These are exciting times to be making beer in Scotland. The exact figure changes all the time but there seems to be more than 80 commercial breweries currently operating in Scotland.
These range from the established big boys such as Wellpark, where Tennent’s is made, to more recent arrivals such as Leith’s fledgling Pilot Beer or Glasgow’s well supported Drygate which opened in 2014.
Will they all be around in five years? We are no relation to Mystic Meg but, in the month that Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink focuses on brewing and distilling, it is amazing to reflect on how quickly some independent Scottish brewers have grown.
Scottish beer goes global
In 2007, James Watt and Martin Dickie were hand bottling their beer and selling it from the back of a van in Aberdeenshire. Today, their Brewdog company has just under 30 bars which spread from Shoreditch to Sao Paolo.
Their second Glasgow branch is scheduled to open in the Merchant City this spring. Last year, they brewed 90,000HL of beer and had 358 employees. Two months into 2015, those figures are possibly wildly out of date.
Established in Edinburgh in 2003, Innis & Gunn is another successful Scottish brewing story. Originally created by accident, their oak-aged beers are now the most popular British bottled beer in Canada and the second most popular in Sweden. Last year, they sold more than £10 million pounds worth of beer.
We’ve pulled out two young-ish companies which are going great guns. We could just as easily have trumpeted the achievements of the William Bros Brewing Co, Arran Brewery, WEST and Stewart Brewing.
Only here for the beer… and the brewers
Given the current boom, it’s not a huge surprise that a craft brewing industry body has been set up. The Brewers’ Association of Scotland (TBAS) recently came into being to champion the cause of Scotland’s leading artisan brewers.
With a number of significant omissions, the founder members of TBAS – Cairngorm Brewery, Fyne Ales, Harviestoun, Innis & Gunn, Inveralmond Brewery, Stewart Brewing, WEST and Williams Bros — are arguably the most notable of the independent Scottish brewers.
What next after a trade body? Well, the boom shows no sign of slowing down. Back in the 19th century, Scotland had some 280 commercial breweries.
We probably have room for a few more.
Great Scottish Beer Celebration
You can sample products from eighteen different breweries at The Great Scottish Beer Celebration.
Organised by Glasgow’s Hippo Beers, it features live music, street food and, naturally, lots of beer.
It takes place at The Barras Art and Design Centre (BAaD) – 54 Calton Entry, Glasgow, G40 2SB, Fri 13/Sat 14th March.