Arran Brewery sets £4m target as it launches kegs

ARRAN Brewery will today unveil more details of its crowd-funding plan, as it aims to emulate rival BrewDog by raising £4 million from fans of its beers.

Brewery has launched its Arran Blonde beer in a keg. Picture: Contributed

The brewery will offer shares to investors at the end of October, having first mooted the idea of crowd-funding back in November, with the first details being revealed today on how much it plans to raise.

News of the fundraising comes as the beer maker continues to bounce back from being turned down by the Scottish Government in March for a £1 million grant to expand.

Gerald Michaluk, managing director at Arran Brewery, said the crowd-funding would be used to “upgrade the brewery on Arran, build a bottling hall on the mainland and open bars”.

His latest project is the launch of his Arran Blonde beer in a keg rather than a cask or bottle.

Kegs tend to travel better than casks and so are favoured by brewers for exports.

In December, Arran Brewery signed a deal with Hofbrau in Munich to distribute each others’ products.

Michaluk said: “We have very ambitions plans and the introduction of kegged Blonde will expand our market when coupled with our distribution deal with the Hofbrau in Munich.”

In November, Michaluk unveiled plans to revive the former Rosebank distillery in Falkirk by opening a micro-brewery, bottling hall and visitors centre.

Arran is the latest micro-brewery to turn to crowd-funding to raise cash for expansion.

Ellon-based BrewDog tapped its fans for £2.2m in 2011 and is currently raising a further £4m through crowd-funding.

The company is using its haul to pay for the move from Fraserburgh to a bigger brewery at Ellon and for the expansion of its chain of bars, which now include a branch in Stockholm.