Loch Ness Brewery, which is based in Drumnadrochit, 15 miles from Inverness, is supplying all 49 Marks and Spencer (M&S) stores across Scotland with two varieties of its range of award winning beers.
The brewery’s popular RedNESS, which is a 4.2 % abv deep red bitter made with maris otter pale ale, crystal, dark crystal and malted wheat and its CaithNESS beer, which is a 4 % abv golden bitter, made with organic oats and Caithness honey, can now both be purchased in M&S stores across Scotland.
RedNess Picture: Loch Ness brewery
The bottles hit the stores recently and figures indicate they are proving popular with M&S customers.
Loch Ness Brewery, famed for its award-winning HoppyNESS, a 3 % abv golden session bitter, is currently producing the equivalent to 20,000 pints of beer a week to meet demand for its produce – but is looking to increase that in the near future.
The brewery already has a deal with Aldi to supply its Scottish stores with bottled beer for its summer and winter in-store craft beer festivals.
Stephen Crossland, managing director of Loch Ness Brewery, said: “We are delighted to see Loch Ness Brewery beers on the shelves of M&S, which is famed for it’s high quality produce. We think it is important to see Scottish brewers supplying national supermarkets with quality products, which are produced in this country.
“The waters of Loch Ness are famed across the world, and it’s great to see retailers recognise the value of a product that is produced here in the Highlands, using the water that runs into the Loch.
“Figures are promising so far, but we want to capitalise on that and see the Loch Ness Brewery brand in more stores across Scotland, across the UK and across the world.”
Loch Ness Brewery, launched in 2011, has grown rapidly in recent years, after initially just producing beer to be sold in Mr Crossland’s hotel in the Highlands and for a local beer festival. The firm expanded into a larger custom-built brewery in the village in 2012 and the beer is now supplied to pubs, hotels and restaurants, as well as retailers, across the country and to the export market.
