“IT WAS nice to be free”, a Palestinian brewer has said of a recent trip to Scotland to launch a lager brewed in partnership with a Scottish company.

Madees Khoury travelled to Britain from the West Bank village of Taybeh in August, as part of the Taybeh Brewing Company’s collaboration with Glasgow-based firm Brewgooder.

During the visit Ms Khoury, who is the Middle East’s first and only female brewmaster, launched the lager Sun and Stone, which is is now stocked in more than 1,600 Co-op stores.

All proceeds from sales of the drink are being used to support Taybeh’s community and the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Middle East Humanitarian Appeal.

Ms Khoury wept when she saw a pro-Palestine demonstration taking place in a Glasgow park.

“Living in Palestine and under the occupation, and going through all these struggles and difficulties and challenges with the road blocks and the settler attacks, and just being in your own bubble, you don’t see and you don’t feel the international support,” she explained.

“So, when I was in Glasgow, when I was walking around, I would see the Palestinian flag, and I would see demonstrations at the park.

“It was just very heartwarming, and I felt that we were not alone as Palestinians. It was an emotional trip.”

She also contrasted her everyday experience of Scotland with that of living in the occupied West Bank.

“It was nice to be free, and to be able to move around so easily, making plans and just going around,” she explained.

“Whereas in [Palestine] you plan something and then you might not make it on time because of the delays of checkpoints or traffic or roadblocks, or something might happen.”

During the trip, Ms Khoury joined Brewgooder co-founders James Hughes and Alan Mahon at the Glasgow brewery where Sun & Stone was brewed.

A mural by local signpainter Hana Lindsay was also unveiled at Park Lane Market in the city’s Southside, showing solidarity with Taybeh.