Pastore

Ben Shepherd, who holds a master's in Brewing from Heriot-Watt University, co-founded Pastore with Chris out of a shared love for mixed-fermentation beers spanning old-world and new traditions. Dan Wye joined as lead brewer in January 2021, bringing experience in mixed fermentation and foraging.

The brewery's process is built around a mother culture of wild yeasts and microbes, with kveik and lactobacillus co-fermentation at the base, maintained continuously in a solera tank. Wild ales are aged for months or even years before re-fermentation with seasonal fruit from East Anglia. Pastore works with local wine, cider and sake makers to reuse their spent grape, apple and rice; sake kasu from those partnerships contributes to fermentation in the rice lager range. The brewery also produces fruited Weisses and barrel-aged saisons, and never adds lactose to any of its beers.

The alcohol-free sorbet sour is brewed using the fresh sour mixed culture and conditioned on strawberries, cherries and limes, bringing the mixed-fermentation approach into alcohol-free territory.