Ethical Scots brewer looks for summer sales lift with hangover-free sour beer

A venture touted as Scotland’s first non-alcoholic brewer is looking for a summer sales lift with the launch of its latest tipple.

Jump Ship Brewing’s Chuckleberry Sour combines chuckleberries and blackcurrants with wild fermentation to create a low alcohol below-0.5 per cent beer “without the hangover”. Sonja Mitchell founded the brewery in 2019 and has since picked up several awards for a range of core and special release non-alcoholic beers.

Mitchell, a keen sailor, beer-lover and mother of three, said: “Creating this sour alcohol-free beer has been one of our trickiest beers to brew to date. A classic sour beer is created with wild fermentation, creating really complex tangy flavours. We let the lactobacillus go wild with our berries for a couple of weeks, creating a crazy, sherbety mix which we added into the main brew. All berries used in the fruity mix have been grown on UK farms and meddled to create a gluten-free and vegan summer serve. Chuckleberries are a hybrid of jostaberry, gooseberry and redcurrant, which is sweet and juicy with a tartness from the blackcurrants for a refreshing beer.”

Jump Ship Brewing has a core line-up of four beers. In 2021, the firm’s Yardarm lager won best alcohol-free lager in the world at the World Beer Awards. The brewer has also highlighted its strong charitable focus with a commitment from the outset to donate at least 10 per cent of profits to a variety of charities, which are nominated by Jump Ship’s customers or “ship mates” as they are referred to.