Meet Cavan’s only artisan brewers

What started as a hobby for Derek McKenna ten years ago has turned into success for Cavan’s sole microbrewery, as Bréifne Gael Brewing has hit the spot for many since opening earlier this year.

Years of chasing the perfect recipe at home in his kitchen have finally paid off, something that became apparent when their Ór Dubh stout won gold at the National Homebrew Championship last year.

Despite having the knowledge, it was this win, and the Local Enterprise Office that gave them the push to start Bréifne Gael Brewing.

“That win gave us the spur to say ‘okay, maybe we could do this as a business if people are liking the beer so much’,” co-founder Derek says.

He prides himself on achieving the perfect combination of malted barley, hops, yeast and water, while his wife Aleksandra takes care of every other aspect of the business - designing labels and logos, hand labelling each bottle and hand-writing every best before date.

The couple collected the keys to their new premises just outside Cavan Town in November last year, which is home to brand new, shiny, stainless-steel machines. Despite this, Derek keeps the white plastic home brewing bucket close by as a reminder of where he started.

The process of mashing, boiling, fermentation and packaging remains the same, while the flavour is derived from those years he spent experimenting with hundreds of variations of the same four core ingredients. Derek presents a pale, light flavoured malt used in lager; while for his stout, he holds out a darker malt, which has a chocolate, roasted coffee scent.

“I design the beers myself, depending on how I want them to taste, a little bit like a chef,” he explains.

Since obtaining their manufacturer’s licence in March, the company co-founders have brought four bottles of beer to the Cavan market; Mo Chroí Irish Lager, Rua Irish Red Ale, Ór Dubh Irish Stout and Leann Éadrom West Cavan Pale Ale. Currently, the latter is proving to be the most popular among customers, however each is bursting with flavour.

The couple are producing on a small scale using a 200-litre system - “really small in brewery terms” - which produces around 400 bottles per batch. However, they plan to scale up as the business grows.

While the pale ale is also Derek’s favourite, he understands “everybody has different tastes” when it comes to beer.

“I like to experiment and brew different styles, but this type of beer tends to be fruitier and more hoppy in flavour and they are the kind of beers that I like.”

“You’ll always have somebody who will prefer a stout, or prefer a lager or pale ale,” he says.

Derek has always loved craft beer since the industry “exploded” around 15 years ago. As these beers started to “creep into” pubs, his interest grew.

“We are very limited in what the selection is in most pubs... Craft beer allows you to open up your tastes. You’ll always find with craft beer that they are brewed with more flavour.”

Those in the craft beer industry call the more popular brands ‘macro beers’, which he says are brewed to have a subtle flavour.

“They want to appeal to as many people as possible. They don’t want to offend anybody with the flavour,” he believes, explaining that they are “intended for the masses”.

“Craft beer is intended for people who like a bit more flavour with their beer,” he says.

Having learned his craft from other brewers himself, Derek is keen to share his passion with others. Once per month, the couple opens a brew school to the public, where people can come in, brew their own beer, and collect it around two weeks later when the fermentation process has finished. They also host weekly brewery tours.

“It’s good for people who are interested in learning how to home brew but also people who just want to have a bit of craic on a Friday night,” he explains.

He doesn’t fear others coming to the artisan brewing market in Cavan, in fact, he encourages it.

“As craft brewers, the core focus is that you share. People tend to share their recipes and share what they are doing. It’s a big community,” he says.

He predicts there are around 70-80 craft breweries in Ireland, therefore “people tend to know and support each other”.

“You wouldn’t see yourself in competition, the more people doing it the better. The idea of the brew school is to introduce people to home-brewing or to just have a bit of craic and learn how beer is brewed.”

Derek and Aleksandra brew at the weekends, while they bottle, package and distribute during the week, as well as managing their full-time jobs working for IT companies.

“The plan would be for me to go full time at it eventually but it’s not at that level yet. We need to build the business up, but the support so far from everybody in Cavan has been amazing.”

Living in Cavan for four years now, the Dublin man has learned that people in the county “support local”. The county outline forms part of their logo, and a small heart rests over Belturbet, where the couple now call home.

“You see that [local support] a lot, so I knew we would get that support. It’s been really good so far,” he concludes.