ARRAN Brewery and partner investors have joined the race to acquire Bladnoch Distillery near Wigtown.

The Arran-led consortium is expected to be among several bidders for Scotland's most southerly distillery, which went into liquidation in March. Its assets are being sold by Ernst & Young.

The move comes after Arran scrapped its bid to purchase the former Rosebank Distillery in Falkirk. But it is proceeding with plans to expand its brewery on Arran, launch a new brewery on Loch Earn in Perthshire, and acquire a third at a location still to be disclosed. The firm is also aiming to launch a sake brewery in a former primary school in Dreghorn, Ayrshire.

The firm has appointed Gary Paterson, formerly of Carlsberg and G1 Group, as its UK sales manager.