People who brew beer do so with a strong focus on flavour and drinkability. Those who are adept at brewing are in all practical senses like chefs. Make them taste a dish (or, in our case, taste a beer) and they start thinking about what went into creating that experience.

I have been a home brewer since 2006 and have brewed over 150 batches of beer. Most of what you drink from Gateway Brewing Co. is one of my recipes (obviously with contribution from our brewers) tweaked to suit a 1,000-litre batch size.

What is really important here is that we brewers create beers that we like to drink as well! Having said that, how does one go about giving birth to a new beer? Or why?

Let’s start with the why as it is quite straightforward: Boredom or a desire to create something new! Craft beer drinkers (those of us who drink beer for taste, rather than only inebriation) like to explore and savour various flavours. After drinking the same beer for many months, we want something new.

Be different!

Along these lines, there are many that like to experiment. Be bold. Stay off the beaten path. Be different. Get it?

For us, at Gateway, it is the same thing. We want to keep things fresh and like to change our offerings on a regular basis, so that people get a chance to explore new flavours. So, how do we do it? Simple: Get inspired and let our thoughts run wild!

Recently, I was in Prague (Czech Republic) on vacation and had the opportunity to drink the dark lager that is widely available there. I wanted to brew this beer and make it available to all the craft beer lovers because it is such a great beer: sweet, malty with caramel and subtle coffee notes. It goes very well with their traditional bread and is simply divine.

Being a brewer, thoughts started popping into my head and a recipe was born. At first, it is only a thought. A few tweaks and the final beer is born. Let me take you through the process of creating the beer in a very non-technical manner.