Old brewery has real bottle

Its Old Ember Ale has been a huge success in Tesco stores and Highgate has just sealed a new supply deal with off-licence chain Thresher.

Highgate managing director Bob Norton said: "We believe this is the start of something big, as we push more into the off-sales market.

"We already have a number of popular bottled beers, such as Davenports and England's Glory, and we will be looking to expand that range – possibly putting Highgate into bottles.

"Bottled Davenports has always been popular locally – many people remember the old TV ads and the song from the 1960s and the slogan 'Beer At Home Means Davenports'. It is already available in many local Threshers.

"With the growth in popularity of people drinking at home we are now looking to break into the supermarkets in a much bigger way.

"This was all really sparked by entering Old Ember, one of our dark beers, in a Tesco's national challenge.

"It won the winter ale award and Tesco took the beer into a number of selected stores.

"They sold 100,000 bottles of Old Ember in a year and, although the deal was supposed to just run for 12 months, they have decided to keep it on their shelves.

"It has been like winning the lottery for a firm like us," said Mr Norton.

Now the brewery has scored a new distribution agreement with Thresher, brokered through the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Direct Delivery Scheme (DDS). Thresher will roll out up to four beers per store across 1,800 outlets nationwide, delivered directly by breweries within 30 to 40 miles of each outlet from among DDS's 260 brewers.

To support the roll-out SIBA will provide a leaflet unique to each store to promote the launch and offer tasting notes on each store's individual beer range.

The Highgate team will now be visiting all the Thresher stores in the region offering them their choice of the Walsall firm's bottled beers.

Roger Whiteside, chief executive at Thresher, already says he wants the number of local beers within each store to grow beyond the initial four.

"There is huge demand for local products", he added.

"DDS unlocks the opportunity to satisfy that consumer demand and gives Thresher a further point of differentiation within the off-licence trade. Offering quality ales from local brewers such as Highgate with a passion and enthusiasm for beer is a far more interesting proposition than the supermarkets' use of price-led lager deals."

Mr Norton said turnover was now around £5.5 million a year but, with more off-licence sales and more use of its 1,200 barrels a week production capability, he predicted substantial growth over the next few years.

"Our first ventures into the off-licence trade have been very successful – we also have Asda selling England's Glory – and we see this as a major area of growth for the company."