Tempest Brewing Co Alcohol-Free Beers

Tempest Brewing Co brews at Tweedbank in the Scottish Borders. Gavin and Annika Meiklejohn founded it in April 2010 in the old dairy in Kelso, it says. Its alcohol-free beers include Sleight of Hand, a 0.5% sour pale ale, and Lagerita, which it calls an “AF sour”.

Who are Tempest?

Gavin, a Scotsman and chef, and Annika, a New Zealander, met while working at a brewpub in British Columbia in the late 1990s, Tempest’s own history and the retailer Naked Wines say. They moved to New Zealand and built a brewing kit in their garage, where Gavin brewed Long White Cloud, now Tempest’s flagship pale ale; back in Scotland they opened The Cobbles, a gastropub in Kelso.

Tempest Brewing Co was founded in April 2010 in the old Kelso dairy, Tempest says, on an 800-litre kit with a makeshift expansion to 16 hectolitres (a 2020 anniversary article described a 10-barrel brewery). The limited company, Tempest Brewing Co Limited, was incorporated on 6 September 2013, Companies House shows.

Tweedbank and the Borders

In February 2015 Tempest moved to a 30-hectolitre site at Tweedbank, with a bottling line and new tanks, it says; The Beercast called it a purpose-built facility. Annika Meiklejohn was quoted in October 2023 saying: “The water in the Borders is exceptionally good and soft, it’s perfect for brewing.”

Its Tweedbank taproom hosts events such as quizzes and comedy nights, and there are monthly brewery tours, its website says; Untappd lists Friday-to-Sunday opening hours, so check with the brewery before you go. Tempest hosted the event that closed the Borders Railway’s tenth-anniversary celebrations at Tweedbank on 9 September, and brewed Fast Track 10, 600 cans, for the anniversary, the Border Telegraph reported.

What Tempest brews, and its awards

Besides Long White Cloud, the sources name Brave New World IPA, Elemental Porter, Mexicake, Old Parochial, a 10% barrel-aged imperial Scotch ale, Thirst Magazine says, and Double Shuck, an imperial oyster stout first brewed in 2015, its oysters shucked by hand, Naked Wines says.

Tempest was named Scottish Brewery of the Year at the 2016 Scottish Beer Awards in Edinburgh and also won Growth Business of the Year, Dram Scotland and SLTN reported; SLTN listed four gold medals, for Old Parochial, Brave New World, Red Eye Flight and Mexicake. Thirst Magazine instead reported a Scottish Brewery of the Year win at the BII Scotland Awards in May 2016. Tempest says RateBeer has listed it among the 100 greatest breweries in the world, as the Border Telegraph also reported; we didn’t find which year. A 2020 article said the third edition of the World Atlas of Beer named it one of the best new British breweries of the 21st century, and the company exports worldwide, the Border Telegraph reported in 2023.

Who owns Tempest?

Companies House lists two directors, Annika and Gavin Meiklejohn, both appointed on 6 September 2013, and in 2023 Annika Meiklejohn was described as director and co-owner. We couldn’t read the register of people with significant control, but we found no larger group involved, so we list Tempest as independent. We found no staff or output figures; in 2016 it made seven core beers and about six special releases, Thirst Magazine reported.

Tempest’s alcohol-free beers

Sleight of Hand was Tempest’s first non-alcoholic beer, released in early May 2020, according to the review site free-beer.co.uk. It’s a 0.5% sour pale ale: The Alcohol Free Co sells it as an “AF Sour Pale”, Dry Drinker’s description calls it an alcohol-free sour pale ale (its title says IPA), and Untappd lists it as “Sour - Other”. Untappd quotes Tempest’s line: “Incredible Alcohol-free Beer Made With Racing Acidity, Lingering Hops And Juicy Citrus Flavours.”

It’s hopped with Citra and Mosaic, and the can listed water, malted barley, wheat, hops and yeast, free-beer.co.uk reported in 2020; Steady Drinker names Golden Promise malt, dextrin malt and wheat. free-beer.co.uk read 17 kcal per 100ml from that 2020 can, but Steady Drinker said the brewery hadn’t provided nutritional information, and the recipe may have changed since. It contains wheat and barley, so it isn’t gluten-free.

Lagerita is a 0.5% “AF sour” made with lime and salt, in Tempest’s words “our limey, salty, beery, alcohol-free Lagerita”. “For the uninitiated, a Lagerita is a cocktail that puts a beery twist on the Mexican classic,” it says, and its notes describe zingy lime, a hint of salt and a crisp, salty, sour finish. Head brewer Doug Rowe says: “We brewed this very much as a one-off but such was the popularity, we had no choice but to bring it back”. Tempest labels it vegan; Dry Drinker sells it as a lager. We found no calorie figure.

Face Hopper is a 0.5% alcohol-free IPA in 440ml cans. Dry Drinker describes bold hop character, punchy grapefruit and tropical notes and a clean malt base, with bitterness “firm but not aggressive”; the trade site EEBRIA calls it full-bodied and hazy. The sources give different hops: Chinook, Citra and Krush, with flaked oats and wheat, on EEBRIA; Idaho 7, Mosaic and Krush on Dry Drinker. With oats and wheat in it, it isn’t gluten-free, and we found no calorie figure or launch date.

Tempest has made other alcohol-free beers that aren’t in our directory: Long White Cloud AF, 0.5%, which Untappd lists on the taproom menu with Lagerita; Ghost Rider AF, a pale ale that Dry Drinker lists but didn’t have on 1 November 2026; and Drop Kick, which EEBRIA describes as “A prototype, unpasteurised kettle sour brewed to be alcohol-free.”

How Tempest’s sours compare

Alcohol-free sours and sour-style beers from UK breweries in our directory. Calories as published; checked 1 November 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

The Tempest beers in our directory

No calorie figures in our directory for these three. Calories as published; checked 1 November 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

Where to buy Tempest

On 1 November 2026 The Alcohol Free Co had Sleight of Hand at £5.18 a can or £29.17 for six, and Dry Drinker at £29.03 for six. Lagerita was £5.01 a can or £28.22 for six at The Alcohol Free Co and £28.08 for six at Dry Drinker; both shops had cases of 12 and 24 of each. Face Hopper was sold out at Dry Drinker, and we couldn’t read The Alcohol Free Co’s page for it. All are affiliate links.

Facts checked against Tempest’s own website, Companies House, Naked Wines, The Beercast, Thirst Magazine, Dram Scotland, SLTN, the Border Telegraph, Smart Leisure Guide, free-beer.co.uk, Steady Drinker, EEBRIA, Untappd, The Alcohol Free Co and Dry Drinker, 1 November 2026.