Scotland-based Arran Brewery has invested nearly quarter of a million pounds on a range of upgrades to its brewing facilities.

The Irvine brewery is replacing two manual bottling systems with a new line from IC Filling Systems, which significantly boosts the company’s productivity and ability to bottle its beer range.

It has also invested in new malt mills and is moving to bulk handling and is also investing in new fermenting tanks.

Production director Veronica Michaluk explained “We are struggling to keep up with demand and the new upgrade will resolve these issues and allow us to increase production capacity significantly.

“The first phase of the upgrade is currently underway and the whole project is expected to be complete by the end of October. We plan to increase production considerably.

“A second phase of the upgrade will begin in January and this will modernise our fermentation capacity resulting in the overall capacity of the brewery significantly increased again.”   

The brewery is also looking to recruit all levels of staff for its new bottling line and packaging department as well as recruit trainee brewers, and HGV drivers. 

Managing director Gerald Michaluk added: “We are looking to expand our production four fold over the next two years just to keep up with forecasted demand. This means a steady level of investment in the site on Arran over the next two years.

“That said we remain dedicated to using whole hops along with excellent Scottish malts and will continue to produce super premium, award winning, quality ales”.