Calling all Falkirk craft beer lovers - there's something tasty brewing up in the Braes

The Not That California Brewing Company, located in Braeview, California has already been supplying its own concoctions and creations to pubs in the Falkirk area – including the town centre’s historic Wheatsheaf Inn and the Corbie Inn in Bo’ness.

Ondrej Rafaj, the company’s founder, director and head brewer, has a background in marketing and software engineering, but has always been a home brewer at heart.

He said: “I used to be a home brewer when my wife and I had kids and we didn’t go out too often. I would bring friends round to taste the beer.”

Things really started moving when COVID-19 came along and Ondrej created a “man cave” in a barn on his property which soon became the beating heart of the Not That California Brewing Company.

Helping him on this mission is his brother-in-law Vojtech Hrdina, who was so excited when he heard about the brewery he upped sticks and moved from London to Glasgow so he could get involved.

“We just built the brewery ourselves,” said Ondrej. “There’s not that much money in brewing so I still have a full time job. We are open and have around 2500

litres of beer fermenting ready to go – we just need to start making people aware of the products we sell.

"We are both Czech so we want to come up with a Czech Pilsner for the people of Scotland to taste. I will work at coming up with new recipes on the weekends until the business becomes self-sufficient.

"The most difficult thing is not the brewing, it’s sales – we need people to know there is a local brewery making these products. I like working with people and there’s

just so many possibilities here in Scotland.

"I want to create jobs like I did before with my own business down south, employing 40 software engineers. That’s great, but I want to do something with my hands to create something that makes people happy – although not too happy."

The production process is also environmentally friendly with Ondrej putting Polytunnels in place to make sure the CO2 created by the fermentation process does not

go into the atmosphere, but instead goes back into the earth to boost vegetables and tomatoes grown on the premises.

Then there are the “brewery piggies” – as Ondrej calls them – who feed on the other waste products created by the fermentation process.

Ondrej is currently awaiting licensing permission to sell his products directly from his premises instead of giving it to pubs to sell, but in the meantime the firm has begun

an exciting collaboration with The Ochil Honey Company in Stirling to create a 4.3 per cent honey mead which Ondrej – a beekeeper himself – says will be appearing on shelves of local shops soon. Visit the Facebook page for more information on the Not That California Brewing Company.