ARRAN Brewery has set up a Spanish subsidiary and opened warehouses near Zaragoza to help boost its business in southern Europe.

The island based crafter beer maker made its bow in the country almost two year ago by appearing at the ArteBeer event.

It was successful in securing listings in specialist beer shops and then began sending kegs of its beers to bars around Spain.

Gerald Michaluk, Arran owner, said the decision to invest in the warehouses reflected the growing sales the business is seeing in that part of Europe and he hopes to add further workers in Spain in the coming months.

He said: "Our expansion in Spain is a result of the growing demand for craft beer and with our two Spanish brewers on staff we have a natural affinity with Spanish.

"Sales have been growing steadily in both France and Spain and we felt it was time to open our own warehouse to ensure beer is kept in perfect condition for that market."

Earlier this year Arran opened an office in the United States and registered as an importer there.

Mr Michaluk has only recently returned from visiting prospective distributors in six US states.

He added: "The US visit is the start of our invasion of the American market and we have had a very good response and hope to announce the first six of our distributors later in the year with our beers being in market for Halloween."

Arran's beers include Arran Blonde, Dark and Sunset.