Has it really been 10 years? It feels like it was only yesterday when we were experiencing the pure excitement and anticipation of our very first beerhouse being delivered. Fast forward 10 years and we are reflecting on what has been a truly amazing journey. A journey full of ups and downs, thankfulness and recognition, and an unfailing enthusiasm to improve in all that we do.
For our 10th birthday celebration, we knew we had to do something special. Something that would encapsulate all the emotions we have experienced these past 10 years. Planning started at the beginning of this year with the whole team getting involved. Our brewers, the marketing team, sales and even the accounts department all contributed to helping us understand who we were in the beginning, and what has helped transform us into the team we are now. It led us to begin a project that was a first for us. A barrel ageing project.
A visit to Annandale Distillery
We knew a special project required a special barrel, so we reached out to an acquaintance of ours, Annandale Distillery in Scotland. Annandale Distillery was established in 1836 by George Donald and was built next to a natural water source and close to a large area of peat bogs that helped fuel the kiln to produce their malted barley. Today, their new owners continue the traditions that George began.
We started a relationship with Annandale distillery through our sister, Hayley, who’s second home is in Annandale. A quiet town with an amazing sea view and open countryside. Hayley’s company Four Sisters Distillery led her to strike up a relationship with the distillery to help improve her knowledge in creating fine spirit, and the rest is history.
We had the perfect beginnings of a collaboration with Annandale Distillery and so the two youngest brothers, Kit & Greg, headed up to Annan in Scotland to learn more about the distillery and how they made their whisky. They had a guided tour with backstage privileges, and they were blown away by the story. Annandale too were blown away by the story of SEVEN BRO7HERS Brewery, and so were kind enough to loan us the casks we needed. We took 3 different types of whisky barrel from them – one ex-bourbon, one ex-peated whisky and one ex-whisky barrel.
The beer, bottling, artwork & wax sealing
Our head brewer, Jack, who has extensive knowledge in creating high quality stouts such as our Chocolate Honeycomb Stout, then created a recipe for a 10% imperial stout that formed the base of our barrel aged beer.
Maturing for 10 months, the impact that the oak and residual whisky has had on the imperial stout, from first sip to last, has exceeded our expectations. Each one is clearly distinguishable from the others and the flavours from the oak are striking!
But a special barrel aged stout requires a special bottle. So, we approached local artist Tom Burbidge to create a unique abstract artistic design for the labels. For each of the 3 beers, Tom created a distinct colour tone to capture the flavour profiles of the differing beers. We set Tom’s work onto a paper label to give a canvas, artistic feel and finished the bottle with an individual hand wax seal, perfecting every aspect of the beer.
It’s true that these beers are a celebration of all that we have been through and achieved, but above all they are a thank you. A thank you to all of you who have supported us these past 10 years. We appreciate you so much.
Beer 001, RESILIENCE
An ode to our past and the resilience shown to grow throughout these past ten years.
Beer 002, GRATITUDE
An ode to our present and the gratitude we have for all our customers, staff, investors, family, and everything in between.
Beer 003, BOUNDLESS
An ode to our future and these three very special beers to show how boundless our passion for craft beer truly is.
It has been an absolute pleasure for the whole team to work on this project, and the experience has given us motivation to continue similar projects like this going into 2025. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
If you're after a bottle, we have a limited amount remaining, so be quick. Shop our 10 Year Anniversary collection.