Dundee’s first brewery in almost 50 years, 71 Brewing launched last year, hoping to revive the lost art of brewing in Scotland’s fourth city. Having discovered a newfound passion for beer when visiting family in Melbourne, Australia, Managing Director Duncan Alexander eventually teamed up with Mark Griffiths to launch 71 Brewing in the city where Alexander grew up. Having obtained £650,000 in funding from Scottish Enterprise, Regional Selective Assistance, The Scottish Investment Bank and private investment, the brewery took over a disused industrial building at 71 Blackness Road: inspiring the brewery’s name, honouring the industrial heritage of the building and the area. The 25hl brewhouse now produces around 15 different beers and houses an on-site Taproom with 10 draught lines.
Initially a lager only brewery, 71 Brewing’s first beer was a Dundonian Pilsner, inspired by the brewing traditions of central and eastern Europe, utilising Dundee’s soft water with low mineral content that’s akin to the water typically used to craft Czech Pils. Having since built a strong core range of classic and experimental beers, the brewery’s website states: “Our goal is to make beers packed with flavour and character, both sessionable and familiar, funky and weird, but most importantly, with balance and consistency. We always strive to make beer you will want to drink again and again.”
One of the brewery’s experimental beers, ‘Litschi Himbeere’ is 71 Brewing’s first ever kettle sour: a refreshing beer with relatively low alcohol by volume, brewed with the addition of raspberries and lychees. On pour, the beer has an opaque pink complexion, capped with a white head. Notes of raspberry are initially pertinent on the nose, followed by some pronounced malt notes, biscuit, oat and light caramel – finished with some slender grapefruit and lemon rind. Raspberry notes continue on the palate, backed with a quiet whisper of lychee, each conveying sourness and a tart character similar to gose beers. Savours of oat and orange rind are eventually surpassed by a refreshing zip of lemon juice that continues on the lasting sour/fruity finish.
Further information on 71 Brewing can be found here.
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