Eden Brewery

I have always loved St. Andrews. As a child, I spent many happy summers there eating ice cream, exploring the rock pools, discovering the secret cold war bunker and generally having fun. Crucially I spent many hours on the beach conducting serious excavations as small (and larger) boys are wont to do. Many years later I had some of the happiest and proudest moments of my life there as a student of the ancient University. It was therefore a fairly foregone conclusion that, when a brewery was opened there, I was going to like the beer it produced.

Well finally such a beer exists at last. Eden Brewery has started brewing craft beers in the old paper mill in Guardbridge; technically not St. Andrews but walking distance away so we'll gloss over that. And anyway, the site is owned by St. Andrews Uni. Anyway, enough about the location. The beer is fabulous.

Before I go into details about the products let me tell you a bit about the brewery. It is truly run on a small scale, the whole process can be seen by swivelling one's eyes. Better still, while the bottling may be semi-automated, the capping is done by hand. Currently, the operation employs a total of ten people. Don't however be fooled by the small scale. Eden Brewery is taking Britain by storm. At the moment, they are supplying pubs across Scotland and making a big impact at foodie fares throughout the country. The products are proving so popular that supply is struggling to keep up with demand. Now, after less than a year, expansion is in the offing.

One thing that struck me about Eden Brewery is the passion that everyone feels for the beer. All the people I have encountered from the brewery love what they make.

Now, the beer. It won instant brownie points when I when I was offered a beer to sup during the tour. A nice blonde if you're interested. We started with a brief history of the site. A brewery existed there in the 1800s which was followed by a distillery. Then the whole enterprise went down hill; it became a paper mill which eventually closed in 2008. It's current incarnation as a brewery started last year and has a strong focus on local produce (most of the malt is grown by a local farmer).

Quite a spectrum of beers are produced. As well as a blonde, I.P.A., porter and bitter, they also produce a range of beers aged in various spirit casks; rum, bourbon and whisky. Currently whisky casks from different whisky areas are being used as an experiment to see if they have any effect on the final product. As someone who loves whisky, this is a bit of a dream combination. I can confidently say that casks from different areas do affect the flavour of the beer. Delicious doesn't quite cover it. Mindblowing is a better word.

I'm going to restrict my descriptions of specific beers to my ultimate favourites otherwise I will bore you senseless. First is the blonde. It is light, crisp and full-bodied. To use descriptions I heard on the tour, it's a quaffing beer. Ideal to drink lightly chilled on a warm afternoon, or evening... or morning at a push!

Next (and slightly left-field given my usual taste in beers) is the porter. It had a beautiful, rich flavour with lots of black coffee at first followed up by good dark chocolate. The colour is an intense brown, almost to the point of being black and it gives a wonderful golden head.

My final entry, and by far my favourite beer so far, is the highland cask aged beer. It has the stunning amber colour of the peaty streams that supply the distillery who provide the cask (and happens to be one of my favourite malts). The beer itself is smooth and velvety with sweet overtones and hints of soft fruits. It slips down beautifully, although it is certainly more of a sipping beer. Something to be savoured gently rather than sunk in volume.

So far I have described my favourites. The others in the range are not far off being equally as good, better to a different palette. I hugely enjoyed all of them as well as the way they're made and the ethos of the brewery.

In conclusion, I can only say that for about seven years my answer to any enquiry about my favourite beer has remained steadfastly unchanged. Since I tried my first beer from Eden Brewery a few weeks ago, it has inhabited poll position and shows no sign of changing any time soon. My favourite among all of these; the highland whisky cask aged beer. It's magnificent.

If you see some, pick some up and give it a try. Let me know what you think.

Cheers

TFB