Business profile: Vault City Brewing
Vault City Brewing There are not many people that can say they’ve housed an HMRC registered excise warehouse in the spare bedroom of their small two-bed flat, but then nothing about the story of Vault City Brewing founder Steven Smith-Hay is exactly typical. Steven and his partner Adele, along with former brewer Jonathan Horn, founded the brewery in 2018. But for several years before that, Steven, then working as an IT consultant, had been brewing on a semi-industrial basis from his own flat, with brew kit in the cellar and beer taps in his kitchen. The domestic operation had taken off to such an extent that the flat was approved as a brewery. His spare room became an HMRC approved warehouse, storing the beer he produced, and his local BrewDog bar allowed him to launch with a very successful tap takeover, showcasing the modern sour beers that were the focus of his venture. It was clear from the start that his beers were popular enough for him to make the move into the industry
44
Summer 2021 | SIBA Independent Brewer | www.siba.co.uk
full time, and Steven left the IT world and, via a short stint in rented space in Dundee, he launched Vault City in 2018, eventually moving it to its current permanent site in the Portobello area of Edinburgh. Vault City has stayed true to its roots in sour beers, with a mission to make the category more accessible to a wider range of beer drinkers. With sours still considered niche, Steve has sought to introduce fruit flavours and accents that create more sessionable beers than the category has historically offered. And with a bar on the way, and plans in progress for a ‘secret garden’ inspired 250 person taproom on the brewery site – potentially with a waterfall - Steven is keen to give consumers the new and exciting beer experiences they are increasingly seeking out. Independent Brewer’s Editor Caroline Nodder caught up with him last month as the Scottish market was beginning to re-open…
