Vault City: Edinburgh brewery creates ‘beer that tastes like breakfast’

Plenty will scoff at the idea of beer before noon, but back in the Middle Ages it was the breakfast drink of choice for many.

The mad scientists of sour beer at Vault City have unveiled their latest creation – a beer that tastes just like breakfast.

Now, Vault City, the Portobello-based modern sour beer brewery, have unveiled their latest creation – a beer that tastes just like breakfast.

The Fruits of the Forest triple-stacked breakfast waffle beer is the latest in a long list of experimental beers by the Edinburgh brewery.

But while Vault City’s latest concoction is full of fruit, they are urging beer aficionados to avoid drinking five a day.

Edinburgh-based co-founder Steven Smith-Hay, who began brewing beers in his Murrayfield kitchen in 2018, said: “The beer is 10.3% alcohol, so one is probably enough.

“Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, and sour beer is my favourite drink, so it was only a matter of time before I’d combine the two tastes – although I probably won’t be drinking it in the morning.

“I’ve picked some of my favourite fruits to make a beer that's stacked with flavour – it’s delicious and has a really creamy mouthfeel. This fresh fruit medley sings in perfect harmony through every sip of this delicately sour beer. It feels like a smoothie but tastes like waffles.

“As I always say, ‘the sweet is never as sweet without the sour!’”

The beer is full of blackberries, rhubarb, strawberries, apples and raspberries which combine beautifully against the flavours of maple and vanilla.

Every third Sunday, the fast-growing brewery drops three beers - with Pineapple Upside-down Cake Beer and a Raspberry Coconut Ripple Beer among the latest batch.

The limited edition beers are set to be snapped-up quickly - its recent Iron Brew beer was so hotly anticipated that almost 10,000 cans sold out on the company’s website in under one hour.

Last month, Vault City received widespread attention when it announced its 15-strong team across its brewery in Portobello, bottle shop and taproom in Haymarket had permanently moved to a four-day work week.

Smith Hay, who worked in IT before he began brewing beers, said: “It’s been fun to watch the fanbase grow. It’s all part of the sour beer revolution – and we’re delighted to be at the vanguard.

“Scaling up something that started small is challenging at the best of times, but committing to a four-day work week when you’ve more than tripled in size, and opened a bar could seem like an impossible stretch. However, we believe work-life balance is a big part of our culture, and something worth striving for.

“A four-day working week is completely unheard of in the brewing world, an industry which has developed a reputation for long hours and hard graft. To be honest, that was part of my motivation – to create a different way of working. It hasn’t come without its challenges, though.”

Vault City’s Brewing’s sales coordinator Charlotte Brooke added: “The work and life balance it affords me allows me to enjoy my time to the fullest and arrange long-weekends away without needing to take time off. I feel less tired, more mentally and emotionally well rested and generally just better. I don’t think I can go back to a five-day week now.”

To find out more about Vault City, visit vaultcity.co.uk.

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