Pilot

In 2011, our founders Matt Johnson and Patrick Jones met while studying for their Masters degrees in Brewing and Distilling at Heriot-Watt, and soon started brewing together in Matt’s garage. They both felt that there was a gap in the market when it came to beer at the time – something that wasn’t the tried and tested traditional real ales, nor the US-style craft clones that were starting to spring up. From studying and home-brewing they quickly purchased a second-hand brewhouse, moved it to an industrial estate in Leith, and Pilot was born. From the very beginning, things have been hands-on at Pilot: from brewing to branding, kegging to canning, sales to social media, we do it all ourselves. This hasn’t always been easy, but it has got us where we are today: a small team doing big things. Our focus has always been on quality, and we’d rather work on a beer that’s really special to us than jump on the latest fad. Drinkability is at the heart of everything we do and we put flavour firmly front and centre, shunning finings and filtration to ensure every beer we make tastes supreme. We never roll out the same malt bill for a new beer - each recipe is built from the ground up to perfectly suit the flavour profile we’re looking for.