It’s all ale and hearty as expanding brewer pays back its BeerBond investors

ONE YEAR on from raising £3 million in a bond issue, Scottish brewer Innis & Gunn is making a £211,500 interest payment to investors.

As the brewery makes its first return to BeerBond holders, chairman Tony Hunt has revealed that a further round of funding will launch this autumn as plans gather pace to expand the recently acquired Inveralmond brewery.

He also revealed the company was set to plough an additional £1m into Inveralmond from its own resources to allow master blender Dougal Sharp to “push the boundaries of craft brewing”.

Last April, Innis & Gunn launched BeerBonds, an innovative round of investment that put a twist on the popular equity-backed crowdfunding initiatives that have become increasingly fashionable.

In total, 1,105 investors bought BeerBonds, with investments ranging from £500 to more than £100,000. The bonds return an interest rate of 7.25 per cent, but investors opting for ‘BeerBucks’ to be spent in Innis & Gunn’s online shops get an equivalent rate of nine per cent.

Capital raised by the BeerBond programme enabled Innis & Gunn to acquire Inveralmond, embarking on significant investment to support its innovative brewing processes and continue its reputation for experimentation.

“In the next 12 months we will invest another £1m because there are new beers we want to make. Dougal has beers he has long wanted to make but we were cooking in someone else’s kitchen. Now he’s got his own brewery he can push the boundaries of craft brewing,” said Mr Hunt.

Looking ahead, Mr Hunt said that the company was evaluating the format for the next round of founding, saying this would launch in the autumn. “We’re looking at how we can raise the next tranche of money to do the things we want to do,” he said.

As a thank you to all the BeerBond investors, a mural on the brewery wall with all their names is set to be unveiled next year.