Christmas is brewing! Beery trio team up for festive tipple

Tuesday 09 November 2021

A trio of local breweries has teamed up to create a new tipple with a twist for islanders pine-ing for festive flavours in the lead-up to Christmas.

Bliss Brewing Co, Stinky Bay Brewing Company and Pat Dean from the Liberation Brewing Co have together created ‘Spruce Juice’, a Red Rye IPA.

The collaboration was the result of an idea from the brewing couple behind Bliss, Leah and Ben Bliss.

The pair launched their brewery in JB’s in 2019 after 10 years spent brewing in the kitchen for family and friends. 

Pictured: Leah and Ben Bliss launched Bliss Brewing Co. in 2019.

Earlier this year, they brewed a new beer with Karl Riseborough of Sydney-based Flat Rock Brew Café despite being 10,000 miles away from him.

For their latest collaboration, however, the couple have looked closer to home.

While Liberation Brewing Co. needs no introduction, Stinky Bay Brewery was launched by childhood friends Matt Topman and Digby Ibbotston in 2017.

“We reached out to the others who were immediately up for it,” Leah and Ben said. “Over dinner we came up with the plan, the brewing location and the style.”

Hosted by Liberation Brewery, the trio of brewers decided to create something “Christmassy, but not your usual ‘Christmas Brew’”. 

“We decided on a Red Rye IPA,” Leah and Ben said. “Red is the perfect Christmas colour, Rye adds a little spiciness and we’ve used hops with a piney flavour!”

Next year, the couple hopes to continue creating seasonal one-off brews and expand its canned offerings. 

“We’d love to can a stout to sit alongside our IPA ‘Cream’ and our India Pale Lager ‘Smile’,” they said. “We will continue to try and get our beers into more Jersey venues and maybe even the UK market.”