Bellfield Brewery raises a glass to supermarket deal

● Latest success for firm sees its beers being made available in 54 branches

A Scottish craft brewer that specialises in gluten-free beers has boosted its production after securing its first major supermarket listing south of the Border.

Bellfield Brewery’s awardwinning products will now be available in 54 Morrisons stores, from Maidstone to Plymouth and Peckham to Carlisle, as well as online via the supermarket giant’s website.

The Edinburgh-based brewer, which was set up in 2015 by a team including two coeliacs, said it had increased its production “significantly” as a result of the deal, the value of which has not been disclosed.

Bellfield brewer and business development manager, Kieran Middleton, said: “As a young company we are so proud to have this opportunity to supply one of the UK’S leading retailers.

“We set out to create ‘craft beer for all” great tasting beers, that everyone can enjoy. We’re chuffed to be bringing them to a wider audience thanks to our listing with Morrisons.”

The firm has won several major awards for its glutenfree beers, even up against traditional gluten-containing brews. Over the past year, it has picked up two country awards in the World Beer Awards and its IPA has been ranked as among the top ten ales of its kind in the UK.

Made in small batches, using traditional methods and natural ingredients, the beers promise “taste without the bloat”. They are certified by Coeliac UK and registered with the Vegan Society.

Bellfield now supplies both the on- and off-trade and has UK wide coverage from all the major distributors and wholesalers, including Bidfood, Matthew Clark, Pigs Ear, Amathus, Inverarity Morton, Pivovar and a number of online beer shops.

The capital brewer, which is supported by Scottish Enterprise as an account managed business, has also started supplying its beer in kegs due to demand from the on-trade and aims to start exporting more extensively this year.

Late last year, Bellfield became what was thought to the first UK brewery to launch voice activated shopping and stockist information via Amazon’s voice activated digital assistant, Alexa.

Last August, the brewer unveiled a £430,000 investment in the business, led by the angel syndicate Equity Gap and supported by the Scottish Investment Bank – the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise – and existing shareholders, many of whom supported the venture’s original Crowdcube funding in 2015.

The brewery said it planned to create a number of jobs, allowing the existing operational team to commit on a full-time basis. It also aimed to invest in taking new products and formats to market.

The fund raise was supported by Rod Mathers, corporate finance partner, and his team at Henderson Loggie, and Jo Nisbet, associate, and the corporate team at legal firm Harper Macleod.

Bellfield does not “de-glutenise” its product using enzymes.