Closet Brewing is a small independent Edinburgh-based brewery founded by Lucy and Lizzie Stevens. Beginning as homebrewers before launching commercially, Closet has grown from 70-litre batches produced at home into a shared industrial brewery producing around 2,000-3,000 litres a month. Its beers are always vegan, with unusual flavours, innovative techniques and a strong focus on local independent beer and community.
Brewery story
Closet Brewing's story began in 2018 when Lucy and Lizzie Stevens started homebrewing after moving to Edinburgh. With limited money for nights out with new friends, they decided to try making beer themselves, initially brewing with basic equipment in the closet of their first flat.
The brewery's name partly grew from those early cupboard-brewing days. During the pandemic, the pair had more time to experiment and access to a garage, allowing Lucy to develop her largely self-taught brewing skills through extensive trial and error.
Lizzie had been involved with the brewing from the beginning, but in 2021 Closet formally became a two-woman venture. After getting married and preparing to buy a house, Lucy and Lizzie began looking for somewhere that could accommodate a more serious brewing operation.
After around a year of licensing, equipment upgrades and a move from bottles into cans, Closet Brewing Project launched commercially. Their home was legally licensed as a brewery, with production initially taking place around twice a month.
At this stage batches were around 70 litres, with the growing brewery gradually taking over more and more of the couple's home. Early demand meant beer was sometimes restricted to just six cans per bottle shop, while support from organisations including Women in Beer and OutBritain helped introduce Closet to a wider audience.
In 2023 Lucy made brewing her full-time job. The business also dropped the word 'Project' from its name, becoming simply Closet Brewing as what had begun as a homebrewing experiment developed into an established small business.
Contract brewing and collaborations with breweries including Alphabet, Otherworld, Spookton and Wilderness helped Closet increase production beyond what was possible from its home setup while continuing to develop its beers and audience.
The next major step was moving production out of the couple's home and into a shared industrial unit. By 2025 Closet was producing around 2,000 to 3,000 litres a month and travelling around the UK to share its beer and story.
Closet's beers are entirely vegan and the brewery deliberately avoids supermarket distribution, instead supporting local bars and bottle shops. Its brewing combines unusual flavours and experimental techniques with a wider aim of creating a welcoming and community-minded independent beer business.
