THE founder of Innis & Gunn has hailed the global success of Scotland’s craft beer sector, as he opened the company’s fourth Beer Kitchen bar and restaurant in Glasgow’s Ashton Lane, following a £600,000 investment.
Dougal Sharp said Innis & Gunn was coming off the back of a landmark year, in which it closed a crowdfunding drive, labelled AdventureCapital, which hit 250 per cent of its target, helping accelerate the rollout of its pub estate.
The Beer Kitchen Ashton Lane follows venues in Edinburgh, Dundee and St Andrews, but is the first that will make its own beer on the premises.
The Glasgow venue opened last night, and in a nod to Glasgow’s art heritage, Innis & Gunn has collaborated with local artist Lynn Howarth to provide customers with bespoke portrait paintings made with beer.
Set over three floors, with a total capacity of 396, the Beer Kitchen features 17 keg taps, three cask taps and more than 50 packaged craft beers, in addition to a food menu and live music.
The venue was once home to the popular Cul-de-sac, and Innis & Gunn has a long-term lease with leisure group G1, following the model on its other sites.
Innis & Gunn followed in the footsteps of BrewDog by selling equity in its business to craft beer fans, raising £2.5 million last year.
And Mr Sharp said that BrewDog’s deal to sell 22.3 per cent of its equity to TSG Consumer Partners for £213 million was a reflection of the strength of Scotland’s craft brewers on an international scale, and the success of the crowdfunding model.
“[Brewdog has] done great things to expand awareness of craft beer. It’s evidence that the crowdfunding model is a sustainable model for financing craft beer businesses.”
He added: “If you look at the basket of internationally recognised craft beer brands, those that have succeeded at home and outside their home markets, you’ve got [US brewers] Sierra Nevada, Samuel Adams, Lagunitas Brewing Company, [and Scotland’s] Innis & Gunn and Brewdog. It’s amazing that two of them have come from Scotland. I think Scotland can be justifiably proud of having two high profile companies in the craft beer space doing so well around the world.”
Mr Sharp said the roll out of the Beer Kitchen brand internationally would help drive the entire business – with sales domestically and internationally performing ahead of expectations.
“More drinkers are rejecting bland mass-produced beers for flavour-packed craft beer like Innis & Gunn,” said Mr Sharp.
“And we recognise the value of the Beer Kitchen brand in helping to unlock the potential of the Innis & Gunn brand. It’s a real priority for the business to roll these out,” he said.
While he could not name the next location yet, Mr Sharp admitted he was “pretty far down the line” in discussions in Scotland, England, Sweden and Canada.
“We’re putting our foot down and really accelerating the roll out of the Beer Kitchens while at the same time we’re launching new beers, the Inveralmond range has had a refresh; it’s an incredibly exciting time.”
The acquisition of the Inveralmond brewery for £3.1m last year, funded by a crowdfunded ‘mini-bond’ offer, gave Innis & Gunn its much-desired brewery – previously it had brewed under contract – and Mr Sharp said the fact that the Glasgow Beer Kitchen had its own brewery, led by head brewer Digger Robinson, would transform the business.
“One of the beauties of having a small brewery in the pub is that we’re able to experimental and innovative and do things that are maybe a bit harder to do. It’s a big change because we can do more at a small scale and then scale up anything that is particularly successful at Perth and ship it around the world.”
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