Northbound Brewery

Barbara Collins introduces the new Northbound Brewery in Derry, where the local ingredients used include Irish malt, Derry water and Irish carrageen moss - and it is already being used as an ingredient by a successful local food producer

David Rogers and his wife Martina decided to open up a craft brewery in Derry to fit in with rearing a young family.

Management consultant David did a Master Brewing Diploma after becoming interested in craft brewing while living in Australia. He’s originally from Scotland and his wife is from Fermanagh. Martina worked within the financial services sector where she gained sales and marketing skills.

They moved back to Northern Ireland with their three children in 2012. “We felt bound by the north-west of the country, hence the name,” says Martina.

Production started at the site in Campsie in February of this year. Using local ingredients where possible, including Irish malt, Derry water and Irish carrageen moss, the brewery has released 2 beers to date, "08" a Kolsch Style Ale, and "26" a Pale Ale.

“We’ve seen best practice in Japan and Australia and I want to take what we’ve learned to make a sustainable brewery in the north west of Ireland, which hopefully will become a regional brewery.

David's knowledge has now been recognised by the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, having been awarded the prestigious Master Brewer qualification, a rare recognition only bestowed upon a dozen people globally each year.

Looking ahead, Northbound Brewery is continuing to trial natural new ingredients that celebrate the high quality of produce in the region, and are collaborating with local producers to bring out the best of the North West.

A successfully established local cheese maker, Julie Hickey of Tamnagh Foods, has washed a new cheese in her Dart Mountain Cheese range, Banagher Bold, with their 26 Pale Ale - and, after being ‘aged for three months to give it the strength it deserves’, it will be released in September 2015.

“If you get it right you can create great process and come up with consistently good beer. It’s also perfect to fit in with our family life” says David.

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Barbara Collins is a BBC journalist and freelance food, travel and agricultural writer. She contributes regularly to Countryfile magazine, the Farmers Guardian, the Irish News, FFT and the Irish Mail on Sunday. She was Chief Food Writer for Flavour magazine. She is a member of both the UK and Irish Food Writers Guilds and splits her time between Belfast and Galway. Barbara also does menu consultancy and copywriting.

@thegoodchinaset