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A relatively new Braes village micro brewery will be showcasing its creations at the forthcoming Indie Beer Scotland festival.

Not That California Brewing Company will be one of the 36 breweries featured in this year’s even, which takes place on Friday, September 8 and Saturday, September 9 in the Clyde Rooms at Edmiston House, in Glasgow.

All of the beers at the festival are also in the running to be named Scotland's Best Beer, with the SIBA Scotland Independent Beer Awards 2023 being judged prior to

the festival opening to the public.

The main men behind the Not That California Brewing Company Richard MacGilivray, Vojtech Hrdina and Ondrej Rafaj

Fiona MacEachern, festival organiser, said: “The beer list for the 2023 beer festival is by far our biggest and most ambitious yet, with not only some of Scotland’s best-

known craft breweries pouring at the festival, but also some of our newest – giving festival goers the chance to try something new or opt for an old favourite.”

Located in Braeview, Californian, the Not That California Brewing Company has already been supplying its own concoctions and creations to pubs in the Falkirk area –

including the town centre’s historic Wheatsheaf Inn and the Corbie Inn in Bo’ness.

Ondrej Rafaj, the company’s founder, director and head brewer, has a background in marketing and software engineering, but has always been a home brewer at heart.

Earlier this year he told The Falkirk Herald: “I used to be a home brewer when my wife and I had kids and we didn’t go out too often. I would bring friends round to taste the beer.”

Helping him on this mission is his brother-in-law Vojtech Hrdina, who was so excited when he heard about the brewery he upped sticks and moved from London to Glasgow to be involved.

“We just built the brewery ourselves,” said Ondrej. “There’s not that much money in brewing so I still have a full time job. We are open and have around 2500

litres of beer fermenting ready to go – we just need to start making people aware of the products we sell.

"We are both Czech so we want to come up with a Czech Pilsner for the people of Scotland to taste. I will work at coming up with new recipes on the weekends until the business becomes self-sufficient.”

Visit the Facebook page for more information on Not That California Brewing Company.

Falkirk village brewery pumped up to bring its creations to Scotland's biggest beer festival

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