Modern sour specialist Vault City Brewing has returned to Edinburgh with the launch of a new brewery in Portobello. It also has two beers available in Tesco stores nationwide.
Vault City co-founder Steven Smith-Hay
Vault City actually started out life in Edinburgh — in a Murrayfield kitchen — before moving to a temporary home in Dundee.
The move to the purpose-built brewery in Portobello has doubled the brewing team’s production capacity to 32,000 litres of fermenting beer, and has created four new full-time jobs, doubling the brewing team.
There’s a new purpose-built brewhouse, from UK-based manufacturer Willis European, and the imminent prospect of opening a 250-seat on-site taproom.
The beers launched into Tesco stores are Raspberry Sour and Tropical Sour (pictured above). Brewery co-founder, Steven Smith-Hay, said: “At Vault City Brewing we create what we like to call modern sour beer, packed with bold, fun, fruit flavours and combinations.
“The issue we face is that most people don’t know they love these approachable flavours. So, I’m delighted to be launching these beers nationwide in Tesco to change people’s opinion on what beer can be and how it can be enjoyed.
“Raspberry is an iconic Scottish berry and pairs beautifully with our mixed-culture sour beer for a refreshingly tart and sweet character. We’re very proud to be able to source these berries hyper-locally. Tropical fruits don’t fare quite so well in the cold climate here, but also work wonders with the acidity of our modern sour beer for a thirst-quenching, lip-smacking, exotic taste sensation.”
About Vault City
Born out of a love of home-brewing, the brewery, founded in July 2018, quickly became known in for its house mixed-culture — like a sourdough culture — which creates fruity, tart, and sweet-based beers that let combinations of fruits and other additions shine.
Vault City Brewing’s house mixed-culture (much like a sourdough culture) is at the heart of all its beers and helps to create a tart base beer that is soft, delicate, and naturally sweet — perfect for showcasing a multitude of flavour and fruit combinations. The balance of sweet, sour, and fruitiness has turned the heads of non-sour beer and even non-beer drinkers alike, having affinity with cider and wine lovers.
Inspired by anywhere delicious flavours can be found, Vault City Brewing has based beers on soft drinks (Iron Brew Sour), cocktails (Strawberry Woo Woo), smoothies (Guava Kiwi Melon Mango), and even baked goods (Sweet Cherry Bakewell Sour). They range in ABV from a sessionable 4% all the way up to the boundary-pushing highs of 12%-plus!
Andy Gibson, marketing manager,said: “We saw incredible support from our online community, and over the course of the multiple lockdowns we’ve seen a real thirst for our mixed-fermentation modern sour beers. People’s palates are definitely changing as they seek out new and exciting flavours.”
