E-Malt.com News article: UK: Demand for artisan beers soars in Britain

In the US, the craft beer market represents 8pc of total beer sales. In Britain, that figure stands at just 0.5pc. But sales of real ale are set to skyrocket next year in the UK. According to figures from Camra, the real ale advocacy group, 187 new breweries launched across the UK over the past 12 months, the Telegraph reported on December 13.

Innis & Gunn has been blazing a trail for UK breweries across the globe. The Edinburgh-based company sold 15 m bottles of its signature oak-aged and rum-cask beers across the UK, Sweden, Canada and the US this year.

“In Canada, we are the number one and number two craft beers in the country, beating Leffe and even Newcastle Brown Ale,” revealed founder Dougal Sharp. “Eighty per cent of our £9.1 mln turnover comes from export.”

The company came about entirely by accident. Sharp was working at family brewery Caledonian when distillery William Grant approached him to create an ale-finished whisky. Caledonian’s beer was used to flavour the whisky casks. Instead of throwing the waste beer away, Grant’s staff took it home.

In 2002, Sharp left his job at Caledonian to pursue the fledgling joint-venture with Grant’s and six years later, bought Innis & Gunn outright.

Innis & Gunn’s sales are increasing rapidly off the back of a renewed appetite for flavoursome beers across the world, up 23pc last year alone. Case sales have doubled in the US, with 10pc growth in the UK.

Sharp revealed one of the secrets to Innis & Gunn’s success. “Shrek has done a lot to help the Scots abroad,” he said. “Scottishness is crucial to the firm. If we could put castles and tartan all over the bottles, we would shift a lot more cases. But I’m keen to keep the brand 'modern Scottish’.”

Fans of craft beers can now buy tipples from the UK’s first dedicated ale marketplace, Eebria.
Founded by David Jackson last year, Eebria connects consumers with producers around Britain. Orders are processed on the site, which launched in August, and the ales are dispatched direct from the source.

“The producers love us because they control how the beer is stored and treated right until it is sent out,” said Jackson. “This means it’s at its best when it reaches the consumer, rather than being kept in a warehouse where it might have been left in the light, or at the wrong temperature.”
Eebria currently includes 30 producers, but more are signing up each day.

“We grew 80pc in October and 92pc in November,” said Jackson. “We’re on track to double again in December before Christmas.”

The business only trades in the UK at present, but Jackson has global ambitions. “We chose the name Eebria, which is the Esperanto word for 'tipsy’ because customers across the world will be able to pronounce it,” he said. “Soon we hope to sell UK beers across the world.”

Daniel Lowe, founder of the Fourpure brewery took his home-brewing business out of the kitchen and into an Old Spitalfields Brewery just six weeks ago. The craft beer scene welcomed him with open arms, he said. “Everyone helps each other out. There were just seven breweries in London two years ago and now there are 52 of us. We are working together to grow our share of the market.”

“We’re all members of the London Brewers Alliance,” explained Mr Lowe. “Even Fuller’s, which makes a thousand bottles of Budweiser a minute for InBev, is supporting craft brewers.”

It’s not just artisan beers that are growing. Gin is also on the rise. “Four years ago, Sipsmith was the only craft gin distillery [to open] in London for 200 years,” said co-founder Sam Galsworthy. “Now there are 12 in just four years.”


13 December, 2013