Brew Toon
72a St Peter Street
Peterhead

History: The Brew Toon Brewery was established in 2017 in Peterhead. It was and still is a family affair when Cameron Bowden managed to talk his parents, Shirley and Fred, into buying a historical brewery site on St Peter’s Street. The building was once home to Hunter & Sons – Tanfield Brewery and was also a bakery at one point. The team then set about renovating the building into a innovative brewery, taproom and cafe to once again bring back beer production to Peterhead. With his background in engineering, Cameron began creating beers that he believed were innovative. They quickly picked up a reputation as one of the most exciting microbreweries in Scotland as well as a community hub with their Taproom and cafe.

The Beer: The team here are now starting to pick up awards for fun with Brew Toon winners of Best Brewed product at the 2019 North East Scotland Food & Drink Awards and have no less than seven beers shortlisted for this year’s Scottish Beer Awards being held on September 19 at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange. Their range is constantly evolving with innovative beers including the Loose Cannon IPA from the core range to the seasonal Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream Ale. They also do some collaborations, such as their most recent, a Lime Lager created with Aberdeenshire Mexican restaurant Fresh Mex.

Why Visit?: Visiting Brew Toon feels more like visiting a bar full of friends that happen to make beer rather than just visiting a brewery. They always have regular events in the Taproom, including quiz nights, live music and tastings. Tours typically last around one hour, are priced at £15 per person and are available until 6pm on Friday, Saturday & Sunday. You must book ahead and if you want tours outwith this time then they will sometimes accommodate. You can feel that this is a family business as soon as you arrive here and the fact that they make delicious beer is a massive bonus.

Interesting fact: They recently starting creating a range of beers under the banner of “Nitro”. With nearly all beers using CO2 they wanted to use Nitrogen instead. What they found was that the addition of Nitrogen gives much smaller bubbles, creating a smoother, creamier experience. CO2 beers when poured create the classic bubbly beer head whereas the Nitrogen beer will give the effect closer to a classic Guinness when poured. Its all about the mouthful with the Nitro range.