News brewed on14 // 10 // 10
Morrisons joins BrewDog’s craft beer revolution
UK supermarket adds iconic craft beers to its shelves as brewery also signs big deals with retailers in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia
BrewDog, the iconoclastic Scottish brewery will have three of its craft beers available in Morrisons stores from this week. The new deal, which sees three BrewDog brands on Morrisons shelves nationwide, strikes another blow for the brewer’s ‘craft beer revolution’ in the UK and follows national listings with Tesco and Sainsbury’s supermarkets. Outside the UK, BrewDog has also expanded its off-trade presence in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia this month.
James Watt, co-founder of BrewDog commented:
“The new listing with Morrisons is another benchmark in the battle against the mundane mainstream beer brands that have bored British palates for too long. The change is coming, and the increasing availability of quality beers in British supermarkets is fuelling the revolution.”
Morrisons now stockthree of BrewDog’s most acclaimed beers in around 250 stores in single bottles. Morrisons has selected BrewDog’s flagship Punk IPA, it’s iconic amber ale, 5AM Saint and it’s provocative Trashy Blonde from the brewery’s core range – all of which carry BrewDog’s bold and unorthodox branding.
Matthew Cain, Morrisons Beer and Cider buyer said, “We’re always excited to work with smaller, independent breweries it allows us to bring something new and unique to the category. Our drinks range already carries a wealth of choice for our shoppers but these new listings offer them something even more unusual. We think they will enjoy!”
This expansion in the off-trade has been mirrored abroad, with BrewDog beers now stocked in over 19 territories worldwide, including the Netherlands, where the brewer has also secured a landmark listing with the nation’s largest supermarket, Albert Heijn. Other export highlights include a national listing with Danish supermarket giant Coop-Denmark, Australian retailer Dan Murphy and they now sell to the Ax-foods chain in Sweden and Rema 1000 in Norway, resulting in vast supermarket listings in 6 countries.
James Watt added:
“We have been very successful in regions that are traditionally big craft beer markets and our export sales keep rising, but it is the UK that offers the biggest growth potential as we see a nation of beer drinkers begin to realise there is much more to beer drinking than the colourless, fizzy mess that is usually thrust upon them by multi-million pound marketing campaigns.”
BrewDog is Scotland’s largest independent brewery and is now producing over 500,000 bottles per month and have a growth of 250% this year alone.
---ENDS---
What is BrewDog?
BrewDog founders James Watt and Martin Dickie (both only 26) were bored of the industrially brewed lagers and stuffy ales that dominate the UK market. They decided the best way to fix this undesirable predicament was to brew their own beers. Consequently in April 2007 BrewDog was born. Both only 24 at the time, they leased a building, got some scary bank loans, spent all their money on stainless steel and started making some hardcore beers.
BrewDog is dedicated to making cool, contemporary and progressive beers showcasing some of the world’s classic beer styles. All with an innovative twist and customary BrewDog bite.
For more information on this story, please contact:
Alex Myers & Camilla Brown at Manifest London
t.0207 812 0592
m.07739 314 284
James Watt at BrewDog
t.01346 519009
m.07810 407 157
All BrewDog news can be found at our Digital Newsroom