New brewer Sarah Hjalmarsson with Rhys Powell at Harbour Brewing Company
With order books continually growing, Harbour Brewing Company, in Bodmin, Cornwall, has taken on a new brewer to assist Rhys Powell, who founded the firm in partnership with Eddie Lofthouse.
Sarah Hjalmarsson, aged 27, hails from Halmstad in Sweden and has brewed with Rhys before, back in his homeland of Wales, when he had a small brewing kit in his garage.
The Bavarian Brewing Technologies ten-barrel plant installed at Harbour is quite a step up, but Sarah has come in to brew on occasions before landing the full-time job and with plenty of experience brewing back in Sweden – where the craft beer scene is growing – she is confident she will enjoy her new role.
“I’m looking forward to making some new recipes,” she said. “I’m a great fan of wheat beers and of Belgian beers flavoured with fruit.” She added: “I’m excited to be part of Harbour Brewing.”
Harbour’s isn’t her first professional brewing post, though. Sarah worked in the Krönleins Brewery in her home town after some work experience in Stockholm’s Monk’s Brewery.
Eddie Lofthouse said: “It’s wonderful that Sarah has been able to join us, bringing her wide-ranging experience to the brewery. We’re looking forward to working with her and developing some new beers.”
Harbour has been enjoying huge success since its launch about a year ago, gaining several listings in pubs and bars in Cornwall but also proving popular in craft beer bars in cities such as London, Manchester and Edinburgh.
The brewery’s going international too, with Eddie travelling with a British trade delegation to the Craft Brewers Conference in Washington this month.
A chocolate beer infused – very subtly – with chilli and ginger will be making its way to the Great Australasian Beer SpecTapUlar in Melbourne, and there will also be Harbour beer in Sweden this spring, fittingly, bearing in mind Harbour’s latest recruit.
The brewery produces traditional craft beers and bottled brews as well as keg beers, which are proving increasingly popular with younger drinkers as an alternative to gassy, flavourless, mass-produced lagers.
This blog post is not by Wobbly Wallet but originally appeared on Beer Today: http://beertoday.co.uk/?p=12751
