The Black Wolf Brewery is able to bottle all of its own beers on-site from this week thanks to a six-figure investment in the construction of a new bottling line and packaging facility.
The new equipment, which was installed at the Black Wolf Brewery site in Throsk near Stirling, has the capacity to allow the brewer to bottle all of its own beers, which include Rok India Pale Ale, Gold Digger Blonde Beer and Tundra Wheat Beer.
The brewer also plans to use the facility to contract bottle for other small to medium sized brewers and drinks manufacturers.
The Black Wolf Brewery’s bottling line represents a £200,000 investment in the business, which was supported in part by a Scottish Enterprise grant of £45,000.
Black Wolf Brewery director Andrew Richardson said the investment “will transform the business”.
“There’s been an explosion in the number of brewers [in Scotland], but there aren’t so many people that can bottle,” said Richardson.
“Bottling is a rather different skill set [from brewing]. It’s an expensive piece of kit to have around if you’re not using it.”
Richardson added that while the firm will contract bottle for other brewers, the move was primarily driven by The Black Wolf Brewery’s own business, which is “skewed towards bottles”.
“[The bottling line] will give us far greater flexibility so that we can produce different speciality beers, or beers to celebrate big events like the Olympics, or indeed for customers who want their own beer,” he added.
“I should like to thank Scottish Enterprise for their support which has enabled this project to take place.”
The Black Wolf Brewery, part of VC2 Brands, previously traded as Traditional Scottish Ales; it was rebranded and relaunched in 2014.
