A new brewery is operational in the Town of St George, offering beer that is milled, boiled, fermented and conditioned on site.

“What sets our beer apart is the freshness,” said Moongate Brewery partner Zander Dill.

The place opened to much interest during the Bermuda National Trust Walkabout on December 6.

“Getting this place open has been a very long road,” partner Rob Pantry said.

They started brainstorming for the brewery five years ago but the Covid-19 pandemic intervened, slowing the process down considerably.

One complication was the cost of steel, which went up in 2021 by 7.5 per cent.

Mr Pantry said the increase was not a lot unless you were buying the amount of steel they needed for their fermenters and other equipment.

Moongate Brewery has the capacity to brew 1,500 litres of beer at a time, and ferment 6,000 litres. Grain for the beer is milled upstairs.

He learnt how to make beer at the Belleville Brewing Company in London. He also worked as a bartender in Bermuda for many years.

“While doing that tourists would often ask for my recommendations on local beer,” he said. “I did not have any. There was not much to offer in Bermuda. That is no slight to the breweries on the island today. They did not exist at that time. There was a hole in the market.”

Moongate is at 19 Penno’s Wharf in the former World Heritage Centre.

“When we took it over there had not been a tenant here for a long time and it was falling apart,” Mr Pantry said. They did extensive remodelling work, installing new tiles and adding a bar area.

The building was originally a warehouse built in 1860.

“Coincidentally, that is the same year the Moongate was introduced to Bermuda,” Mr Dill said.

They felt like the place was meant to be a brewery.

“Everything just went in here so nicely,” Mr Pantry said.

Moongate Brewery’s focus is on quality and efficiency.

“We do beer and we do it well,” he said “That is how this whole place was designed.”

A trunk line under the bar brings beer directly to the taps, from kegs in the cold room next door.

Although they had the help of numerous professionals such as electricians and plumbers, they did a lot of the grunt work on the building themselves.

“We tried to highlight the old limestone and cedar,” Mr Pantry said. “Our intention was not to change it into something else, but to rejuvenate it.”

One of their projects was turning a discarded checkout counter from Pearman Watlington’s in Hamilton into a bar.

“We heard about it and managed to get it, and brought it back to life,” Mr Pantry said. “That was cool.”

They offer four different beers, two of them India pale ales.

“We have a lager and an amber ale,” Mr Pantry said. “One of our IPAs only has 4.2 per cent alcohol and then the other is a more traditional, strong 7 per cent IPA. They are all very different.”

They are tossing around the idea of adding a non-alcoholic option, made in-house, carbonated and on tap. It remains a project under discussion.

The brewery has the capacity to expand to 12 taps. They also plan to can their beer and sell it out of several different restaurants on the island.

As far as food goes, Moongate Brewery offers pub snacks but not full meals or table service.

“We encourage people to support other businesses in St George’s for that,” Mr Pantry said. “You can get takeout, come here and eat, as long as you are drinking our beer.”

They are open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, but the owners have plans to extend their hours when things get busier in St George.