Something big was brewing all along

Inveralmond firm founder reflects on his career in letter to his teen self

The founder and managing director of Perth’s Inveralmond Brewery has penned a letter to his younger teenaged self reflecting on his career so far and offering business advice.

Fergus Clark has written the letter going through the major business decisions he has made at the Inveralmond Brewery, and often reassuring his younger self that he is making the right decisions.

He said: “Dear Fergus, you’re 16 and you have the whole world ahead of you. It’s a young age to be leaving school and going to university, but it’s the right thing to do. You’re following your instinct, and you never liked school anyway.

“Remember when you used to earn money as a kid by chopping logs and selling them, and cleaning cars? That was a sign of the entrepreneur that lies within you. You like being resourceful, and you like being in charge. You know you don’t want to end up desk bound, and you know you love science, so doing a BSc in brewing and microbiology is entirely the correct decision.”

He spoke in the letter of the decision to set up the brewery, reassuring his younger self it was the right thing to do: “About a decade into your brewing career you’ll decide to go it alone. You’ll lose your parents, but you’ll use their inheritance wisely: setting up your own brewery, Inveralmond. You’ll be naive. You’ll have no experience of setting up your own businesses, and you won’t even understand what marketing is. Sales will entail you trawling your brews around, particularly to pubs in Edinburgh, and asking them to stock it as a guest beer. Luckily, most of them will.

“But no matter, Inveralmond will steadily grow and develop a reputation for what it does well: making great, authentic beer right in the heart of Scotland.

“Your business will expand, in premises, employees and reputation, and you and your core staff will have a chuckle along the way, pinching yourselves and not really believing you’re running your own brewery.”

He ended his letter by speaking of the most current developments for the brewery, and the expansion plans he has in motion for 2017.

He said: “Business growth will mean you’ll outgrow your site in Perth and in 2009 you’ll expand. Prepare yourself for even more expansion in 2017, new launches, and a consolidation of existing brands.

“Your most successful brand, and

Fergus Clark

one that will be grown even more in 2017, will be one of the first ones brewed, Ossian, way back in 1997. 1997 and 2017 seem like light years away, but they’ll come quick. And you need to give yourself a pat on the back for all you’ve achieved.”