Established in 1995, Freedom Brewery is a pioneer of premium craft lager brewing in the UK. Now one of the leading brewery’s in this sector, Freedom’s range of beers have won over 25 International and National awards in the last 4 years alone. All Freedom Beer is bottom fermented in closed, pressurized vessels. Lager is fermented at a lower temperature than ale and therefore takes longer – between 7 to 14 days, in contrast to 4 to 5 days. During fermentation, the beer naturally carbonates itself as a result of the breakdown of sugars to alcohol. After the fermentation stage, the ‘young’ beer is transferred to maturation or storage tanks, where it’s stored at -1 ̊C. Freedom Brewery has a minimum maturation period of 4 weeks; this improves both the beer’s flavour profiles and naturally increases its stability, removing the need for chemical intervention. The verb ‘Lagerun’ is German for ‘to store’ – ironic as the majority of mass produced ‘lagers’ are brewed within days, with little or no maturation time at all. Freedom Brewery sterile triple filters its beers to remove any remaining yeast and protein cells. This is instead of pasteurisation which, whilst being a cheaper process, carries the risk of ruining the beer’s natural flavours. Freedom’s first sterile filtration uses diatomaceous earth in contrast to isinglass, which is a substance obtained from the swim bladders of fish. As a result, all Freedom Beers are certified by the Vegan Society.