Loch Earn lager to take aim at major brands

INVESTMENT: Owners of new Loch Earn venture say demand strong for well-made craft product

Scottish entrepreneur Gerald Michaluk will soon open a brewery in Perthshire to take on the big players in the mainstream lager market at home and abroad.

Gerald is managing director of Isle of Arran Brewery, the fourthfastest-growing ale brewery in Scotland.

He is seeing massive changes in the lager people want to drink, a situation which led to the brewery committing to its Loch Earn venture in 2013.

The Perthshire business – officially known as Arran’s Loch Earn Brewery Hotel & Visitor Centre – is now beginning to take shape properly.

The site already has a bar, coffee shop and food service up and running, while the lager bottling hall is expected to be installed in the next few weeks.

The lager brewery will then follow.

Gerald told The Courier that he hopes the first pint will be brewed at Loch Earn before the end of this year, while the hotel part of the business will open in 2017.

As well as lager, there are plans to produce apple brandy and possibly even Japanese rice wine sake at the site.

Total investment at Loch Earn could exceed £2 million before everything is up and running.

Six jobs have been created at the site to date, and this figure could rise to 30.

It is the huge potential for the lager part of the business which particularly excites Gerald.

“We will be producing a craft product, which will be well made and taste great.

“And we know there is big demand out there in the mass market for a lager such as ours.”

Production from Loch Earn will start off at 3,000 litres a day and is expected to rise to 9,000 litres daily.

A name for the new lager brand will be announced soon.

Taking on the big players in the mainstream lager market: Gerald Michaluk at Loch Earn.