New small batch brewery launches first two beers
Wreck Creation Ltd. was formed during last year’s lockdown
A NEW microbrewery based in Scalloway will have its first small-batch beers behind the bar to tie in with pubs reopening following the latest easing of Covid-19 restrictions from Monday.
Having experimented with various home brews over the past couple of years, during lockdown last year Scalloway-based friends Stephen Lamming and Lewis Grant teamed up to form Wreck Creation Ltd.
From next week The Lounge Bar in Lerwick will be stocking their first two bottled offerings – a 4.6% strength golden ale called Y Knot and a lower alcohol (2.3% ABV) table beer called Mid Ships. Each bottle bears the slogan “drink for taste not effect”.
Stephen and Lewis have previously staged a series of informal beer tasting nights and also ran a small beer festival in Scalloway in 2018, largely showcasing ales from Stephen’s native Yorkshire.
“It’s just been a labour of love,” said Stephen, who works for NHS Shetland. “I’ve really enjoyed the creative side of things. It came out of lockdown really, idle hands and I was going a bit crazy.
“We played around with home brews, and took the notion of ‘let’s start a brewery’, focusing unspent energy on something a bit more creative.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good product. The golden ale, Y Knot, was our initial recipe [that] Lewis created, and we’ve just been perfecting that.
“Midships is a small beer, lower alcohol, more pale and fizzy, and a bit more toned to people who drink lager. Very light, refreshing, it’ll be a cracking summer beer, I think.
“It’s something new for people visiting Shetland to try something local. It’s just [going to be stocked at] The Lounge at the moment. I’m speaking to some others but we don’t want to overstretch it.”
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They have capacity within their licensed shed/garage to brew around 200 bottles a month and Stephen said that if the initial batches go down well “we may try different recipes – I wouldn’t mind doing a darker beer, a porter or a stout, maybe.”
Stephen described Jono Sandilands of Artmachine as “almost like the third member of the band”, praising his “brilliant” creativity in coming up with the stylish graphics for the bottle labels.
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