EDINBURGH brewers Innis & Gunn are celebrating export busting sales of their oak aged beer in Sweden – having topped one million bottles in under a year.
They are also celebrating emerging as the leading British beer in Canada where its Christmas pack is the country’s best seller.
Sales in Sweden are up 62 per cent on 2009 to the end of November.
Exports across the globe have also set a record year for the company, which established in 2003, up 39 per cent on 2009.
Innis & Gunn Original remains the firm favourite with the Swedes, with the award-winning beer accounting for nearly nine in 10 bottles sold from the Innis & Gunn range.
Limited Edition releases of Highland Cask and IPA have continued to enjoy real popularity, with both selling out within three weeks of release.
Sales of Rum Cask, which was introduced permanently in September 2010, ‘blew the doors off’ according to Innis & Gunn’s Swedish distributor Berntson.
In October it became the 3rd best selling imported ale from a standing start.
Dougal Sharp, said: “The Swedes have a connoisseur-like interest in the beers they drink – they’re interested in how they’re made, the flavours and the stories.
“The accidental discovery of Innis & Gunn combined with its unique production process have really struck a chord with drinkers there, as it has done all over the world, but of course the thing that keeps drinkers coming back time and time again is the delicious flavour of Innis & Gunn Beer.”
Innis & Gunn first exported to Sweden in September 2004. S
ales in the country have grown every year and Innis & Gunn Original is now ranked number two bottled import ale behind Newcastle Brown Ale .
The company is now setting its sights on the United States. In 2010 sales in the US were four times those of 2009.
There is already a groundswell of support for the beer in the country as demonstrated a few weeks ago when Dougal Sharp made a keynote presentation at the illustrious Culinary Institute of America.
After his speech, he was met by a couple who had travelled over 100 miles expressly to meet him after falling in love with the beer while honeymooning in Scotland.
Dougal added: “They felt so strongly about our beer that they felt compelled to drive for hours to tell me directly.
“It was a really humbling experience.”
Innis & Gunn now exports to six countries worldwide – US, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Finland and Norway – and was presented with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade in 2010.
