Beer maker rolls out the barrel after securing Swedish listing

A BEER made by a Capitalbased company is preparing for further international growth after securing a major listing in Sweden.

The Innis & Gunn Brewing Company’s oakaged beer, which is allowed to mature for 30 days in whisky barrels to give it an oak flavour, has already proved a big hit in the UK and abroad.

In 2007, 10,000 barrels of the beer were filled and put onto the market – more than double the amount in 2006.

Already it has proved hugely successful in Canada and Sweden, and 65 per cent of the firm’s turnover is made overseas.

That is expected to grow significantly in the next year after the firm secured a base listing in Sweden’s alcohol retail monopoly, Systembolaget.

It already had approval to be sold in some of the notforprofit stores, the governmentapproved "offlicense" monopoly.

But it has now had its listing extended, meaning it will now be stocked in all 411 of the stores across the country.

Dougal Sharp, the firm’s managing director, recently completed a management buyout of the company, acquiring the share previously owned by distiller William Grant & Sons. He said: "No other beer in the history of the monopoly (in Sweden] has gone through the listings so quickly.

"We are now the number one Scottish beer (by number of stockists in Sweden]. We have found a huge empathy with Scotland in Sweden and they tend to drink this firstly because it is Scottish."

The company, which first put its product on to the market in 2003, has also expanded quickly in Canada, helped by employing Mr Sharp’s brother Neil, 24, as a "brand ambassador".

Based in Toronto for the last year, his role has been to travel to various provinces and explain how the product is made to retailers and wholesalers.

Although he is due to return to Scotland soon, Mr Sharp said his brother may then be sent to work in a similar way in another key growth market, such as the United States.

Mr Sharp comes from a family with a rich brewing background, and his father Russell bought the Caledonian Brewery in 1987. Mr Sharp Snr has also joined his son as a director on the board of the firm, which pays the Belhaven Brewery to produce the beer used for the bottles of Innis & Gunn.

As well as its international success, it is also popular in the UK and is stocked in major supermarkets and offlicenses as well as in bars and restaurants.

The company, currently looking to move into a new office in Edinburgh’s West End, sees its main market as being cultured customers who mainly consume different products during and after a meal at home. It is to target countries where wine and spirits are popular, including New Zealand, Australia and France.

And Mr Sharp is expecting rapid expansion to continue in the next year. He said: "We are looking to grow significantly this year on the back of continuing UK offtrade, growth in our existing markets and expansion into new markets."