UK – Heineken has taken a minority stake in British craft brand Brixton Brewery and will invest to expand capacity and move the brewery to a new site in south London.
The company, which launched four years ago, has around 15 employees and its beers have gone on sale in Italy and Hong Kong. It has said that it could not keep up with demand.
The planned new brewery will allow Brixton to take its capacity from 12,000 pints a week to 60,000 and ‘enable greater control over the processes.’
The expanded site will also see the brand develop new beers and innovate through its Ltd Edn range.
In a statement, Brixton Brewery said, “To realise this unique and ambitious chance to grow in our home we needed serious investment. It was with pretty much perfect timing that we were contacted by Heineken UK. They had noticed us, liked what we were doing and wanted to see if we could work together somehow.”
“We invited some of the Heineken team for a brew day and were impressed by their knowledge, passion and insight.
We got to know them slowly, felt that we had common ground, and built a relationship of mutual trust and respect. We were delighted that they believed in our vision too.”
“They wanted to support us through investment in the new brewery, and eventually, through helping us, we get our beers out there to be enjoyed by more people.
We are hugely proud of our success story, and see this partnership as the ideal way to keep the important things – the beer character, Brixton and our team – the same, while growing and evolving.”
It is also expected the expanded site will create 30 jobs and allow the brewery to add cans to its portfolio for the first time.
The percentage of the business which will be owned by Heineken and the value of the deal had however, not been disclosed.
