FOOD & DRINK
Small is…
a microbrewery In Jersey we now have three microbreweries - Liberation, Stinky Bay and Bliss. Alasdair Crosby dropped in for a pint or three
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he rise of craft beers and microbreweries is proof that not everything in the world is going downhill. In Jersey we have now three breweries: Liberation, Stinky Bay Brewery and Bliss Brew Company.
‘Ben from Bliss may have come up with the idea. We’d been chatting about it for a couple of years, but we were all pretty busy and nothing happened. Finally, we all went out for a couple of pints and decided - “Let’s do it!”’
On two successive Thursday late-night shopping evenings before Christmas the three brewers were giving away pints outside the Old Court House in St Aubin and then, the following week, outside the Post Horn in Hue Street. Very nice of them, of course, but why?
Asked what was special about this beer, he replied: ‘It is 100% red, caramelised malt. I’d never brewed with that before, but it’s turned out really nice! It’s a traditional ale, quite fruity, quite wine-y. I really like it! It has turned out better than I would ever have thought!’
The answer is that the three brewers – Pat Dean from Liberation, Matt Topman from Stinky Bay and Ben Bliss had all collaborated in a new brew, which they have called ‘Spruce Ale’. Also on taste was Liberation Brewery’s Christmas Ale. So how did this collaboration come about? Matt Topman supplied the answer:
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The lead brewer of the three was Pat Dean at Liberation. He explained that one of the most interesting features of their Spruce Ale was its use of local hops, grown by Bruce Labey in Grouville. This modern use of local hops in local beer is an interesting development – perhaps one day we will see beer made regularly from all-Jersey ingredients.
The brewers
Pat Dean, head brewer at Liberation Brewery He started brewing in 1983 following his time at college. His interest in beer had started in the Students’ Bar (funny, that). He liked draft beer and the sociable atmosphere surrounding its consumption. ‘After my degree I went home to North Wales, where a local brewery was setting up. I helped out and I thought I’d only be doing it for a couple of years … but eight years later I was still doing it!’ It was Tony Skinner, who founded the Tipsy Toad Breweries in St Peter and in town, who brought him to Jersey. He spent two years at the old Ann Street Brewery, gaining an insight into how a brewery operates, before moving to the microbrewery in Longueville. Contact: patrick.dean@ liberationgroup.com
