First beers produced by new Inverness distillery and brewery
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The new £7.5 million Uile-bheist Distillery and Brewery this week completed production of its full core range of craft beer.
Uile-bheist, meaning ‘monster’ in Gaelic, opened its doors in February as a combined whisky distillery, brewery and visitor experience, powered by an on-site sustainability centre which draws water for production and energy from the River Ness.
Now, as it awaits the casking of its maiden Single Highland Malt, head brewer Andrew Shearer has put the finishing touches to its first range of five craft beers which are now being sold in its tap room in Inverness.
In keeping with its emphasis on sustainability, managers are adopting an '80-20’ principle which means that 80 per cent of the product will be sold to outlets within a 20-mile radius of Inverness.
The drive to keep carbon footprint through transport as low as possible means the beers will be available on-site and in Highland capital hotels, with the remainder being sold in partner businesses in Ullapool, Perthshire and the Cairngorms National Park.
Similarly, the base malt for all five beers and the Uile-bheist whisky is Bairds, sourced from its malting facility in Longman Road.
Some experimental canning for local markets will take place later this summer, with the focus now on perfecting recipes and scaling up capacity.
“This is a real milestone for the business and our brewing operation,” said owner Victoria Erasmus.
Mr Shearer, who previously worked at Tempest Brewing Co and Black Isle Brewery, says the beers are a celebration of styles synonymous with small-batch craft brewing.
“The craft beer market is what it is today because people realise more and more what beer can be," he said. "Personally, in a saturated market, I think you have to be making beer that you enjoy and are happy with rather than fixating on satisfying trends.”
