By Jack Tibbetts

Copyright derryjournal

Two of their brews are now up for prestigious national awards. The ‘Journal’ caught up with husband and wife duo to chat about how much local support has meant to their business and why they decided to plant their roots in Derry. The family run an independent business here in Derry. Established 10 years ago, David and Martina have been passionately building their business, refining their craft and settling their family in the walled city. Martina is originally from Fermanagh and David is Glaswegian. So why did they choose Derry to build their brewery and raise their family Martina said: “We felt that, firstly, it was a great place and had a great proposition for a young family; it has a great work-life balance and is not far from the beaches in Donegal, but equally, it has a great education system. It’s somewhere we thought we would have a really good quality of life. “There wasn’t a brewery here. Derry people felt that they would support a locally brewed beer and that gave us the confidence to start our brewery.” David added: “Another reason for choosing Derry is the quality of the water. All the beers we make are tailored to the water supply; the lagers, the Kölsch, and the pale ales all rely on the type of water here. A lot of thought has gone into it—that combination of great water, fantastic grain, and a bit of artwork from ourselves into crafting the beers.” Due to the support of local people and businesses stocking their beers, the duo fell in love with Derry. They described setting up the brewery as a leap of faith. “We have been going now for 10 years. We relocated to Derry with our young family with the dream of setting up a brewery in a market where nobody else was doing it. We have had fabulous local support,” said Martina. “It’s been a labour of love,” said David. “Looking back over 10 years it’s been challenging but really positive, being a family business it’s given us the chance to know Derry and people in Derry.” Northbound Brewery is currently up for two prestigious awards. Their beer titled ‘1’, or ‘wan’ as it says on the bottle, which very proudly states ‘brewed in Derry’, has reached the finalist stage in the Blas na hÉireann (Irish Food Awards), while their 09 Kolsch Style beer has been shortlisted for The Great British Awards. Winners of the Blas na hÉireann awards will be announced on October 3, followed by the British Food Awards on October 27. Reacting to the success David said: “It’s brilliant to get that bit of recognition from Blas na hÉireann and the Great British Food awards. It means a lot. Getting into the shortlist is hugely impactful, we are extremely grateful for that.” Martina added: “We always say that our beers are fabulous but it’s nice when the experts and those who have experience in the field of food and drink industry and professional tasters give you that endorsement. It gives you that bit of backing and confidence.” Northbound plans to launch a tour experience and tasting room in late 2025 or early 2026. This will offer visitors a behind-the-scenes look at their beer crafting process and the opportunity to sample their beers. The couple also shared their excitement about collaborating with other local producers to create a truly unmissable tour. Keep an eye out for this exciting development! “It’s still very surreal,” said David, when he described seeing someone drinking one of their beers. “My first instinct is to go over and ask them how it is, how it tastes, and it never goes away. If a friend sends me a picture of them drinking the beer on a Friday, my first question is, ‘How is it?'” “We have been really lucky having great feedback around our consistency and quality. Seeing it, you do take a step back and take a deep breath and think we actually set out and achieved what was a dream,” said Martina. Martina shared her aspirations for the future of Northbound Brewery when asked about their vision she said: “I suppose what I would like to see is building our presence locally and that we build on our growth in terms of sales across Northern Ireland and beyond but it will always be an independent family brewery.” David continued: “Ultimately, we want Northbound to be the chosen beer of Derry, so if you go into a local pub, you will find a local beer just as prominently as you would find a beer that’s from outside of Derry. That’s a big aspiration for me.” Lastly, David asked the people of Derry to just try Northbound beer. He said: “We really want people to give it a try. We have only been able to set this business up because of the support of consumers, off-licenses, and the bars and pubs who support our project. “I would just say to people, give it a go. You should have a local beer in your local town; it’s a great city, and we will be here forever. “If you open a bottle of Northbound, it’s full of quality, love, and passion.” You can find more about Northbound Brewery and its beers at its website: https://northboundbrewery.com