On my first day back after paternity leave, I had the pleasure of heading up to Liverpool to brew our first collab of the year with Brewser’s Discovery brewery for February, Colbier. I caught up with Mike, co-founder and head brewer to learn more about how this trio got set up.

Olly (Brewser) – All right, first question. So what’s the story behind the name Colbier and how did the brewery come to life?

Mike (Colbier) – We started in Liverpool with three friends. Myself, Vic and Stuart. Me and Stuart worked together in the past at Handyman, which was a brew pub in South Liverpool. Got to know each other through a love of beer and shared interest in music. I’ve always wanted to start my own brewery, and I thought that Stuart would be really good at sales. So we decided to set up this brewery with my partner, Vic, as well. And yeah, here we are. We tie in our love of music as well to our beers!

Mike (Colbier) – The name Colbier, basically, we just wanted something completely unique that only represented ourselves and nothing else. I know a brewery in Grenoble that’s got the same name as another one in America. We didn’t want to be confused with anybody else. We wanted to be the only people with this name and something that we could just represent ourselves.

Olly (Brewser) – What is the one beer that got you into brewing and craft beer as a whole?

Mike (Colbier) – The beer got me into beer in general was back when I was actually 14… But it was in Belgium where the drinking age was legal. My family took me to the Bruges, and it was Brugse Zot by De Halve Maan. And I’ve just loved Belgian beers ever since. And then later on in life, there was Yellow Belly, Buxton. I absolutely loved that beer, but it was really expensive. So I thought, I’ve got to learn how to homebrew this so I don’t have to pay these prices for this great beer.

Olly (Brewser) – What’s the vibe of your brewery? And what can our subscribers expect in a box from Colbier?

Mike (Colbier) – All our beers are designed to not alienate people, accessible beers, but good quality beers at the same time. They’re beers that you can drink all day, something that anybody can enjoy. They’re all straight down the line styles that we try to brew the best we possibly can.

Olly (Brewser) – You’ve been a brewer for a while now, so I want to know what’s your proudest brewing moment so far and what made it special?

Mike (Colbier) – I think the proudest brewing moment was starting the brewery and just getting the appreciation that we had straight away. We’ve had some good awards being thrown at us from SIBA and everything so far. We’ve got put in the list of the top 10 breweries to watch out for for this year – Imbibe Magazine, I think that was. Just the appreciation, I think, that we got in the first year. It’s just been great.

Olly (Brewser) – Not even one year old?

Mike (Colbier) – No. Well, we’re recording this and brewing today at the start of January. We got our keys one year ago in a week’s time, and we started brewing in the March.

Olly (Brewser) – If Colbier could only brew one style of beer forever, what would it be and why?

Mike (Colbier) – Okay, so if I was brewing it and I was the only one drinking it, it would have to be just some Belgian blonde or a triple.

Olly (Brewser) – Which Colbier would you recommend for a first date? Which one for a break up?

Mike (Colbier) – I think for a first date, probably Chorus because it’s a nice easy drinking one and you want your day to stick around. For a break up, I assume this is for yourself to get over the break-up. I’d probably say Forte or West Coast IPA.

Olly (Brewser) – Which beer in your lineup do you think deserves more hype than why?

Mike (Colbier) – I think definitely Pansori, which is our Omija berry sour. It’s a bright red sour. We’re the only brewery in the country to ever use this berry in a beer. I think only two or three other breweries in the world have ever have done. It’s just a very obscure berry from Korea that has five flavours, sour, bitter, it’s spicy, it’s salty, and it’s sweet as well.

Olly (Brewser) – Sounds delicious, will this be featuring in the Discovery box?

Mike (Colbier) – Yep, this will be in the mixed pack.

Olly (Brewser) – Final question. What’s next for Colbier? What exciting projects are on the horizon or do you have any exciting collaborations planned for ’25?

Mike (Colbier) – Well, today is a pretty exciting collaboration, to be honest, because not only are we doing it with Brewser, we’re also doing it Jasper Yeast as well. We’re brewing quite a far-out beer where we hop in the mash tun as well, which is a little bit different. This one’s quite exciting. We’ve got a few others lined up. We’re doing Black IPA with Green Arches as well coming up. In the future I think we’re looking to get our own tap room too. Not on site, but somewhere else.

Olly (Brewser) – Thanks Mike, it’s been great learning more about your brewery and excited to have you as our Brewser Discovery for February.