I can’t believe it has already been 6 months of my SoBeer Project supporting independent breweries so to celebrate for June I have chosen not one, but two breweries, McColl’s Brewery and First & Last Brewery who recently brought out a collaborative beer box. Highlighting the best of their beers the box included their collaboration Light Nights, a Spruce Grisette, McColl’s Sugar and Spice Witbier as well as All Things Nice Triple Spiced Stout and Let’s Eat Pie’s … Pepper Bitter. First & Last’s beers included Plum Fruited Belgian Ale, Gorseflower Foraged Pale Ale and their Damson Porter.
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McColl’s based in County Durham favours the Arts and Sciences, with husband and wife team Gemma and Danny McColl each bringing their own expertise to the brand. As well as being the creative lead for McColl’s, Gemma was also the one that sparked Danny’s passion for brewing by buying him his first home-brew kit. McColl’s beers are heavily influenced by Belgian styles with Petite Belgian Blond Ale making it into their core range of 4 beers, as well as inspiring other seasonal special editions.
Just an hour and a half down the road from McColl’s is First & Last Brewery based in Northumberland. First & Last focus on seasonal produce as well as sustainability by sourcing materials and foraging for ingredients within a 20km radius of the brewery. Both breweries champion the North East of England, with the common theme of the drinkability of their beers.
This is evident with their collaborative beer Light Nights Spruce Grisette, the front man to their collaboration box. This Belgian style was designed to be enjoyed during the longer evenings and at a very sessionable 3.5% this beer does just that. The delicious citrus hop flavours are met with the bitter piney flavours of Northumberland foraged spruce tips giving this beer a slight resinous quality that makes you want to have another taste. As the sun begins to go down, casting a golden glow on the ground, I begin to regret offering to share my second can of Light Nights with my other half.
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I first was introduced to First & Last after taking part in Full Circle Brewing’s Kindred Collective online event in April this year. There I was able to hear from Red talking about her beer and the environmentally friendly processes the brewery takes in such a passionate way that I knew I wanted to discover more. Living fairly locally to another brewery who focuses on foraging for natural ingredients (Wild Beer Co.) I was keen to try more beers from First & Last. What I really love is that their beers are seasonal, so if a crop of fruit or particular ingredient is effected by certain weather conditions then this will impact the amount of beer that can be produced for that year. It gives this brewery a real artisan flavour, something which comes across in their beer styles. By far the stand out for me was the Damson Porter. This richly, smooth and chocolatey porter base was beautifully balanced with the fruity damsons which brought a plum-like, stone fruit quality to this beer. The fruit element added a touch of lightness to this style which made this beer very quaffable indeed.
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I can’t talk abut Mccoll’s Brewery without mentioning their amazing effort to raise money and awareness for men’s mental health during the pandemic. Alongside Men’s Pie Club based in Newcastle they created the Let’s Eat Pies and Talk About Men’s Mental Health, a Black and White Pepper Bitter which has recently reached it’s target of raising £2500 to help keep men talking! This sessionable and traditional bitter at 3.6% is the perfect pairing for a homemade pie or for drinking with friends at the pub. A massive congratulations to McColl’s for reaching their goal and their ongoing commitment to support such a worthy cause.
https://www.firstandlastbrewery.co.uk
McColl’s blog on Let’s Eat Pies: https://mccollsbrewery.co.uk/blogs/news/thank-you-from-men-s-pie-club
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