Plans to resurrect a Dundee beer last brewed in the 1960s have been given the seal of approval by the family that founded the brand.
Ballingall’s Beer was brewed in Dundee until the brewery was closed in 1968, four years after the company had been taken over by Drybrough’s.
However, there is hope that the beer could soon be making a return to Dundee after New York-based photographer Oliver Pilcher purchased the rights to the brand.
He is now looking at recreating the drink and ploughing any profits into the sports and arts in Dundee.
Mr Pilcher’s plans may only be at the draft stage but they have won the approval of Chris Ballingall, one of the descendants of the brewery’s original founders.
After reading about the plans in The Courier, Mr Ballingall said his father would be “incredibly proud” if the drink does make a return.
He said: “It was my family that established the brewery in Park and Pleasance, and my father, Peter Ballingall, worked there as a young man.
“Unfortunately, the brewery was already in decline when I was born until its eventual take-over by Drybrough’s in the late ’60s, but I have researched the history and collected various Ballingall’s breweriana (bottles and beer labels).”
He added: “The Ballingalls were incredibly important to the success and development of Dundee long before the brewery so it is fitting that profits would be put back into sports and the arts in the city.
“I know my father would be incredibly proud to have the family name back where it belongs brewing great beers and supporting the city in which he was born.”
The original Ballingal and Son was founded as the Pleasance Brewery in Dundee in the 18th Century.
It was acquired by William Ballingall in 1844 and he renamed it as Ballingall and Son.
He managed the brewery until his death in 1856, when it was taken over by his son Hugh, who was reportedly only 16 at the time.
He was then elected provost in 1884.
The Ballingall family sold the brewery in 1960 and it was taken over by Drybrough’s four years later.