A Scottish beer manufacturer has announced plans to open the country’s first sake brewery.
Arran Brewery, based in Dreghorn, North Ayrshire, is to fund the project through a crowdfunding initiative, which it hopes will eventually raise £4m.
Having bought a former school in the town to house the sake facility, the company hopes to begin production next winter with the aim of exporting the majority of the product to Japan, where the drink originates from.
The finance has been earmarked to fund a range of possible expansion plans, which includes a brewing and distilling research and teaching centre, with brewing equipment being imported to Scotland from Japan.
Arran’s managing director Gerald Michaluk told BBC Scotland: “Just as the whisky shops here are obliged to stock Japanese whiskies, we are confident that the Japanese sake houses will stock the Scottish sake, given the prevalence of Scotch whisky in the country.”
The popularity of sake has risen overseas over the last decade, with exports almost doubling from 2002 to 2012, from 7.5 million litres to 14.1 million litres.
