The Loch Ness Brewery has teamed up with soft fruit experts from the James Hutton Institute near Dundee and a Fife berry farmer to create a new blackberry beer.
Tapping into the growing niche market not just for craft beers but also for fruited brews, the new Berry LochNESS beer was actually born out of a possible dispute over use of the Loch Ness name. The Drumnadrochit-based brewery has been trading since 2011 under the Loch Ness name, and Loch Ness blackberries were developed and launched in 1989 by the James Hutton Institute.
A phone call and some explanation not only resolved any brewing issues but also soon turned into a conversation about the possibilities of teaming the namesake products to make something new that would create profile for both firms and for their respective industries. Micro-brewing in Scotland, as elsewhere, is booming and the scientists from the James Hutton Institute have a prodigious track record in developing some of the world’s leading soft fruit varieties.
‘Teaming’ Scotland’s resources
Jonathan Snape, Managing Director of James Hutton Limited, commercial affiliate of the James Hutton Institute, said: “It’s great to be able to create a product that teams many aspects of Scotland’s resources to make something new and of top quality: great fruit, bred and grown in Scotland, our pure, abundant water and our home-grown barley and brewing expertise.”
Late in the growing season, Fife berry farmer Robert Simpson came up trumps with a large enough harvest of the Loch Ness blackberries to make a viable batch of beer. The result is a classic traditional Scottish 80/-, produced from a blend of 5 different malts to give a big biscuit and chocolate flavour. The addition of Loch Ness blackberries softens these malty flavours, and gives the beer a gentle sweet finish rather than the drier finish of the original LochNESS beer on which it’s based.
Berry LochNESS is now available in specialist outlets. Stephen Crossland of Loch Ness Brewery echoed Dr Snape’s view, adding: ‘We welcome the opportunity to develop new, niche brews for a market that is growing and evolving and think this latest recipe is one that will help win our beer new fans.’
In the meantime we can enjoy the fruits of more recent labours and toast future success with a glass of the LochNESS blackberry special.
The Loch Ness Brewery is attached to the Benleva Hotel on the shores of Loch Ness. Brothers Allan and Stephen Crossland originally designed it to brew local beers for the hotel’s pub. With a core range of beers offering something for everyone, the brothers are always looking to try something different from time to time.
For more information about The Loch Ness Brewery click here
The James Hutton Institute is a world-leading, multi-site scientific organisation encompassing a distinctive range of integrated strengths in land, crop, waters, environmental and socio-economic science. It undertakes research for customers including the Scottish and UK Governments, the EU and other organisations worldwide. The institute has a staff of nearly 550 and 120 PhD students, and takes its name from the 18th century Scottish Enlightenment scientist, James Hutton, who is widely regarded as the founder of modern geology and who was also an experimental farmer and agronomist.
For more information about The James Hutton Institute click here