WATCH: Bright future for award-winning Inverness craft brewers Dog Falls Brewing Co
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“It’s kind of insane when you look back at the journey that we have been on, it’s a little bit hard to put it into words,” said Robert "Bob" Masson as he showed us around Dog Falls Brewing's new home in Inverness.
It was 2019 when Bob and his wife Louise started the award-winning craft brewing business from their garage in Scaniport, led by a huge passion for homebrewing – which Robert developed after a mountain biking injury – and the mission to offer beer lovers in Inverness the freshest possible pints.
Four years in, their beers are scooping awards in Scotland and the UK and recently they have found a new home in Lotland Place in Inverness, where they relocated in late 2022.
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“To be in this place, and to be able to make enough beer for the business to be sustainable, is incredible," said Mr Masson.
“It’s hard to put it into words. We have been working away for three years in Scaniport, tripping over ourselves. When we started it was like dipping a toe in the water to see how it would go. I had no previous brewing experience other than home--brewing. It was important to us that we knew that the business was stable before we could grow it.
“On a day-to-day basis it’s just amazing to be able to put 1500 litres of beer into a tank, package it a few weeks later and see it all go out to the customers and to trade, it’s immense to be able to do that in Inverness.
“It always felt strange to me that there wasn’t a brewery in Inverness itself, it was something that was missing, and we are delighted to be here, brewing our beer in our home town.”
The brewery – which has just won two bronzes at the Society of Independent Brewers awards – produces a variety of styles, from the American red ale Red Hook to their hazy session pale Colloidoscope and New England IPA Split The Tree.
“Covid was a struggle for most people – for us, it has been challenging trying to make our fledgling business, which was only two months old when Covid hit, work through the pandemic. But now, it feels like there are opportunities out there.”
And the brewers are seizing those opportunities, now operating with a much bigger capacity from their 120 sq m unit, which allowed them to add three more 1500 tanks to their equipment and meet the growing demand for their products.
Currently, they are also working to transform the mezzanine space.
“At the moment we are focusing on making our beer, but the medium-term vision is to take this space and turn it into something special, a nice space to come. We want to kit out upstairs to have the opportunity to have little events in the brewery where people can come here and drink it straight out of the tap. It makes a big difference to the quality of the beer.”
Now the weather is turning, the team will be touring some festivals across the UK and collaborations with brewers and food producers are on the horizon, the latest one being with Glasgow-based Up Front Brewing and Applecross Brewing.
Mr Masson said: "We have a few festivals coming up, and we really enjoy the atmosphere. It's fun to hand over a pint that you brewed yourself."
You can find Dog Falls Brewing products around Inverness and on their website at dogfallsbrewing.com
