Chinese brewery planned by Scottish craft brewer

BEIJING -- Scottish craft brewer BrewDog is looking to open a brewery in China to capitalize on the fast-growing market for premium beer.

China is the company’s second-largest international market and the brewer said with the help of its distributor, it has made BrewDog one of the well-known and widely drunk craft beers in China.

In 2016, BrewDog’s export to China grew by 117 percent.

The brewery is looking to raise at least 10 million pounds (13.9 million U.S. dollars) in its latest equity crowdfunding scheme, with a stretch goal of up to 50 million pounds (69.9 million U.S. dollars) to further its global expansion.

This also includes the construction of a brewery in Australia.

“We feel we can only really take advantage of the Asian opportunity by having a brewery in Asia and we are now actively looking at locations and opportunities in the regions,” Brewdog told The Scotsman newspaper.

The craft beer brand also revealed plans to build the world’s first craft beer hotel as part of its expansion plans at its headquarters in Aberdeenshire in Scotland.

China is a key market for international beer brands and analysts believe the demand for craft beer will continue to increase as disposable incomes rise.

Last year, Edinburgh-based online drinks platform Flavourly struck a deal with Beijing brewer Panda Brew.

The deal is thought to involve the largest ever amount of Chinese craft beer imported by the United Kingdom, with 10,000 bottles of Panda Brew made available to British drinkers.

Also, Scottish craft brewer Innis & Gunn announced a deal with Chinese beer importer Dxcel International to distribute its beers in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

When President Xi Jinping was filmed enjoying a pint of ale with then British prime minister David Cameron during Xi’s state visit in 2015, consumers in China wanted the same and UK beer exports rocketed.

In the same year, Britain signed a deal to export 750,000 metric tons of barley for beer production to China over five years. (Source: China Daily)