Pride in your local area is what it’s all about for the owners of the local craft brewery which makes Co Fermanagh beer brand Inishmacsaint.
The Derrygonnelly based brewers have plans to more than double their capacity as their sales increase, but owner Norman Donaldson says they will never lose their Fermanagh roots.
With a craft beer boom very much underway in many parts of Northern Ireland, Norman says there is a lot of competition nowadays, making it increasingly important to have a story behind your beer.
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“All our water is sourced from Lough Erne and our brand is very much based on our local history and geography,” Norman told MyFermanagh.
“We try to attach a bit of folklore, a bit of a story or myth to all our branding. We have Big Dog and Little Dog IPA, named after two mountains here in the Lough Navar forest.
“We released another beer during lockdown called The Cure, which was based on a well here in the county that had healing properties.
“We’re trying to bring people into the county as well as getting our products out of the county. We’re romantically tied to Fermanagh and we’re very proud of our county.
“We want to showcase the very best of it we can. Boatyard Distillery really put us on the map and we’re all doing our wee bit to promote our little county stuck out here in the West.
“The local outlets have been fantastically supportive to us throughout the last few years. They always stuck by us and we’re very grateful for that.”
The plans to increase production of its beers will see the brewers able to produce a hopping 8,000 litres of the stuff every month.
Norman added: “At the moment we are producing at a maximum about 3,000 litres of beer a month and we’re currently expanding so that we can go up to 8,000 litres a month.
“We’re in a good place at the moment and we’re hoping that continues.
Being in Fermanagh, the customer base for craft beer just mightn’t be as developed as the likes of Belfast. But there seems to be a bit more connection now between the West and Belfast.
“We feel like our presence is getting felt a bit more around the craft beer scene and we’re picking up on the popularity of craft beer.
“More people are getting into that sort of scene and we try and position some of our beers really try to tease the non craft beer drinker into trying it.”
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