For a Scot with a business called ‘Glen Affric’, Craig McCormick is used to explaining why he’s ‘here’.
And by ‘here’ we mean in a giant branded industrial unit right next to the Queensway Tunnel entrance. You can’t miss it…
“So, do I need to say more?” laughs Craig, turning to go [he has a daughter to pick up from school].
Naturally, there is more to it than that; and when we return the next day, the story continues that the McCormick family, hailing from Hamilton, have lived on the Wirral since 1993, with intermittent stints in Hong Kong, as businessman Mr McCormick Snr – Craig’s dad – followed his entrepreneurial nose around the world.
“We actually bought a bar in Glen Affric 13 years ago, with the intention of turning that into the brewery,” says Craig.
“However, there were structural issues that meant we couldn’t get the vital drainage a brewery needs.
“Turning back to the Wirral, we found it offered the ideal strategic base when the craft beer trend started to kick off. It made perfect sense to be ‘here’. It still does. There’s space, a good transport network, visibility and a fantastic, beer-loving community.”
As well as the brewery, the site consists of four units, housing a canning plant (a new canning machine will be delivered this year, to raise production of medal-winning beers, contracted soft and energy drinks, cocktails – plus one of the UK’s very few licenced CBD drinks – to around an incredible 20,000 an hour).
And, of course, the ‘local destination’ tap room, which draws punters in to taste 25 beers in eight different styles on tap [we particularly loved Rutting Stag, a gloriously smooth American-style Red IPA] and a hundred or so more canned varieties.
