'Brewing bible' tale inspires a new beer

Robert Knops took the idea for his new creation, Musselburgh Broke, from the pages of the 1847 edition of The Scottish Ale Brewer and Practical Maltster, a book sometimes referred to as a bible for brewing.

It contained the old tale of a clumsy delivery boy in the town who spilled a cask of beer and topped it up with cold water from a local river to avoid being caught.

It later transpired that the boy had inadvertently created the best beer the locals had ever tasted, and now Mr Knops is hoping his modern version will prove just as popular.

He started up the Knops Beer Company in January after he had perfected his brew in the family garage in Corstorphine.

After taking inspiration for his first beer from a style of 19th-century brewing made popular in America, he also turned to the past for his latest thirst-quenching masterpiece.

"The name comes from a story in this old brewing manual about a drayman accidentally spilling a large quantity of beer while making a delivery," he said.

"It is about using cold-water to make beer 'brisk' essentially, and I've not tried to replicate an old recipe as most of the time they turn out to be pretty horrid to modern tastes.

"It's more about that light style of beer that still has plenty of flavour.

"In the story the woman who gets the beer delivered says 'she never had had beer that took the bottle so fine'.

"I'd hope to have something like that reaction. The response from my first beer has been really good, and the support of the local bars has also been fantastic.

"There are a lot of real ales around, but there aren't many coming from Edinburgh."

Mr Knops studied Brewing and Distilling at Heriot-Watt University before working for some of the UK's major brewing corporations.

He decided to go it alone last year, and after building his ultra-small brewery out of old kegs he set about perfecting his beers.

The finished products are then brewed for distribution at the Traditional Scottish Ales brewery in Throsk near Stirling.

His first beer - California Common, based on a 19th- century beer made popular during the US Gold Rush - was launched in April, and has since become a popular addition to real ale pubs across the Capital.

"This is my second beer, and I've been working on it for six months, which is quite a long time really," he said.

"I'm now having a tasting and after that it will go out for commercial brewing."