Stewart

I'm a great admirer of Steve Stewart, not just because his brewery produces fabulous beer, but because he's a charismatic and very skilled businessman. 

Today I met up with developer F and PhD student Y for the Stewart Brewing open day. We were just too late for the 12:00 brewery tour, so we had pizzas and beer in their restaurant, before going on the 13:30 tour. It was good to hear Steve tell "the story" again, but fascinating to learn about the new things that have happened since I was last on one of his tours. Faced with energy prices going from £65k to £300k, he's had enough solar panels installed on the roofs of the brewery and warehouse that they are almost self-sufficient, and sell back to the grid in summer. The shortage of CO2 during the pandemic prompted them to capture it from the fermentation process. Now they have more than they need, so they supply the excess to pubs when they deliver beer! Such bold, joined-up thinking! I was left with his mantra "keep innovating" ringing in my head.

Afterwards, we walked over to IKEA, where Y wanted to buy a shoe rack, F took the bus back into Edinburgh and, after taking the IKEA Turf zone, I got a bus back to Penicuik.