Exclusive – Edinburgh’s Hanging Bat to launch dual-brand brewery

Around fifteen months ago, the Hanging Bat opened its doors for the first time, adding yet another fantastic beer bar to the city’s drinking scene. Plenty was written about how the Bat was different (not least by me), but you always got the impression that the Lothian Road site wasn’t going to be the endgame; that sooner or later, another Hanging Bat would appear to complement the first. However, despite the unqualified success of the bar, it seems as if the key, overlooked, component in the Bat’s progression was there all the time, sitting in a tiled chamber towards the back. From the nano-sized Sabco Brew Magic, plans are now in place to massively increase their beer-making capacity; this September, the Hanging Bat Brewing Co are set to open their own facility, containing two bespoke brewkits with a combined output of 45bbl.

Co-owned by Gavin Ferguson and Chris Mair, I caught up with Chris (via email) to get the latest on the project. At this stage, the September opening date is a hopeful one – but various aspects of the plan are already in place, not least, the most interesting; the brewery will release beer under two different brands – ‘Hanging Bat Brewing Co’ and ‘Open Barn Brewing’. Chris explains…

The Hanging Bat Brewing Co will work to a formula, beers brewed to style with an emphasis on continuity and quality. Open Barn is…to allow the brew team to be as creative as they want. We’re really good mates with the Wild Beer Co guys for example, and we love what they’ve been creating so Open Barn is our ‘experimental’ brand, which also means the customer knows that when they buy an Imperial Stout from Hanging Bat Brew Co it will be just that, an on style Imp Stout. When they buy one from Open Barn it may have been aged in whisky with brett, for example.

This is a really interesting idea. There are other Scottish breweries who have two ‘brands’; Williams Bros, for example, with their Heather Ales, and BrewDog with their Abstrakt series. The Sinclair Orkney brewery do, as well, although their Atlas range is simply the legacy of their acquisition of the now-closed brewery of the same name in Kinlochleven. What sets the Hanging Bat Brewing Co apart though, is that each arm will have a dedicated brewkit in place* – the former at 30bbl, and the Open Barn kit at 15bbl. This is a serious outlay to begin with, bypassing the ‘traditional’ progression of launching (for example) with a 10bbl kit and then scaling up to the 30/40 mark when time allows. Clearly, HBBC are aiming high from the very start.

*I’m glossing over the Fraserburgh/Ellon split in BrewDog production here, of course

It doesn’t stop there, either. Aside from the brewing, the plan also allows for the construction of a distillery – yet another new spirit still planned for a Scottish beermaker. I think this stretches back to Chris’s long-held ties with Adnams, and how well the Suffolk brewers have done with their range of whiskies. Combine this with the two brewkits, the barrel-ageing project, and (not forgetting) the re-housing of the New Wave distribution business, the site for this new facility will have to be fairly huge. Understandably, this means a great deal of time is needed to scout where the brewery can be constructed (particularly when another of the team’s considerations is the desire for their own water source). Chris continues…

We’re looking at something sizeable that’s for sure, that may preclude the opportunity of basing ourselves in the city, but it may not. I’m being very vague on the basis that we don’t know yet. We’ll not be leaping at anywhere just to get the ball moving, it has to be right. Once the venue has been decided we’ve got a building and installation team ready to go.

One of the key parts of that team (particularly once the business-end approaches) will be new head brewer Chris Kay, who will be leaving the Bristol Beer Factory to move north. Chris grew up in Belgium, and has produced some truly great beers in his time at BBF. He’ll be responsible for both arms of the Hanging Bat brewery, overseeing the Open Barn brand with that more creative, collaborative feel. This also shouldn’t be too much of a problem, what with the connections fostered on the project from New Wave (as well as the innumerable personal contacts from both Chris’s).

So, taking all of this on board, how will the new Hanging Bat Brewing Company do? Well, provided a suitable location can be found, it certainly has a lot of things in place to succeed. It has a ‘hook’, in the US craft-style division of house and experimental branches. It clearly has a lot of finance behind it, given the entry-level of their brewing gear, and the future aspirations of the HBBC team. They also have recent experience, having worked very closely with Livingston’s Alechemy Brewing Co until parting company last year. Finally, and crucially, they have a ready-made route to market for beers from both brands, through New Wave distribution. And, before a spade has even been turned in anger, they have a ready-made brewery tap, waiting patiently.