Brewer rolls out an extra 9000 barrels

A BREWERY that started in its owners' garage six years ago is going down a storm and is now set for a huge expansion, giving it the potential to produce 3.5 million pints a year.

Stewart Brewing was launched in 2004 by husband-and-wife team Steve and Jo Stewart, who tested their first samples in their garage after Mr Stewart graduated from Heriot-Watt University's brewing school.

Since then it has moved to premises at Bilston Glen and has now signed a ten-year deal on a new building, quadrupling its capacity and investing 650,000 in plant and equipment.

The move comes after a successful year for the brewery, with its Hollyrood beer winning the world's best blonde/golden pale ale category at the World Beer Awards in July.

Mr Stewart said: "I think we've always been keen to make it a solid local business. It's always been the plan since we started and we've always had that sort of vision. There is a market there for locally produced, good quality bespoke beer. It's probably taken longer than we hoped, but it's hard work running a business."

He said the firm's relatively small size and bespoke brewing had helped it weather the economic storm. "What's helping us is that there's an interest in bespoke beers and all products that are hand-crafted and that's growing irrespective of the recession."

The expansion will see the brewer move to a new, 5500 square feet building close to its current site where a custom-built 30-barrel brewery - being created in Bavaria - will be installed. It will quadruple the firm's capacity from 3000 to 12,000 barrels of beer a year.

The new brewery will also include Scotland's first "brew it yourself" plant, where customers can try out their own recipes and return two weeks later to taste and bottle their brew.

Mr Stewart said: "We love beer and we love doing what we do, and if we can enthuse other people, that's great. There are so many people that are interested in beer and how it's made. We want to give people an opportunity to experience and be involved in that.

"We can do it on a professional basis with better results, no exploding bottles in the airing cupboard, and no mess all over the kitchen floor."

Mr Stewart said he was proud to expand his operation after years of decline in the Capital's brewery industry. "Edinburgh's a great centre for brewing. Hopefully it will continue to be so many years."

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