EXCLUSIVE
By Kristy Dorsey
The newly-relaunched Glasgow Beer Works (GBW), formerly known as Merchant City Brewing, is pushing ahead with plans to establish what is said to be Scotland’s first canning and bottling service dedicated to independent brewers and craft beverage producers.
Phil MaCan is expected to be up and running from early September, around the same time as GBW’s showcase of craft beers from Glasgow draws to an end. Running for three weeks from August 27, the Big Beer Showcase is taking place at the independent brewer’s pop-up venue on Osborne Street, and is aimed at assisting small independents who have missed this year’s usual line-up of beer festivals to promote their products to a wider audience.
New equipment arrived earlier this week at GBW’s 5,000sq ft premises in Queenslie, which is about double the size of its previous brewery in Maryhill. Once up and running, GBW co-founder Allan Rimmer said Phil MaCan will have capacity to handle about 2,000 bottles and 1,500 cans per hour.
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In addition to handling GBW’s own beers, there will be ample capacity for canning and bottling beverages from other independent producers.
“In Scotland you are very, very limited for that kind of service,” Mr Rimmer said. “Most of it has to go down south, or if it’s mobile canning you may have to wait quite some time.
“The closest place really is in Cumbria – a lot of the small breweries up here use them. That’s fine, we’ve used them too, but going through them really opened our eyes about how useful something like that could be up here.”
The move comes amid challenging times for brewers, pubs and the wider hospitality sector. GBW had hoped to launch Phil MaCan earlier this year, but was delayed for three months by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Mr Rimmer said GBW’s pop-up venue, which opened after lockdown restrictions on outdoor hospitality were lifted in July, has provided a lifeline of cashflow for the business. Like many small brewers, GBW relied on sales through independent bars, restaurants and retailers to get its products to consumers prior to the Covid-19 outbreak.
“From a small independent brewer’s point of view, your already limited options which you would normally go to are even more limited now,” he said. “There hasn’t been the line-up of beer festivals that we would usually have during the summer, which are very important, and the pubs are really restricted in what they can do right now.”
He added that although online sales through the GBW website rose sharply during lockdown, this was not enough to offset the blow from losing critical on-trade outlets. The pop-up venue has therefore been essential in keeping the business afloat.
“I don’t know what else we would have done,” he said. “It is hard to see where sales would have come from.”
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In a bid to assist other small brewers in Glasgow, GBW is hosting the Big Beer Showcase at its pop-up venue under John Byrne’s famous Billy Connolly mural on Osbourne Street. The socially-distanced beer garden has outdoor space for up to 80 guests and from next Thursday will be serving locally-crafted beers from Dead End Brew Machine, Overtone, Hidden Lane Brewing, Simple Things Fermentation, Upfront Brewing, Ride Brewing and Acid Brewing Cartel.
“This summer for us was supposed to be a celebration of a new time in our craft beer journey, with a new brewery and a great beer garden to host our Glasgow Beer Works brews,” Mr Rimmer said.
“It’s been a shame to see so many of the traditional beer festivals cancel or be put on hold as they are always a great opportunity for craft beer fans to discover new favourites, so we’ve decided to host our own showcase.”
Though advance booking is not required, there is the option to reserve tickets and a table. Tickets cover the tasting of five different beers with further information about their stories, flavours and how they have been brewed. The tasting also includes something to eat from local street food vendor Yu-ca-Taco.
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