Arran Brewery labels

Arran Brewery’s last-minute change in location for its bottling plant, coupled with a brewery upgrade, has resulted in reduced production which has hit supply of Arran Blonde and most other brands from the Arran range.

Customers have complained about lack of stock and supermarket deliveries have been missed.

Managing director, Gerald Michaluk, said: “I can only apologise  to our customers, wholesale and retail partners, and reassure them that we are working hard to resolve the situation as speedily as possible.

“With projects of this scale, it is inevitable timetables slip, and with the additional logistic issues caused by unseasonal weather, ferry disruption and the simple fact that when a specialist part is needed it can take a five hours round trip to collect from Glasgow.

“This was going to be a tricky balance between brewing and upgrade to pull off and we have had a lot of unforeseen issues, such as language issues with suppliers engineers, parts not being specified property, or not compatible with standard UK fittings, manuals not being provided etc, all of which further impacted what was always going to be a tricky project.”

He added: “The brew house will be completely closed next week as we install a new mill and malt handling equipment. So feel free to panic buy!

“The increased capability will very quickly make up for the current shortages and, most importantly, bring our production costs down so we can expand and not have to pass on the increased duty cost to our customers. As the company’s production increases, we have to pay higher excise duty on our beer.”

He said the brewery would be proud to add ‘brewed and bottled on Arran’ to its beers, creating more employment on the island, while the upgrade will help to maintain high quality standards. The brewery uses Scottish malt, pure water, and the finest whole hops from around the world.

Arran Brewery has invested almost £250,000 in the first phase of the brewery upgrade, with further phases scheduled for the new year. It is planning a second round of crowdfunding in the near future for its Loch Earn brewery development and to increase presence on the mainland.