About Reids Gold

The birth of Reids Gold Brewing Company happened back in 2013 after a craft beer home brew kit was given as a Christmas present to its founder Barry Reid. Little did he know then how far his passion/obsession would take him. He instantly was not content in brewing standard beers with these kits and started trying out new ideas with different ingredients and testing these beers on his fellow work colleagues.

After a few months of home brewing on the stove top he then went on to built a small 50 litre fully automated brewing kit in his back garden shed, made from old beer kegs with large fridge converted to a fermentation chamber. It was important to Barry to have control over the different stages of the brewing process and fermentation. With his engineering background and ability to invent he managed to build an awesome tiny microbrewery that could produce professional results. He even got this setup inspected by the environmental health who passed it with flying colours. This kit now enabled him to develop recipes and cut his teeth with the processes and controls required to consistently replicate beers. 

He was now receiving some good feedback from people who had been testing the beers with and they had always asked him "when are you going to start selling in the shops" so they could buy some but that just always seemed like a pipe dream to him at the time but a real compliment none the less. It was still just a hobby that he loved to do but the seed was now planted in the back of his mind.

In March 2017 Barry was unfortunately made redundant from his oil career, like so many other people in North East Scotland at the time who worked in the oil and gas sector. He seen this as a turning point for him. After a successful 15 years in the oil industry and a now stark realisation of the instability of the industry it had came apparent, a change had to come. It was now time to focus on Reids Gold. This is when things were going to get interesting.

He took what little redundancy money he had, sold up his beloved micro brewing kit, managed to secure some additional money from his family and started on the journey to upgrade to a bigger, commercial setup at his home property. 

After around a year he had built the brewery with, lets just say a few challenges on the way. The result was a fully automated 300 litre brew house and two 500 litre fully temperature controlled fermenter's, bottling and keging station and in hose labelling facility. During this first year all the licence applications and inspections were carried out allowing the brewery to become not just a dream but a reality.

In April 2018 Reids Gold Brewing Company made its first sale to trade and have been growing ever since. The vision will be to move to a larger facility one day, once we are able to do so but will be keen to stay in our local area.

Barry Says:

I am dedicated to the craft beer industry and love everyone in it. I now have some great relationships with other local breweries and businesses and I'm so grateful for the support I keep getting and the great feedback. I want to make totally unique beers full of interesting and new flavours for people to enjoy, there are so many ingredients never used yet and its my passion house these whenever I can.

I'm on a journey to make some amazing beers, some to beer styles, some only vaguely to beer styles, some combining different beer styles and making a few radical beer styles of my own. There are so many options out there and flavours, It's literally mind blowing. I value every person that hold a Reids Gold beer in their hands and I always do my best to make sure you can get the best beer you deserve.

I focus on using as many locally sourced, fresh ingredients I can and use the purest Scottish water to ensure I make you the best possible handmade, craft beers for you to enjoy. I don’t filter or mess with your beers. I use natural clarification processes and carbonate your beers through secondary fermentation.

I don’t want to be tied down by restrictions and I believe some of the best beers are made by being inventive and thinking out of the box. I push boundaries, try new things and open some new doors to flavours and enjoyment, sometimes it works, sometimes not so much but this is the heart of invention, the love of trying new interesting things and the journey of Reids Gold.

The journey has started so come on and jump on the Beer Train as I like to call it, let your beer conductor look after you, offer you beers that take your tastebuds to places they have never been and hopefully, most importantly, give you a great time.

Cheers, Barry 

Reids Gold Brewing Company, Quality Craft Beers.