A NEW brewers' collective has been launched to help ensure the industry capitalises on the wave of consumer interest in craft beer made in Scotland.
The Brewers' Association of Scotland (TBAS) has been set up to champion the country's burgeoning craft brewing sector by setting standards on product quality, labelling, marketing and presentation.
It will play an active role in supporting new entrants to the industry, providing them with support to meet those standards, and ultimately seek to ensure that beer made in Scotland reaches the consumer in optimum condition.
And TBAS immediately set to work towards its goals with the launch of an industry-wide consultation, unveiled at a reception in the Scottish Parliament last night.
The exercise aims capture a snapshot of the current state of the sector, highlighting its ambitions and a road map for growth. It will also seek to identify whether the current support from government and public agencies is in line with the industry's goals.
TBAS has launched with eight founder members - Fyne Ales, Harviestoun, Inveralmond, Stewart Brewing, WEST, Cairngorm, Williams Bros and Innis Gunn - and the aim is expand representation among the 80 companies now making beer in Scotland.
Dougal Sharp, chief executive of Edinburgh-based Innis & Gunn, is its inaugural chairman, with Williams Bros' Scott Williams vice chairman.
Membership will be open to brewers which are predominantly Scottish owned, and whose output does not exceeded 200,000 hectolitres a year in Scotland or within their group of companies.
Details on the cost of membership have not been disclosed.
Mr Sharp said he ultimately hopes TBAS can play a similar role to the Scotch Whisky Association, which safeguards, champions and serves as a "backstop" for its industry in their operations around the world.
He said: "That is something that I personally and I am sure many the members admire. A lot of learnings can be taken from that."
"This is not something that is going to happen over the next three or four years. The SWA has been around a long time, and the size of the industry that supports it is a lot bigger.
"It is not like that at the moment in the brewing industry, but we all believe very strongly in the future of Scotland as a centre of excellent for brewing. This is what TBAS is all about."
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