The Inveralmond Brewery in Perth has been bought by Innis & Gunn, one of Scotland’s largest independent brewers, through a £3.1 million funding package.
The Inveralmond Brewery in Perth has been bought by Innis & Gunn, one of Scotland’s largest independent brewers, through a £3.1 million funding package.
The new owner has plans for substantial investment in the Perth brewery to create a state of the art brewing centre for Innis & Gunn and Inveralmond beers.
The investment will also extend the capacity to produce more Inveralmond and Innis & Gunn beers, and marks an exciting period of growth for both businesses.
From its headquarters in Edinburgh and the new brewery in Perth, to be called The Innis & Gunn Inveralmond Brewery, the company aims to continue to expand.
The business already exports to over 20 countries and the enlarged company hopes to grow sales in the UK and abroad.
All jobs at Perth will be retained and expansion offers the hope of employment at the site being increased.
Innis & Gunn said they will make a significant investment in the Perth facility to support its innovative brewing processes and continue its reputation for experimentation with ingredients and flavours.
The new brewery will be fully equipped with an oak barrel maturation warehouse as well as Innis & Gunn’s proprietary infusion equipment.
The equipment infuses beers with aromas and flavours from oak, bergamot, coffee beans and other artisanal ingredients.
The company is also planning to install new ‘Hop Gunns’ to maximise hop aroma in certain beers through an amplified dry-hopping technique. It is also assessing the feasibility of installing a small bottling line in 2017.
Additional beer tanks will be added to the Perth brewery for the expanded production volumes and supply the brewers’ growing number of Beer Kitchen retail outlets.
These are already open in Edinburgh and Dundee and will soon arrive in Glasgow, with unpasteurised Innis & Gunn Lager fresh from the brewery.
The purchase has been funded by £3.1m of capital raised through the Innis & Gunn BeerBond crowdfunding programme which allowed craft beer ‘fanvestors’ to invest in the business.
Innis & Gunn, formed in 2003, has become one of the UK’s most successful international craft beer businesses, with an annual turnover of £12 million in 2014 up from £10.5 million in 2013.
In 2014, Innis & Gunn sold over 20 million bottles of beer, making it the second biggest supplier of craft beer to the UK off-trade.
Dougal Gunn Sharp, founder and master brewer at Innis & Gunn, said: “The acquisition of Inveralmond gives us the dedicated brewing facility that we need to meet the growing demand for our beers.
“It gives us a home where we can innovate and experiment with some of the new brewing processes we’ve been dreaming up.
“We’re building a totem for innovation and a launch pad for our continued expansion at home and abroad.”
“We’ve been friends with Inveralmond for years and I have huge respect for the beers that they make.
“Ossian, their lead beer, is available on draft at all of our Beer Kitchen bar-restaurants and sells brilliantly because of its amazing flavour, clarity and consistency.”
Fergus Clark, founder and managing director at Inveralmond said: “This feels like a real win-win. Our Inveralmond beers will gain access to a sales and distribution infrastructure that will massively accelerate the growth of our beers both at home and internationally.
“At the same time Innis & Gunn gets the brewery they want 18 months earlier than if they had to build it themselves. We are really looking forward to starting to brew Innis & Gunn beers on site and seeing where this exciting stage of our combined development will lead.”