IT’S going to be a big summer for Scottish non-alcoholic beer maker Jump Ship as the company aims to open a new purpose-built brewery in Midlothian.
The business, owned by managing director Sonja Mitchell, currently produces a range of four beers – Yardarm Lager, Goosewing IPA, Flying Colours Pale Ale and Stoker’s Stout – as well as seasonal and limited-edition products.
The new, 20-hectolitre brewery will allow the company to produce up to 800,000 litres of non-alcoholic beer every year.
It was commissioned after Jump Ship raised over £320,000 through a crowdfunding campaign.
“Within two days of our Seedrs campaign launching publicly we hit our target of £280,000 and I have watched in awe as this figure continued to grow,” said Mitchell.
“We’re currently sitting at £329,000 from over 266 investors. This is fantastic news and we’re thrilled to be able to announce the plans for our new brewery, the first exclusively non-alcoholic brewery in Scotland.
“There’s a huge and growing demand for drinks in the no and low category and we’ve always focused on the quality and flavour of our range of beers.
“This funding is testament to that and will allow us to increase our volumes and reach wider markets.
“This capital will be used to bring our production totally in-house allowing us to stabilise prices, optimise our use of renewable energy with access to a state of the art biomass generator and solar power, and most importantly will allow us to reach more people with our fantastic range of beers.”
In addition to commissioning the new brewery, Jump Ship has also appointed Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne to its advisory board.
Bruce-Gardyne, chair of Scotland Food and Drink, has more than two decades of experience in the industry in roles as varied as chef, teacher, entrepreneur and board director.
She said she was “looking forward to working with Sonja and her team as part of this hugely innovative and flavour-focused business as they start this journey towards expansion”.
