Craft beer brand Empress Ales is celebrating supermarket success after seeing the latest addition to its range hit the shelves in Waitrose.
Empress Ale’s beers are already stocked in top restaurants across the country. Now the business has added a lager to its range for the first time, and it’s been snapped up by the supermarket chain for sale across the country.
Empress, based in the Midlands, was set up by entrepreneur Surj Virk in 2016. Since then, its pale ale and IPA have been stocked in some of the top hospitality venues across the country, including restaurants owned by top chefs Tom Kerridge and Jason Atherton.
The company has now created a British-produced pilsner-style lager, contract brewed, which is gluten free, organic, and vegan, and which is now available in 273 Waitrose stores in the UK.
Surj said: “Empress is hugely personal to me. It’s a British-made beer using old English recipes for inspiration, but also gives a nod to my Indian heritage and some personal tributes to members of my family.
“For me, Empress really is a true modern British brand and we’re delighted that our new, unique product — a pilsner-style lager — is being stocked by Waitrose. It doesn’t just taste great, but is also vegan, organic, and gluten free, making it perfect for the modern beer drinker.”
