight hours are so short in winter). What may not be so obvious from the photos is that the ground here is very good, not too rocky, no heather and in the most part fairly well drained.

The croft had been in the same family for generations and they built house themselves in the 1920's. Over the years there have been many additions to the original house but it still retains the character of a traditional Hebridean croft house. When we moved here in July 2018 we started with the renovations straight away. Our first job was to install an Air Source Heat Pump. After a short detour building the Brewshed and a boot room we moved back to plumbing jobs. The only bathroom was in the front porch (the frosted window enjoyed the best view in the house!) so we decided to move it to was the galley kitchen at the back of the house, which of course meant moving the kitchen! All this while starting a brewery and navigating a global pandemic!

We managed to use lots of reclaimed materials in the new bathroom including a sink made by J & R Howie in Kilmarnock some time between 1867 and 1886. And yes we did put up a wriggly tin wall in the shower and no the window isn't frosted!

The kitchen was relocated to a living room which had the original v-lining on every wall covered in 1930's newspapers and layers and layers of wallpaper. We reused this wood by turning it over and cladding one wall horizontally this revealed the name of the original owner on the planks from when the timber was ordered. The road sign was from the Luskentyre road end. When it was replaced I asked the Comhairle if I could have it, they probably thought I was mad but they agreed and it now has pride of place in our kitchen.

With the kitchen and bathroom finished during the first lockdown, in January and February of this year we decided to focus all of our efforts on getting the house to the point where we could move in. At this stage we still had no habitable bedrooms. In fact, one of the upstairs bedrooms had a rather unusual water feature. The dorma window had been leaking, which led to the ceilings collapsing and the walls and floor rotting. After a couple of months of hard work the teenagers are now settled in their new bedrooms and we are enjoying the space in our temporary bedroom which will, one day soon become our music room.

We've loved bringing this lovely home back to life and along the way we have found so many interesting parts of it's past (maybe a subject for another blog post?!) Moving into the house was a huge milestone for our family and we're ecstatic to be "ex-static" but there is still lots to do. We're planning a beer room and office in the front porch (which now was an unfrosted window) a bedroom for the hardworking Brewer and I and a cosy living room in the middle of the house.

But first ...MORE BEER!

6. Moving to Harris

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 10:58:54 GMT

How did we get here? From dream to reality without a plan.

Having now lived in Harris for over six years we feel very much like this is home, however Nick and I are always surprised that so many people we meet are interested in our story. Hardly a day goes past when we are not asked where we are from and why we moved here. So this blog is for anyone who has wondered about us and anyone who has dreamed of a new life in Harris.

Nick and I grew up about five miles apart and first met at secondary school in Bicester in Oxfordshire. After school Nick started a plumbing apprenticeship and I stayed at school to study for my A Levels. We met up again in 1989 at a party when we were seventeen and we have been together ever since!

The first time I introduced Nick to Harris we were nineteen years old. Nick had a very old and temperamental mini pick up which against all odds made the six hundred mile trip up the M6. After a very rough crossing of the Minch on the old "Heb" we were met in Tarbert by my Grandparents. I remember nervously showing Nick around the island on our first trip together. I really wanted Nick to love Harris and luckily he did!

Anyone who knows us well knows that we are terrible at making decisions so it was ten years after that party that we got married. The same year we moved to a small victorian cottage in the village where Nick grew up. Charlie was born four years later in 2003 and Sarah followed just 14 months after. We were surrounded by family and friends and the kids were thriving in the village primary school where Nick and five generations of his family had been pupils. We worked together running a plumbing and electrical company with Nick's stepdad and in our spare time we ran beer festivals with our friends. Every school holiday was spent in Harris. We loved our life.

We knew how lucky we were but we also knew that 'one day' we would move to Harris. The problem was how could a couple who never plan make such a life changing decision. In 2009 we came up with a solution using reverse psychology. We told ourselves that in five years time we would be living in Harris so the kids could start secondary school in Tarbert. This meant we would have to make a decision not to move!

In July 2014 we sold our cottage, our business and most of our possessions and headed North. My cousins lent us my uncle's old house in the bays and we settled in straight away. Nick bought his Land Rover and started picking up plumbing jobs on the island and the kids made new friends. The kids (and Nick) had always wanted to get a dog so three months after we moved we surprised the kids with a scruffy little ball of fluff who we named Spud. We missed our family and friends but we knew we were building a great life for ourselves and our kids.

Just before the move we bought some land in West Harris. Unfortunately, we had wildly underestimated the costs of building a house in such a rocky and/ or sandy spot and all of the quotes were beyond what we could afford. We knew we didn't want to be struggling to pay a huge mortgage so this time we had to make a decision. We sold the plot and started looking for a house to renovate. Houses for sale in Harris are as rare as hen's teeth and it took nearly four years to buy our house and croft in Borrisdale. As soon as we moved we built the brewshed and we're slowly working through the renovation of the house, fingers crossed we will move out of our static home and into our new home in the next few weeks. Our family on this side and the other side of the Minch have supported us throughout.

Six years after our move we love the way our life has turned out and we honestly believe that we couldn't have planned it any better!

5. Big advantages of being small

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 20:32:54 GMT

When size matters. Quality & Community before Quantity

When we moved to Harris in 2014 one of our main motivations was to slow down and enjoy time with our kids. In Oxfordshire we ran a business with lots of employees, lots of clients and lots of stress. We knew that we didn't want to live like that in Harris.

The first people we told about our dreams of starting a small brewery were our family and friends. Almost without exception we were met with at least one, if not all, of the following reactions; "it will be expensive"," it will be stressful" and "lucky you". We made a decision very early on that we would start small and more importantly, stay small.

But how small is small? To be called a microbrewery you can only brew 60,000 hectolitres of beer every year. That is a mere 18 million bottles! Unsurprisingly we don't really think of ourselves as a microbrewery, in fact we're probably even too small to be called a Nanobrewery. Being neither "Micro" or "Nano" we prefer to think of ourselves as a "RidiculouslyTinyBrewery" but why does size matter? Ironically we believe the benefits of staying small are huge.

Firstly, and this is a big one, we haven't had to go into debt to set up. We don't have any investors to please so we can make the sort of beers that we like and brew "brave" beers rather than mass producing easy sells. Our old life taught us that building a business should mean more than making money. Our life in Harris is much simpler and so we don't have to work every hour and chase every penny to make a living for our family.

The second advantage of brewing in very small batches is that we don't need lorry loads of grain, hops and bottles (which is lucky as we live at the end of a single track road!) Our aim is to cause as little impact as possible so we recycle all of our waste products; spent grain is fed to our chickens and the neighbours' sheep or composted on our croft. We are also looking into reusing bottles and hope to be able to introduce a bottle return scheme soon.

Our batches are so small that we can lift grain sacks and fermenters ourselves. We don't need equipment to load grain or stir beer, processes can be completed by hand not machines. In an eight to ten hour day Nick and I can brew one batch, bottle another, label a third and pack the days orders. This means we also have time for walking Spud and talking to the teenagers through their bedroom doors!

One of the unexpected advantages of being so small has been that we have time to get to know our customers. I remember the thrill, just two days after launching, of getting our first repeat order (from someone we didn't already know.) I couldn't resist popping a note and a little surprise in with that order! All of our deliveries include a hand stamped beer mat and a handwritten message but we can also add a handmade card when the delivery is a gift. We have spent many, many hours chatting about beer and Harris (our two favourite subjects) on social media or when we meet local customers when we deliver their beer.

Finally, and most importantly, we think staying small means we are able to focus on quality and community rather than quantity.

So in reply to our loved ones; it hasn't been too expensive, it hasn't ben at all stressful and yes we are very lucky!

4. Doing it Ourselves

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 19:58:40 GMT

How we built a DIY Brewery

Our five brewery employees (we use the term employee loosely as most posts are unpaid) are a brewer, a marketing manager, a website designer, a social media consultant, several photographers, a finance manager, a customer services manager, a procurement and order fulfilment team, two part time human models and one full time canine. It's fair to say that we are all (except Spud the Brewery Dog) good at multi-tasking.

We are really proud to say that we have built our business from the ground up, literally. In typical island fashion we started building a shed as soon as we moved to croft No 6 despite the fact that the house needed a lot of work. The shed turned out to be a great space with a fabulous view which was wasted on the strimmer and so the Brewshed was born. Partly out of necessity due to our limited budget and partly because we are stubborn, we made the decision very early on to do everything we possibly could ourselves.

Our small batch size means we can brew, bottle and label all of our beers by hand. We edit and print every label, we hand stamp gift boxes and beer mats and handwrite gift messages. Deliveries around the island are made by Nick in our trusty old Landrover. Being forty-something and certified technophobes we relied heavily on our teenagers and YouTube to learn about digital design and building our presence on social media. We've still got no idea how Twitter works but we have managed to publish a (very) simple Blog and Newsletter. Now admittedly some of these jobs would be quicker if we had a bigger set up. Most microbreweries wouldn't consider starting up without a bottling line and labelling machines but we have found there are some real advantages to doing it ourselves. Brewing beer is like alchemy. You can use exactly the same ingredients and follow the same recipe and produce beers that have slightly different flavours, aromas and carbonation. Importantly they might also have a different alcohol content or ABV. We test alcohol levels when we bottle and also sample bottles when the beer has bottle conditioned and only then do we print the labels for that batch. We like the fact that each batch is unique and importantly we never adjust our finished beer to match the label, the label matches the beer.

You will notice that there is one thing that we have chosen not to spend our time on, our beer names. We toyed with naming beers after villages, mountains, even people in Harris but we eventually decided that we would number our beers. If you have a favourite you only need remember the number but if you have a favourite style of beer we made sure this was obvious on the front of the label. We really love the beers with clever and witty names but we thought, being just the five of us (including Spud the Dog) our time was better spent on other things.

So our fabulous team have built a DIY Brewery, what's our next big project?
Next year we hope to finish renovating our Croft house, but first we are going to enjoy the our new business and family life in our new home in Harris.

3. Launching in Lockdown

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 21:21:06 GMT

Staying positive and testing negative

When we decided to start a small brewery in Harris there is no way we could have predicted that we would be launching during a global pandemic. We are very fortunate that very few people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the Outer Hebrides and we have been very lucky to be locked down in Harris.

Lockdown has given us time to enjoy Harris and spend time with our grumpy teenagers and Spud the Brewery Dog has certainly been enjoying our "one form of exercise" a day. Luckily our brewing equipment arrived long before restrictions were imposed and our suppliers and the local delivery companies have done a great job in keeping us well stocked with everything we have needed. One major advantage of having our Brewshed at home is that we have been able to spend lockdown developing recipes and brewing and testing beers (a hard job but someone had to do it!) We have also been able to design our own logo and labels and build a simple website. We think this level of care and attention will make the beer taste better!

We started with a range of ten (yes ten!) different beers. Because we brew in very small batches we are able to use interesting ingredients and experiment with recipes to bring you really interesting beers. All of our beers start with the fabulous soft Hebridean water but from there the possibilities are endless. Different malted barley styles, various different hop varieties and any number of additions... anything is possible. We intend to keep innovating and look forward to seeing which beers you enjoy and hearing from you if there is a beer style you would like us to brew.

One slight disadvantage of small batches is limited stock. We were hoping that there would be a demand for the sort of craft beers we wanted to brew but even (overly) optimistic Nick didn't predict quite how many beers would leave the brewshed in our first couple of weeks. We sold out of our first batches of some of our beers and started getting repeat orders within one day of opening. The highlights of our first two weeks week have been sending Brown Ale to Newcastle and IPAs to Ellon the home of BrewDog ,and on Friday just a day after launching, we delivered beer all over Harris and even made it over the Clisham to Lewis. It was great to meet fellow beer lovers on the island so we decided we would extend our free delivery to include Stornoway once a week so people can meet us and collect their orders.

So after two weeks in business there is plenty more beer in stock, lots more bubbling in fermenters or conditioning in bottles and also have a limited stock of brewery merchandise seen here modelled by our (not so grumpy) teenagers!

Thank you all so much for your support.

2. Strange Times & Social Distancing

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 15:22:21 GMT

Guest Blogger, Spud the Brewery Dog

Hello, I'm Spud and I live with four humans by the sea in Borrisdale.

For the last few months all of the humans have been home ALL OF THE TIME! This has been very strange as I'm used to having time to myself during the day for eating, napping and barking at stuff. Apparently they have been locked down. I'm not sure what they did but they can only leave the house for exercise and they haven't had a haircut for months. Welcome to my world humans!

This year has been very quiet in Borrisdale. When the wind is blowing we don't have many visitors here but when the sun starts shining we usually have walkers and cyclists to bark at, this year I have had to make do with the Postman and a few sheep. Sometimes when I take the humans for a walk they see other humans and talk about sanitiser and social distancing.

Instead of going to work one of the older humans has been going to a "Brewshed" and the other one spends the day in my favourite chair shouting at the computer. They keep saying how busy they are and how much they have got to do. The younger humans used to go to school in Tarbert but now they just talk to their computers in their bedrooms and watch something called Netflix at night. They keep saying how bored they are and how there is nothing to do.

It's all very confusing!

1. Our First Brewshed Blog Post

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 08:36:49 GMT

Moving to Harris & starting a Brewery

The story of the Isle of Harris Brewery has unlikely origins in a small village in Oxfordshire.

Sixteen years ago we were a typical family with two small kids and one large mortgage. We knew nothing about craft beer or brewing until 2003 when Fin and Loz moved next door. They introduced us to a world of interesting new beer flavours and styles. Together we visited breweries, beer festivals and pubs all over Britain and Europe. For the next ten years we shared our love of real ale by holding a beer festival twice a year in our home village of Merton. Fast forward to 2014 and after hosting one final 'Farewell Festival' we said goodbye to our old life and fulfilled our family's dream of moving to the Isle of Harris. A few years later we moved to our small croft in Borrisdale overlooking the Sound of Harris. After years of kitchen table brewing, and despite having a croft house to renovate, our first priority was setting up the Brewshed. Being glass half full sort of people we couldn 't have known just how long it would take to get everything up and running but after many long nights and a lot of red tape the Isle of Harris Brewery is now open... the croft house renovation, however is still ongoing!

We hope this blog will help us share our family's journey in the Brewery, the house and the croft.

It's great to have you along for the ride.