Published:
Heriot-Watt brewing graduates from Scotland and China have joined forces to develop an international craft beer.
Craig Scotland, soon-to-be head brewer at Stewart Brewing in Edinburgh, and Jeng-Ing Chen, head brewer at PandaBrew in China, studied together at the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling (ICBD) at Heriot-Watt, graduating with masters in Brewing and Distilling in 2014. While studying they used to make experimental home brews in Craig's flat, and kept in touch after graduation.
When the Craft Beer Clan, an organisation which aims to export Scottish beers to Asia, suggested a one-off Sino-Scottish collaboration for a celebratory evening in Edinburgh, the two decided to build on their home-brewing experiences for the new beer, called Flying Panda.
“Basically we have done a re-working of a traditional Scottish 70/- recipe. But Chen is a big whisky fan, so our home brews sometimes included peated malt. We've gone back to that idea, but Flying Panda has also got rye in it, for some added spice,” said Craig. “All are welcome to attend the event on Thursday and try it out.”
Stewart Brewing is owned by another ICBD graduate, Steve Stewart, who was happy to let Craig and Chen use the brewery for the one-off 80 litre batch of Flying Panda. It will be served up as part of a special open event at Harry's Bar on Thursday 22nd September, along with Chinese finger food. If it goes down well with the audience Craig said he hopes it might mean further collaborations with his old class mate, possibly even leading to commercial production.