Genevieve Upton, Head Brewer of Harbour Brewing, hosted a BFBi tour at the end of May 2022. Genevieve’s background is strong in new product development, previously working for Marstons as Innovations Brewer and Molson Coors, as Product Innovations Manager.
Formed in 2012 under the direction of Eddie Lofthouse, Harbour’s concept was to brew proper beer reflecting the land (and shores) from where it came, using the fantastically pure spring water available.
The brewery currently runs on 14 brews per fortnight, producing traditional 4% amber ales through to hazy IPAs, with lager (Helles and Pilsner) being their “bread & butter” business.
The brewery started with a 30hl brew kit and skate ramp, growing to an expected 15,000hl production in 2022. The brewery now produces both filtered and unfiltered beers via their 50hl brewkit, 25 cylindroconical unitanks (now 28 since the visit); centrifuge; canning, bottling and boxing lines. Their four head kegging machine produces approximately 500 kegs/week.
The Harbour team believes that the quality of their lagers is a direct result of the excellent spring water drawn on site. The team try to keep things simple and avoid carrying too many different malt varieties, whilst the wide variety of hops used are mainly from the US for their ales, and traditional European varieties in the various lagers.
The brewery is currently split between two sites, with the aim to move all production to the new brewery (currently acting as the warehouse and pilot brewery site) ideally within the next two years.
With lots of space for expansion, who knows what new, innovative beers will be on the cards (we spotted a cool ship in the new brewery and heard that more sours and lambics will be on the menu ?).
The brewery owns 3 outlets in the local area and has launched the world’s first fermented, non alcoholic aperitive under the brand name High Point. The production of High Point is a closely guarded secret, with two products currently in production – Amber and Ruby. We tasted the Ruby with tonic and I honestly did not miss the alcohol.
We would like to thank Genevieve for her time and for the great beers tasted, look out for a new grapefruit beer, from the tasting we had, it is special!
