The new site would have a capacity of more than 400,000 hectolitres and would produce the brand’s core range of craft lagers, barrel-aged beers and Indian Pale Ales (IPAs).
The brewery would also include high-speed canning, bottling and kegging capability and would consolidate the capacity of several outsourced brewing and packaging sites in one single location. The development is subject to planning applications.
Small-scale experimentation
The brewer’s existing site in Perthshire would continue to produce the Inveralmond Brewery range of cask and bottled ales, while focusing on small-scale experimentation and limited-edition barrel-aged beers, it said.
Speaking to shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting last week, founder and master brewer Dougal Gunn Sharp said building the brewery would cement Innis & Gunn’s Edinburgh heritage. It would also create a focal point for its beers in the capital, it said.
“It provides the brewing, packaging and warehousing capacity we need as we continue to strive to meet the surging demand for our lager, which is on track to be the number one craft lager in the UK, IPAs and barrel-aged beers at home and around the world,” said Sharp.
‘Come home as a business’
“For me putting the brewery in Edinburgh, where we first brewed Innis & Gunn, feels like we have come home as a business.”
Celebrating 15 years since it was founded, Innis & Gunn saw turnover grow 22% to £22.4m in the last year, while gross profit rose 19% to £10.1m. It marked its anniversary with the launch of a limited edition barrel-aged beer called ‘15’.
Meanwhile, Huddersfield-based Magic Rock Brewing has invested £850,000 in a new canning line, following rapid expansion at the business.
