Jump Ship Brewing opens Scotland's first non-alcoholic brewery

For Sonja Mitchell, the founder and managing director of Jump Ship Brewing, the effects of a hangover began to outweigh the fun of even the odd weekend tipple in 2018.

Pictured: Sonja Mitchell launched Jump Ship Brewing in 2019 to create her perfect alcohol free beer (Image: Supplied)

“I hit a stage in my life in my mid-thirties, with three children and a job in marketing, where life became too busy to be hungover,” she said.

“Even after one or two beers my head had started to feel a bit fuzzy in the mornings and I wasn’t quite on the ball.

“While doing Dry January and ordered a selection of alcohol-free drinks but found myself disappointed in general.

“Even the ones that were ok had come from further afield, and I usually drink very locally and enjoyed supporting Edinburgh’s craft brewers.

“I realised I was being forced to make different choices because I didn’t want to drink, and that felt wrong.”

Suspecting that others could be feeling the same, a grand plan began to bubble and with next to no experience Mitchell set out on her quest to craft the perfect alcohol-free brew.

“It soon became clear that the beer I wanted just didn’t exist and I decided that if no one else was making it then maybe I should,” she continued.

“Even to this day, I can’t quite understand why I went through with it because my life would have been a lot simpler if I hadn’t started my own business.

“But it grew into this burning passion to produce my own beer and learn more about the world of brewing which is fascinating."

Life became too busy to be hungover (Image: Supplied)

Taking it “step by step” the budding brewer signed up for a number of educational courses and started to collaborate with others before the all-important taste tests began.

“I had a very clear idea in my head of the beer I wanted to make.

“It was a lager because I feel that’s underappreciated as a beer type and often the worst abused as an alcohol-free offering.

“We did three batches. One was a disaster; one was ok, and one was perfect.

“Everyone I shared it with loved it, so I knew then I had a beer that deserved to be drunk.

“I hadn’t realised that the next step of brewing to scale would be one of the hardest.”

Committed to brewing in Scotland and determined to find a place in the country's thriving food and drink scene, Mitchell partnered with a brewery, but soon learned that adapting her recipe for commercial sales would be a difficult task, due to the many variables that come from working with live yeast.

After almost a year and several attempts with a “couple of different breweries”, they struck gold and now celebrated Yardman Lager became the first beer released by Jump Ship Brewing in 2019.

Despite all this time and effort, the small business would soon have to learn to evolve as Covid lockdowns began to reshape the nation’s drinking habits.

“2020 began to feel really bleak, and I worried I would lose the customers I had worked hard to earn before lockdown,” she said.

“But I think Covid played a huge part in the shift towards alcohol-free drinks.

“After a few weeks of drinking more heavily while stuck at home, people realised that lockdown was going to last, and started to think about how to look after themselves better.

“They were able to search for a range of alcohol-free beers online that might not be available at bars and realised there were some great options.

“To this day, a third of my sales come from online orders.”

As Mitchell's range expanded with a series of small-batch releases, all suitable for vegans and coeliacs, so too did the team with Jump Ship now employing five staff members including two brewers, a head of sales and a marketing manager.

The Jump Ship Brewing team at their new 20 hectolitre brewery in Midlothian (Image: Supplied)

This month brought another huge milestone with the opening of Scotland’s first non-alcoholic brewery in Midlothian, made possible by a crowdfunding campaign that exceeded its target of £300,000 in a matter of days.

With investors across the UK clearly demonstrating a rise in popularity of the low and no and low alcohol movement, Mitchell and her team are glad to be steering the ship.

“It was quite emotional to see the grains going in and have the smell of the mash in the air.

“It’s everything I’ve been working for in terms of taking control and being able to produce what we want.

“More than that, we have a home.

“It’s a really exciting time and we have some big ideas for the future.”

Jump Ship Brewing is now offering tours of their new brewery space, priced at £20 per person and lasting 60-90 minutes.

For more information visit their website here.