Chief executive and co-founder of the Ellon-based business James Watt believes India will become its most important international market and cited statistics that craft beer grew by 127% in the subcontinental country last year.
He said: “We are building plans to open 100 BrewDog Bars in India. I am just back from a trip to India and I am incredibly excited about the prospects for both BrewDog and craft beer there.
“Working with a fantastic local partner and their very talented team we have already opened three brilliant BrewDog Bars (Mumbai Midtown, Mumbai Bandra and Gurugram) and we have two more opening (Amritsar and Chandigarh) in Q1 of 2023 which will take us to five outstanding locations in India.”
Brewing 10-plus beers in India
Watt continued: “We are already brewing over 10 different BrewDog beers in India, which we currently sell in kegs in our bars. This means a much lower carbon footprint than exporting from Scotland and much fresher beer for our Indian customers.
“Working with our local partners we are building plans that would see India become our most significant market globally over the medium term. We are building plans to open over 100 BrewDog bars in India over the next decade as well as putting both our beers and our spirits into wholesale channels by the middle of 2023.
“Craft beer grew 127% in India in the past year and hospitality grew by over 11% in the same period and with 1.4bn people in India, the potential for further growth is huge. We believe that within five years India will be our most important international market.”
Personal payout
He concluded: “I also love spending time in India and I can’t wait to go back.”
Earlier this week, Watt admitted he had paid almost half a million pound to winners of a “misleading” gold can competition.
After stating the cans – randomly found by purchasers of multi-can packs – would be “solid gold”, they were actually “gold plated” and Watt contacted all winners to offer them a total of £470,000 from his own pocket so the company did not “suffer financially”.
