Working background

I served my apprenticeship in commercial catering equipment manufacturing - fabricating stainless/mild steel into industrial cooking appliances, incorporating electricity, gas and steam.

Brewing influence

When I was young there was always homemade beer, wine and jam in the house. Dad was an enthusiastic maker of anything that could be grown and collected from his own garden, fruit farm or hedgerow.

His beer style was a big Scottish 807- usually made from a commercial bitter kit with extra hops for taste and sugar for strength (Electric Soup) and more than a few unsuspecting visitors were helped out the door worse for having a couple of pints.

Brewing background

I started off brewing with lots of different kits but was never really satisfied with the results.

After seeing an advert in an Edinburgh home brew shop I attended a meeting of the Scottish Craft Brewers and was astounded by the quality and variety of ales being produced by the small membership at that time. I joined straight away.

Started brewing experiment

As soon as I could I went into production of a 10-gallon full mash set up and started to learn how to brew beer I really liked.

I still use this small set up for experimenting with different brewing methods, introducing new malt and blending hops for taste.

Stalwart tasting panel quaffed gallons!

The local harriers club (Falkirk Victoria) of which I am a member manfully bore the brunt of these early ales, quaffed gallons and gallons of the stuff and hardly ever complained, but these brews laid the groundwork for my recipes.

Local brewpub experience

In 2002 I got the chance to brew established recipes for a local brewpub, which gave me the hands on experience to produce an 800-litre brew, using their small brewery. Around the same time at work, the department I was working in was being reorganised and as a result of this it was either go back on the tools for the last seventeen years of working life (I already had that t-shirt) or take redundancy.

I really did step into the unknown.

On a trip down to Manchester I bought the ex Berkley Brewery; consisting of a ten-barrel gas fired Boiler, a Hot Liquor Tank, Two Fermenting Vessels, Conditioning tanks, pump, loads of pipe work and spent a few months putting it together and upgrading both it and a small industrial unit in Larbert rented from Lite Engineering Co Ltd.

Personal favourite

My favourite style of beer is Pale Ale. Ideally, a good session ale usually around 4% abv, a touch of bitterness with lots of hop aroma and clean and fresh on the palette.