BREWDOG, the Aberdeenshire-based brewer and pub operator, has taken top spot in a chart of the UK's fastest-growing bar and restaurant companies.

The Scottish firm beat competition from major UK-wide operators, including Jamie's Italian and Glasgow-based G1 Group.

James Watt, who co-founded BrewDog with Martin Dickie in 2007, said the result proves "the craft beer revolution is not a flash in the pan" and that consumers are "increasingly discerning about the quality of the beer they drink".

Compiled by Zolfo Cooper, the corporate restructuring specialist, the Profit Tracker highlights the top 50 bar and restaurant companies with the fastest-growing profits over a three-year period.

Companies that have filed their 2012 accounts had their profits measured from 2010 to 2012, while those yet to file for 2012 had figures analysed for the period 2009 to 2011.

BrewDog, which has 11 bars across the UK including three in Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen), delivered compound annual profits growth of 193.3% in the three years to 2011.

The index shows the company has seen profits, defined as EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), rise from £100,000 in 2009 to £300,000 in 2010 and then to £600,000 in 2011. Its turnover was most recently booked at £5.9 million.

BrewDog, which recently invested £5m in a new brewery in Ellon, distributes its beers in supermarkets, specialist off-licences and its own bars, the first of which opened in Aberdeen in October 2010.

Earlier this year, it opened its first overseas bar in Stockholm, and plans to open in Sao Paulo later this year. Bars in Rome, Paris, Berlin and Tokyo are also being considered. The company's biggest export markets are Sweden, Norway, Finland, Italy and Japan.

Mr Watt said: "BrewDog's growth is not a reflection of simply business performance, but a seismic shift in perceptions of beer in the UK.

"Customers are increasingly discerning about the quality of the beer they drink and the type of establishments they drink them in. We set out to change the stereotype of beer in the UK and, while many lauded this effort, others laughed in our faces. They are not laughing now."

Paul Hemming, partner at Zolfo Cooper, described BrewDog's showing as "very impressive, especially if you consider it is not fuelled by standard private equity". He noted that its closest competitors in the index, London-based group Drake and Morgan and Cote Restaurants, have secured private equity backing or could be close to doing so.

Mr Hemming said: "They have done it themselves; they have done it their own way. What they are showing is what people with passion and a great concept can achieve. I think these guys have really done a good job and are proving what you can do to get to that size.

"The challenge for them going forward is to keep that magic about their business while it grows."

BrewDog was not the only independent Scottish company to star in the Profit Tracker index.

Glasgow-based G1 Group, owned by Stefan King, was 21st, having seen compound growth in profits of 20.9%, moving it 25 places up the ranking. It turned over £57.1m in the year to March 2012.

Jamie's Italian, which has restaurants in Glasgow and Edinburgh, was number four in the index. It achieved compound annual growth of 95.8% over three years, with profits of £11.3m in 2011.

Other operators with Scottish outlets to have made the top 50 include Inventive Leisure, owner of Revolution vodka bars, and Glendola Leisure, the company behind Frankenstein's in Edinburgh and Waxy O'Connor's in Glasgow.