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Glasgow Live

Entertainment

Sean Murphy

The hidden brewery reviving Glasgow's traditional brewing techniques with modern barrel-aged beers

Glasgow United States Sean Murphy Scotland

Glasgow has always had a rich history when it comes to brewing and one entrepreneur is hoping to honour that past by combining Scotland's historical beer styles with modern techniques.

Gareth Young is the brains behind Epochal Brewing, a micro-brewery based in Port Dundas, close to the site of the former Baird's Brewery, which is creating a range of exciting Barrel-aged beers.

Originally from Lenzie, Gareth has always had a deep passion for both home brewing and philosophy and assumed that the former would be a hobby and the latter a job.

But it didn't quite work out like that, as Gareth explained: "It turned out that the same week I got my PHD, I also won the UK National Homebrewing Awards and a £5,000 prize [he still has the giant novelty cheque] in 2015 and that prompted me to realise that brewing could be the job."

Brewing on a commercial scale also meant he could realise a dream of reviving traditional brewing techniques that previously made Scotland famous around the world.

"I became interested in the flavours of fermentation through Belgian beer, and started off making Belgian Sours and Farmhouse beers," He stated. "And like many people that become interested in that style of beer, you become interested in how microbes affect flavour.

"This also leads to an interest in a sense of place, and making beers connected to the place in which they are made. That inspired me to look at Scottish beers and brewing styles of the past, and I discovered a lot of these fermentation techniques such as using oak and wild microbes.

Gareth is hoping to host a series of open days at the brewery (Sean Murphy)

"I found that there was a very big, understudied and underexplored tradition for making these kinds of beers, at one point Scotland exported more of that kind of beer than France exported wine in the 19th century which is incredible."

According to Gareth, one of the crucial microbes from Barrel fermentation is Brettanomyces, which he explained translates as British yeast and is the magical element that creates a lot of flavours and lets beers last a long time without refrigeration, which would have made it ideal for exporting in the past.

The keen brewer explained that he makes two primary ales, modernised versions of 19th-century Edinburgh pale ales and 19th-century Glasgow porters, which he was keen to point out aren't simply historical reenactments but his own takes using techniques from both eras.

Each unique beer is fermented in former whisky and wine casks (Sean Murphy)

And that's where the idea for naming for the brewery came from, as Gareth stated: "The name Epochal refers to the bringing together of two different brewing epochs, and also to call something 'epochal' is a ludicrously over the top term of praise and I find that quite funny too."

Gareth's unique and vibrant beers, which feature names that are riffs of philosophical terms or puns on fermentation, have caught the eye of beer fans not just here in Scotland, but also in the US where he currently exports his bottles and kegs to. Not bad for a tiny one-man operation.

Which can be hard when you not only need to source the casks (in this case from Speyside Cooperage in Moray), clean, brew, do the bottling and packaging and of course, the all too important social media, as well as forward planning as his beers can range from two months fermentation time for a table beer to 18 months for a powerful porter.

Gareth still has the novelty cheque from his award win, along with some of his favourite beers from his time brewing (Sean Murphy)

Interestingly, though it might look similar to the process for making whisky with all of his casks and the longer time it takes to make each beer, but unlike the whisky industry he explained that the casks are only used for fermenting with the microbes adding the flavour and not the casks themselves.

As normal beers can go from grain to glass in six days, Gareth has to have a lot more patience with his. This leads to some truly unique beers, with each batch being different from the last.

Set to celebrate the brewery's second birthday at the end of this month, the brewer is keen to get the word about his beers out and to allow local residents and drinks fans alike to come and try his wares.

With that in mind he is holding a series of exciting open-day events at the brewery on Payne Street throughout the year, starting with their second birthday on June 24, which you can find out more about on their website.

Based at a sun trap of a site next to the Forth and Clyde Canal and the wakeboard experience there, Gareth hopes to feature some of Scotland's top street food vendors, with Edinburgh's Sando, who have just been named Scottish Street Food Finalists, being confirmed for his first event.

Epochal Brewery Open Days:

Where: Epochal Brewery, 3A Payne Street

When: