THE Orkney Brewery has announced the addition to three canned beers to its cask, bottle, and keg portfolio.

The Runic Range marks the first time the Quoyloo-based brewer has entered the canned market, with the new products aimed primarily at the UK market.

The three styles, SKARA Blonde IPA, HAFN Helles Lager and BRODGAR Bere, are packaged in 440ml cans with "striking" new designs using rune symbols linking to key locations and landmarks in Orkney.

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The beers will initially be available in the brewery’s new shop, which is due set to open in Kirkwall soon, the brewery itself and online. Orkeny also plans to introduce the range to independent speciality off-trade stores.

Norman Sinclair, managing director of the Orkney Brewery, said: “We wanted to introduce a canned range in response to customer and consumer requests, but didn’t want to just to re-format what is an already extremely successful and authentic premium bottled portfolio.

"Our new cans therefore represent an incremental step forward for the brewery, building on our achievements to date, while hopefully appealing to new customers and the many visitors who travel to Orkney each year.”

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Craig Steven, the Orkney Brewery’s commercial manager, added: “We were very keen to introduce the iconography of runic symbols to the branding for the new range to reflect the Norse legacy of the islands.

“We spent several months pulling this together, piece by piece, and wanted to tie in the launch with the imminent opening of the new brewery shop in Kirkwall. We’re delighted with the beers and believe the packaging is striking, unique and maintains our premium appeal, which is what is driving our performance across all channels.”