This weeks Desert Island Beers features the founder and owner of Compass Brewery, Oxford, Mattias Sjoberg.

Born and raised in a small town just south of Stockholm, Mattias started brewing at home when he was 16 years old. He quickly became fascinated with the chemistry and biology of beer and this led him to apply to a degree course in Brewing and Distilling at the International Center for Brewing and Distilling at Herriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Once in Edinburgh, he completely immersed himself in everything surrounding beer and whisky. As treasurer of The Water of Life Society, he started holding tastings, organising distillery trips and arranging talks by distillers and blenders from around Scotland. He also took up employment at Royal Mile Whiskies.

After graduating with a BSc(Hons), he secured a job at Munton’s Malt in Suffolk where he was involved with malt extract production, followed by a position at Scottish & Newcastle at their brewery in Reading. Working in the Quality department he was a regular member on their taste panel before he became a shift leader in the brew house.

Having wanted to set up his own brewery since he started as a home brewer, he got his chance in March 2009 when made redundant from the Scottish & Newcastle brewery due to its announced closure. Compass Brewery had been on Mattias’s mind for years and he set up the company in April 2009, first focusing on holding tastings in Oxford, and then launching the first brew, Baltic Night Stout, in November 2009.

In October 2011 the company doubled its staff — with Mattias plus one new partner now working full time in the brewery! Having initially set up as a cuckoo brewery, Compass is currently going through an expansion phase and obtaining their own premises and equipment.

As for the brewery name; Mattias says the compass is a simple tool that has been pointing people in the right direction since the 8th century, so what better name for a brewery that is dedicated to guiding you through the maze of beer flavours!

Mattias

Duvel...again!

Baltic Night

Deuchars - on cask!

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Welcome to the latest episode of Desert Island Beers which this week features Captain Cooker Manuka Beer, an Australian but now Chief Executive Officer at New Zealand Hops who as such is responsible for getting those wonderful kick ass hops, such as Nelson Sauvin, Riwaka and Rakau, to name just a few to these shores.

Doug says he has always had beer around him, growing up, beer was what his family drank, although usually only with meals and apart from the occasional bottle of fortified wine or a Christmas treat of whiskey or brandy, it was only ever beer in their house.

He can’t remember how old he was when he first tasted beer but as with many others, it was a sip of froth offered from his fathers’ glass at a fairly young age. What he does remember is that he was spontaneously intrigued and has remained so to this day. His work life started in kitchens and around food and after leaving a cooking apprenticeship he moved out of food and into beverage, starting as a cellar-man for Millers Hotels in Sydney after acquiring some basic cellar training at Resch’s brewery in Sydney.

With his brother Matt he started home brewing around the same time and then moved into pub and restaurant management amongst other things until 1986 when Matt convinced him they should tour the USA. Whilst not going there for the beer, that’s exactly what they found, and Doug says their lives were changed forever.

Doug hard at work

Devilishly good

Sniffing hops!

Captain Cooker

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This weeks Desert Island Beers is a real coup for us as it features none other than Sir (well he would be if he was a UK citizen) Tomme Arthur, the co-founder and director of brewery operations for Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey.

A professional brewer for more than 15 years, he is widely regarded as one of the leaders of the American Craft brewing renaissance. Tomme lives in San Diego County with his wife and two daughters. A native San Diegan, Tomme returned home to San Diego in 1995 after earning his Bachelor of Arts in English from Northern Arizona University where he cultivated his passion for brewing.

In 1996, he began his professional brewing career at the now defunct Cervecerias La Cruda (The Hangover Brewery) in downtown San Diego. After La Cruda closed its doors in March 1997, Tomme went to work for White Labs in San Diego where he spent his days selling yeast and developing product as he waited patiently for the right brewing job to become available. In 1997 he was hired by Pizza Port in Solana Beach where he remained Head Brewer until June 2005 when he was named Director of Brewery Operations.

Tomme Arthur

No ordinary pils

Orval

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

In addition to promoting San Diego as a great beer city, Tomme is known for his bold experimentation and willingness to blur the boundaries between beer, wine and spirits; with his flavor-forward brews having inspired a new generation of brewers and consumers to re-think their notions of what a beer could and should be.

During the 8 or so years that Tomme was Head Brewer at Pizza Port the brewery won 13 Great American Beer Festival Medals, numerous medals at the Chicago Real Ale Festival as well as other regional and national competitions. And after joining Port Brewing in 2006, Tomme kept up his winning ways as in 2007 Port Brewing was named Great American Beer Festival, Small Brewery of the Year, and Tomme Small Brewer of the Year.

To cap it all in 2008 he and Port Brewing were then named World Champion Small Brewer and Brewery at the International World Beer Cup. Since then he’s taken home a raft of further medals and been consistently noted as one of the world’s top brewers.

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Welcome to the latest episode of Desert Island Beers which this week features Will Hawkes who works on The Independent’s sports desk and writes about beer in his spare time.

Born in London and brought up in sunny Kent, he has had an interest in ale since he could convince a barman he was 18 – but his real conversion to good beer came after a year spent living in Southern California in 1999-2000, when the craft beer revolution was just beginning to take effect.

He also loves cricket and writes about the county game. He lives in South London with his wife and eight-month-old son.

Will Hawkes

Brooklyn Lager

Kernel Brewery

Gadds No 3

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Simon Jenkins started his career in Goole, but not even that hampered him. Cutting his teeth as a journalist in East Yorkshire and the vale of Calder, Simon landed at the Yorkshire Evening Post in 1991 and never looked back, working for fifteen years at Leeds’ flagship evening newspaper.

Though now working at Leeds University, Simon still writes the Taverner column for the paper and in 2010 he won Best Writing in the UK Regional Press for his contribution to beer. It was an award which ultimately led to the deserved crown of Beer Writer of the Year, and the ominous duties of representing the beer industry (not to mention writing a speech for the following years awards do!)

In his spare time Simon follows both Leeds United and Oxford United fan and has recently penned his first book, The Great Leeds Pub Crawl, a ramble around the history and character of every type of pub the city has to offer.

Near the Negev Desert

Jaipur IPA

Pint of Landlord...

...just as good bottled

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Welcome to the latest episode of Desert Island Beers which this week features James Kemp (JK), Head Brewer at Buxton Brewery, who is also known as the ‘ping pong pom’ and for very good reason. James was born in England and moved to New Zealand when he was 12, then came back to the UK a few years later, then went back to NZ and finally back to the UK again. (I’m glad he did because Buxton are definitely one of my favourite breweries at the moment; their Axe Edge is just superb).

James was educated in New Zealand and ended up working for their Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. He then moved back to the UK after a few years where he worked for Fuller Smith & Turner PLC in the Quality Control department. He then upped sticks & moved back to NZ and worked again for the government writing animal product importation policy for bio-Security New Zealand; and in the meantime was crowned NZ National Home-brew Champion (2008).

James says he originally got into brewing at the tender age of 14, under an arrangement with his Dad; James brewed it and his Dad drank it!

Finally deciding that he’d had enough of government policy work and fancying brewing beer for a living he packed his bags once again and moved back to the UK, firstly brewing at Thornbridge Brewery and then in 2010 moving on to become Head Brewer at Buxton Brewery.

The Beers

Hi James; welcome to our Desert Island. Which 5 beers would you want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island, and why?
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This week we have a friend coming to stay on our desert island; welcome Xavier Baker. Born and bred on the Isle of Wight the diamond Island of England, (Xavier’s description not mine!) Xavier has always had an interest in home brewing, beer & cider after watching and helping his father and pinching the odd bottle from the larder! Also growing up on the island, Xavier used any excuse to be in or out on the water and with his family sailed every inch of the Solent. At 15 he found his passion for surfing and still surfs at every given opportunity.

Xavier started brewing at Ventnor Brewery just before his 18th Birthday. He was lucky to be taught the traditional methods and dark arts by Fred Martin retired Head Brewer of King & Barnes of Horsham. He had been brewing for 13 years or thereabouts at Ventnor when the brewery closed.

Afterward Xavier says he had some fantastic times and memories, traveling as far as Japan & Singapore, creating some great beers, some he would like to revitalise one day and meeting lots of great people. On the Interbrewery Regatta he also met Tim O’Rourke, who’s family used to own the original Burts Brewery on the Ventnor site, with Tim subsequently becoming a good friend and brewing influence. A brief spell then followed working for Molson Coors as Account Manager.

Xavier then took the position as Head Brewer of a new Brewery in Ireland and after 2 weeks of meeting the owners found himself on the most westerly tip of Europe; the sunny Dingle Peninsula in SW Ireland. That was April 2011. The Dingle Brewery is going from strength to strength with Creans now flowing in Dublin, Kildare, Cork and of course on the Dingle Peninsula.

The brewery is based in an old creamery and Xavier says it feels humbling to think that it is back at the heart of the community. The Brewery is already working on expansion plans to keep up with the overwhelming response of Creans and this Autumn a distillery should be commissioned producing Shackletons Whiskey!!

Xavier Baker

Dingle Brewery

Thornbridge Jaipur

Betty Stogs

The Beers

So Xavier, which five beers would you want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island, and why?
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Meet Jamie Emmerson, Executive Brewmaster at Full Sail Brewing Co. Full Sail is a craft brewery in Hood River, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1987, Full Sail was the first commercially successful craft brewery to bottle beer in the Pacific Northwest for retail sale, and one of Oregon’s early microbreweries.

Jamie was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, which he says (is not exactly the center of the brewing world) and growing up had the best German teacher during Middle and High School. This far sighted lady, Frau Griffith encouraged him to study in Germany, so he went as an exchange student at 16 and again at 18, and finally finished his University education in Munich.

Jamie says he tasted his first better beer while in Munich at 16, culminating in a host family visit to “the Holy Mountain” at the Monastery Andechs…..Doppelbock at 16….and his fate was sealed! I’m not sure Frau Griffith had beer in mind when recommending Germany to him!!

After working summers in the Organic Chemistry Labs at Eli Lilly and Co. and attending brewing school in 1987, as one of only two independent students in April 1988, he was hired as Brewmaster at Full Sail Brewing Co. in the Columbia River Gorge….a massive change of scenery for Jamie from the flat mid-west!

Jamie has since worked in every job in the brewery from grain to glass including, occasionally, minding the brew pub.

In the last 25 years, Full Sail has grown from the 4 original employees to a brewery with 100 employees. It is the only Oregon brewery to be named both “One of the Best Companies to Work for in Oregon” and “One of the Most Sustainable American Breweries”. In 1999, Jamie and his work colleagues succeeded in making Full Sail an employee-owned company saving the brewery from a corporate buy-out. And Jamie says that having everyone intimately involved in the brewing process is a big part of the brewery culture, because it is the attention to detail, all the way through by every employee, which turns a great recipe into their great beers.

Based upon beer sales volume, Full Sail is now the ninth largest craft brewery in the United States.

Jamie loves beer!

Full Sail Beers

The Beers

Hi Jamie and welcome! Which five beers would you want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island, and why?
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This weeks Desert Island Beers features our first brewster, Hayley Barton of Cumbrian Legendary Ales. Born in Gloucestershire, Hayley says she learned to drink real ale in the Old Spot Inn, in Dursley during weekends with friends whilst studying for her A-levels and around the same time was also very fortunate to be taken on a walking holiday to The Lakes by her best friend Tamsin & her parents Trev & Ros.

After staying in Great Langdale, Hayley says she cried all the way down the M6 during the journey home because she had enjoyed having a wonderful holiday in the best county in England so much and she vowed then that she would go back to Cumbria to live at some time in the future.

After completing a BA in Textile Design, Hayley started working behind the bar at the Kirkstile Inn, Loweswater in 2006, where Matt Webster was already brewing. Hayley says she used to sneak down into the brew room, using any excuse (usually it was to take Matt a cuppa) because she was so interested in everything going on in the Loweswater Brewery, which was no bigger than an average sized garage at that time. She started helping Matt with cleaning barrels, brewery paperwork & designing pump clips for the different beers that he was brewing exclusively for the Kirkstile bar.

Before long Hayley found herself on a brewing course & Matt taught her how to brew. It was 2008 when she brewed her first beer “Melbreak Bitter” and in 2009 she jumped at the chance of being able to brew in the purpose built Cumbrian Legendary Ales Brewery recently acquired by Roger & Helen Humphreys and where David Newham patiently showed her the ropes.

Hayley says it is an absolute delight to brew in such a fabulous location, (on the shores of Esthwaite Water) and was overwhelmed to discover that the brewery had won Champion Golden Ale of Britain at the GBBF in summer ’11 with Loweswater Gold. And that she absolutely loves brewing & brewing is a lifestyle choice if you’re going to do it properly.

Hayley Barton

Matt & Hayley

Loweswater Gold

Schiehallion

The Beers

Hi Hayley and welcome! Which five beers would you want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island, and why?
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Better known in the US as The Beer Goddess, Lisa Morrison is host and producer of “Beer O’Clock!,” a weekly, hour-long radio show devoted to craft beer. Lisa recently released her first book, “Craft Beers and Breweries of the Pacific Northwest: A Beer-Lover’s Guide to Oregon, Washington and British Columbia,” to critical acclaim. She was also one of 40 contributing writers for the internationally published book, “1001 Beers to Taste Before You Die.”

Lisa is a regular columnist for CraftBeer.com, Beer Advocate and Celebrator Beer News and is the first and still only female contributor to “Beer Talk” in the national magazine, All About Beer. She was chosen as one of the three original recipients — and the first female recipient — of the Beer Journalism Awards, presented by the U.S. Brewers Association, for a column she wrote about the benefits and traditions of serving beer instead of wine at the Thanksgiving table.

In hope of reaching out to more potential craft beer fans, Lisa conducts numerous classes about beer, from seminars on pairing beer with food for the national convention of the Women’s Chefs and Restaurateurs Association to a demonstration at the Mondial de la Biere festival in Montreal, Canada and countless “Beer 101? classes for women.

As a way of giving back to the beer community and to raise the awareness about craft beer within the general public, Lisa organises a number of non-profit beer-related events, including the annual FredFest, a beer tasting for the octogenarian Portland-based beer writer, Fred Eckhard, which has raised close to $100,000 for local charities.

When she is not writing or talking about beer, Lisa and her husband, Mark, enjoy traveling with their Samoyed dog, Yeti, seeking great beer all over the world.

The mash tun goddess

Yeti the dog...

...Yeti the beer

The Beer Duchesse

The Beers

Hi Lisa! Welcome to our beer lovers desert island! Which five beers would you want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island, and why?
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