Eco-friendly brewery opens in West Lothian

A new microbrewery has launched this week Linlithgow.

From its base at eco-friendly market garden Narrowboat Farm, Strangers Brewing Co will take inspiration and ingredients from the surrounding Scottish countryside to make hand-crafted beers.

Strangers Brewing Co plans to start brewing this winter, after converting an old vegetable shed on the farm into a microbrewery over the summer and autumn. The range will include craft-brewed lagers, pale ales, bitters, red ales, porters and stouts, with specials influenced by the seasons and what can be foraged on the farm.

The brewery will produce a changing menu of beers, influenced by local ingredients and seasonal produce. Customers will be able to join a members community which will provide them with a monthly beer subscription, and will also be able to support the brewery conversion through a crowdfunding campaign this summer.

Brett Welch, founder and head brewer said: ‘We wanted to make beers that people would really enjoy, in a way that’s well rooted into the local landscape and the local community. Strangers will be a sustainable company, and will give back to the farm where we’re based.’

The brewery takes its name from the Linlithgow town motto: ‘St Michael is kind to strangers’. All customers who join the membership, by subscribing to the monthly beer deliveries or supporting the crowdfunder, will be invited to share feedback and suggestions for future beer specials.

Strangers Brewing Co founder and head brewer Brett Welch at Narrowboat Farm

The company will create hand-made lagers, pale ales, bitters, red ales, porters and stouts as well as specials influenced by the seasons and ingredients foraged at the farm. All spent grain and hops will go back into the farm, and shared with a local grow-your-own group.

Brett added: ‘The name is meaningful to us, because the way we’ve set up our business is to invite everyone to be a part of it – they’re strangers no more. We know that people appreciate great beer with genuine local provenance, and they’ll be in good company here.’

Opportunities for involvement in the brewery will start almost immediately, as Strangers Brewing Co will launch a crowdfunder to help raise the funds needed to purchase its brewing kit, and convert existing farm ponds into a new wetland habitat to help manage the drainage from the brewery.

Further announcements about this will be made next month when the crowdfunder opens.

All spent grain and hops will go back into the farm, and shared with a local grow-your-own group. The beer will be available to purchase from January 2022 on a monthly subscription basis, via the Strangers Brewing Co website.

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