End of the line for Arran?

We don’t often bring you beer news here, primarily as there are plenty of other websites that do a far better job (such as Beer Today, Beer Pages, Stonch’s blog and of course CAMRA). But then there are plenty of others who do reviews of beer better – and that doesn’t stop us. After returning from an enjoyable but real ale-free trip to Spain (hola Cruzcampo!), we discovered with a shock that one of the BeerCast’s favourite Scottish brewers had gone into administration with debts of over £1 million.

The Arran Brewery featured in our very first BeerCast – before we started scoring beers, and before we recorded the episode that you could actually hear properly and which became our debut podcast. Pictured above, with Atlas’s Three Sisters ale and Black Isle’s Organic Wheat Beer (which unsurprisingly looking at the photo was over three months out of date), is Arran Blonde – the standout beer from the island producer. Also in their highly drinkable range are Arran Ale, Dark, Fireside and Sunset. I use the word is rather than the word was, but it’s not looking good.

Opened in 2000 and employing 11 people, rising costs of transportation, distribution and bottling have taken their toll. The plight of Scotland’s island breweries is one we’ve featured before on the BeerCast, with beers from producers on Colonsay, Unst (Valhalla), and Orkney (Sinclair); (Highland), being featured in various episodes. The changing economic climate must be seriously testing these producers, who by their nature are smaller than mainland breweries and are sited in areas with more expensive resources.

Hopefully a solution can be found to the situation in Arran. Their website currently has only a terse statement from the receivers about the change of ownership, and the closure of the online shop. Over the last few days I’ve tried to find some of their beers in Edinburgh for a special podcast edition, but without success. We can only hope to try Arran’s beers again, as they were really something – but the ‘closed’ sign hung on the door there doesn’t bode well. In the meantime, here’s the review of our sampling of Arran Blonde, recorded on the 3rd of May, 2007.

3. Arran Blonde Premium Beer (5%abv)
The Arran Brewery, Brodick.
500ml glass bottle

There are only 621 people in Brodick, but they are lucky to have a brewery right on their doorsteps. Arran (not to be confused with the sweater-loving Aran in Ireland) is Britain’s ninth largest island, an hour’s ferry ride from the mainland. Production started in early 2000, and now outputs 200 barrels a week, plus additional bottles for the busy supermarket trade. They have an amber ale, a malty dark, and a hoppy blonde in their range – the last one of these was sampled by the panel.

What They Say – “Arran Blonde has a floral hop and new mown grass aroma, the taste is well balanced with citric fruit and a good hop character. A clear tasting pale golden beer in a continental style.” [Arran Brewery]; “A hoppy beer with a substantial fruit balance, the finish is increasingly bitter. Aromatic, it drinks below it’s weight.” [The Good Beer Guide]

What We Say – “One of my favourite beers. Not as nice a smell as others, but easy to drink quite a lot of this in a night.” [Mr B]; “Hoppy, not malty. It looks like a lager and goes down much easier than the other two. It’s my favourite so far.” [Richard]; “This is quite tasty, despite the smell. It’s better than any lager out there.” [Shovels]

UPDATE – Happily the situation has now changed. Arran managed to find a buyer, and according to their (now functioning) website are going to begin production again very soon. Great news!

Still no takers for the Arran Brewery [The Arran Banner, 24th May]
D-Day for the Arran Brewery [The Publican, 19th May]