BrewDog to increase capacity and pubs after profits reach £16.9m

Sales of BrewDog's beers grew by 131% in 2015, with more than 41 million bottles shipped overseas, according to the results, which will be discussed at the brewer's annual general meeting this Friday (9 April).

The firm, which lays claim to being the UK's number one craft brewery, opened 16 bars in the UK last year and now employs 580 people.

In the chairman's update, co-founders James Watt and Martin Dickie said: "We have invested more than £20m in our Ellon brewery as we have increased our brewing capacity from 200,000 hectolitres a year to one million hectolitres a year, giving us the beer-making capacity to meet our projected growth."

Another 400,000-hectolitres brewery will be operational in August this year in Columbus, Ohio, US, where the business aims to tap into the world's fastest growing craft beer market.

The new brewery in Ohio will enable BrewDog to meet demand in the US, where it already has contracts with distributors in 15 States.

Brewery investment​

Recent brewery investments mean the company's brewing capacity is now 10 times its current sales, which sets in good stead for the future, Watt and Dickie said.

New bars have been opened in London and will continue to do so, with more also planned for Southampton; Homerton, north-east London; York; and Malmo.

Overseas bars will include Berlin, Warsaw and Amsterdam, while the business opened its first bar in Hong Kong last year.

Watt and Dickie said: "We now employ more than 580 people, ship our beers to in excess of 60 countries around the world, operate 31 BrewDog bars in the UK and 45 globally, and we have been the fastest growing food and drink company in the UK for the past four years.”

In the UK on-trade, 330ml bottles account for 52% of BrewDog's volume sales, keg 20%, key keg 20%, cans 8% and 660ml bottles 5%.

Its best-selling beers include Punk IPA (56%), Dead Pony Club (10%), This.Is.Lager (7%), 5am Saint (6%), Nanny State (3%), Jack Hammer (3%), Hardcore (3%) and Vagabond (2%).

New spirits​

Last month, BrewDog announced its newly named Lone Wolf Distillery spirits division​ was set to launch this month.

The distillery will produce vodka, gin and whisky, with gin recipes containing more than 30 botanicals being experimented with on BrewDog's 50-litre pilot still.

BrewDog said: "We can produce a huge range of potential spirits and, with our epic barrel store, we can age and then blend the results to allow a fascinating range of flavours to develop. We want to stretch the boundaries of what a distillery can do and what a distillery should do."

Meanwhile, Bob Pease, president and CEO of the US's Brewers Association is the headline speaker at the Publican's Morning Advertiser​'s first Future Trends: Beer and Cider event set to take place on 22 June.

Pease will outline the success of the US's craft beer scene and highlight what the UK could expect to experience in its craft beer and cider future.

For more information about the event and to book your place, contact Joanne Horton by emailing wbnaar.ubegba@jeoz.pbz​ or by phone on 01293 610 403.