Drinking a West Bay on West Bay, sipping a Blue Pool by The Blue Pool, gazing at Elephant Rock and glugging away at a bottle of its namesake. Each are beautifully indulgent little North Coast moments that tap into a renewed appreciation of our landscape, stories and our produce here in Northern Ireland. Lacada, the brewery behind these beers, is leading the charge for Ireland’s North Coast culture, and it’s one I strongly feel you should make the time to experience for yourself.

Portrush lies on a mile long basalt peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic off Ireland’s North Coast. Two gorgeous, golden sand beaches flank the base of the peninsula to the east and west, while the northern tip rises to the dramatic cragginess of Ramore Head. It evolved from what was originally a small fishing port into one of Ireland’s major tourist towns in the 19th Century. With its colourful town houses, pleasant promenades and the world famous Royal Portrush Golf Club, the town became an all out Victorian pleasure resort, and much of that character still exists today.

Like many of my contemporaries, I have a complicated relationship with Portrush and the North Coast area as a whole. The natural beauty is undeniable, and even as a teenage punk rocker I could appreciate the wildness and drama of the cliffs, sea stacks, islands and headlands. But with little more than fleeting glimpses of alternative cultures, poorly facilitated music scenes, and some genuinely interesting food and drink spots coming and going down the years, ultimately the bright lights of Belfast absorbed droves of my generation throughout the 2000’s.

I choose a career in music and the arts, and I’ve been unspeakably fortunate to tour the world under that guise, most extensively with my current band, And So I watch You From Afar. But I always kept one eye on what was happening on my beloved North Coast. Messaging we received from local councillors and politicians seemed to be, at best dismissive, at worst downright hostile. The ‘village elders’ appeared to be more interested in exulting summer sunbathers or golf tournaments above generations of young folk.

The recent closure of legendary music venue, The Atlantic, and still unanswered calls for a skate park seem to prove that theory. While successive councils seemed fixated on servicing only the scores of summer tourists as opposed to locals throughout the rough winter months, there definitely existed a culture of ‘board up, close down and wait patiently for the first car loads of ice cream buyers next spring.’ The winters here can be hard and unforgiving, but the ‘closed till spring’ scenario contributed to a feeling of bleakness.

There were, however, always those that celebrated, both the wild beauty and recognised that the North Coast could be culturally vibrant in both sun and Atlantic storm. A cohort who believed something more inspiring could be achieved if local artisans, creatives and forward thinking producers were supported, or in the case of Lacada Brewery, clubbed together.

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An appetite for independent and speciality beer within Portrush and the surrounding coastal area evolved gradually, and workarounds for getting new beer produced by small, independent breweries into pubs were being established. By the early 2010s when Laurie Davies and his son Jack had started experimenting with homebrew recipes, the stage was set for Lacada, which—in a seeming act of defiance—established itself not as a limited company, but as a community cooperative.

A cooperative company is controlled, through democratic means, by its members or shareholders. In the case of Lacada these members were the initial investors. Most modern breweries tend to operate as private companies. Where a cooperative differs is that all company members have an equal share, an equal voice and equal vote on how the enterprise is run. Lacada is a community cooperative, meaning members (as the name suggests) are largely drawn from the local community. This community also tends to be the resulting businesses main customer base. This supportive ecosystem gave this fledgling brewery the confidence, space, time, and capital to develop its first beers.

““The winters here can be hard and unforgiving, but the ‘closed till spring’ scenario contributed to a feeling of bleakness.””

“The brewery certainly wouldn’t have started and been able to upgrade itself without that [model],” Laurie, who until very recently also acted as head brewer, tells me. “It’s not just about getting the funds in—when we do a share offer it brings in new people and ideas as well”

Beginning in earnest in 2014, Lacada graduated from a father and son homebrewing operation to an established brewery. Laurie explains to me how, as originally a native of Devon in the south of England, he had arrived on the North Coast in 1986, and asked himself: “where’s the local beer?” Independent breweries were not commonplace in the North at that time. And due to a unique licensing arrangement here; most bars were tied into strict contracts with a select few major drinks companies including Heineken and Diageo, who effectively monopolise the pub market.

Almost ten years ago I sat in on some of the brewery’s earliest public consultations, meetings and AGMs. From the get go the character of the enterprise seemed to be locally celebratory, exulting local knowledge, produce and skills as well as drawing on local geography, history, myths and legends as inspiration. There was a fostering of relationships between the surf scene, local artists and musicians like myself, as well as the exciting café and food market culture that was beginning to blossom. This dynamism had existed disparately in one way or another for years, but for me the mentality of collaboration and cooperation really helped build something that feels harder to move away from.

“A co-owner recently told me that having such a brewery in Portrush has added a lot of soul to the town,” Laurie says. “That's good to know. It's good to make a difference. Being where we are, with the name and everything, being tied into the community is brilliant.”

Like with many of its beers, the brewery’s name came from the local landscape; Lacada Point is a low lying escarpment of rock that lies just east of the nearby world heritage site of The Giant’s Causeway. Lacada quickly gained a reputation for complex and interesting beers. With the community already behind it thanks to its choice of business model, locals supported the brand from the get go, recognising it as a provider of both fantastic beer, but also as a force for good in making the area a more interesting place to be.

Having a local brewery—one creating high quality beers that namecheck the gorgeous, surrounding landscape—is a point of pride. It makes me proud of the North Coast and fosters my sense of attachment to the place. Being able to offer the community and visitors locally made, locally inspired beer makes for a more unique experience. From its early taproom events, to its Community of Hope series of beers, that allocated profits to community projects like beach cleans and tree planting, Lacada have genuinely tried to improve the area, as Laurie recognises.

“People have big faith in it,” he tells me.

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Securing a premises down a hidden backstreet, right in the centre of the town, the early days were characterised by experimentation, trial and error and willing volunteers bottling and labelling away frantically as North Coast storms battered the old tin roof. But it worked! Core beers like their gorgeous, American pale ale West Bay became fan favourites, consumed fervently in local pubs like The Springhill and Kiwi’s Brew Bar, plus well respected restaurants such as Lir and Harry’s Shack.

The brewery still has a ramshackle, chaotic feel, but there is an artistic genius kind of structure to it all, (and there must be—they make such beautiful beer after all.) Sitting in the brewery’s office with recently appointed head brewer, Sam Kane, he begins to regale me with their stories of storms, setbacks, accolades and inspirations.

““A co-owner recently told me that having such a brewery in Portrush has added a lot of soul to the town.””

— Laurie Davies, Lacada Brewery

One particular tale from the early days involved the team arriving one morning to find the roof and the floor “green with hops” after, through no fault of their own, a pressure release valve had failed.

“The fermenters had blown it out of the manway cover at the top,” he tells me. “That was a big clean up.”

Despite the spray marks on the ceiling reaching as far as the office at the far end of the brewery, it was all chalked down as experience. Sam takes setbacks in his stride, all part of the useful learning process.

“I’m glad I wasn’t here,” he says with a wry smile. “It probably would have deafened you!”

He shows me the shelf on the back wall that’s home to one of every bottle or can of beer that Lacada has released over the years. It is an impressive illustration of the brewery’s (almost) first decade. Certain beers jump out at me, like East the Beast, an unsubtle IPA named in honour of a surf break at Portrush’s East strand. It wraps you around the head with a sweet after-swell of melon-y fruit vibes. Very much Atlantic storm meets sunny California surf.

Fan favourites like NEIPA Blue Pool are transportative; again, American nods with North Coast character. This beer takes you on a triple-hop odyssey (Citra, Galaxy and Mosaic) which provide deep citrus, berry and tropical fruit complexity. There’s a gorgeous full bodied, soft mouthfeel to boot. You just want to dive right in, as they say.

Lacada has an appetite for experimentation too, playing with barley wines, mixed fruit sours and barrel-ageing. The whiskey barrel-aged Jonesy’s Locker is a monster—a big boozy heritage malt stout, all deep desert flavours like butterscotch, raisin and chocolate. This experimentation branches into collaboration too, fostering excellent relationships with local food producers and other Ulster breweries.

Looking again at the shelf in the office, with 10 years worth of beer testing its structural integrity I’m buoyed with local pride. I’m delighted to hear Sam quip that; constructing another shelf on the adjacent wall is on the to-do list…

“For the next 10 years,” he says.

For the next 10 years indeed.