Export deal boosts brewery sales

BrewDog was founded by James Watt and Martin Dickie two years ago

A small Scottish brewery has struck two export deals that put it on track to make Sweden its biggest market.

BrewDog now claims to be Scotland's largest independent brewer, with brands including Punk IPA and Trashy Blonde.

Yet its sales in Britain account for only about quarter of its market, after a successful international product launch based on online viral marketing.

The company has seen rapid growth in the two years since its 26-year old founders started brewing.

Sales for the brewery, which is based in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, have more than tripled in the first half of this year, with more sales now expected in Sweden than Britain, and nearly as much again sold in the US.

With 15 export markets in total, Russia, Portugal and Norway will be added this month.

The Swedish deal should see 1.5 million bottles shipped to the country during the next year. The company projects turnover this year will reach £1.6m.

'Monolithic brewers'

More than half the output is Punk IPA. Other brands include Paradox and Dogma. British retailers stocking the brands include Asda, Sainsbury's and Oddbins, while it sells to more than 100 clubs, bars and restaurants.

Expansion plans are to expand capacity from two million to 3.5 million bottles per year, and later to open a new £2m brewery north of Aberdeen, expanding capacity to 25 million bottles per year.

James Watt, one of BrewDog's two 26-year-old founders, said: "The rest of the UK market is far from a picture of health at the moment. However, we're standing steadfast in defiance of this decline.

"When we started the business two years ago, UK consumers were completely constrained by lack of choice in the beer market, and it was easy to be seduced by monolithic brewers with huge advertising budgets."

The company claims its rapid growth is explained by online marketing and sending product samples to influential beer bloggers.