Fierce Beer gets topped up thanks to Barclays deal

The deal will allow the company to expand production in response to increasing domestic and international demand.

The £120k funding package will help finance the purchase of new bottling and fermenting equipment to replace the current hand bottling machine and provide working capital support for growth. The investment will significantly increase production capacity from 300 to 2,000 units per hour.

Fierce Beer was founded in 2015 by Dave Grant and David McHardy.

Looking for a career change after becoming disenchanted with their oil sales jobs, the pair met on a brewing course and united over their love for good quality beer.

Starting out with home brewing kits, they experimented to create unique beer flavours before moving into brewery premises in May 2016.

Initially selling through local craft beer bars and beer festivals, Fierce Beer’s unique flavouring was quickly picked up by the retail market. Listings have been secured with some of the UK’s leading multiples including Lidl and Aldi, and the company also exports to several international markets including Holland, Sweden, Hong Kong and Singapore.

With demand increasing at home and overseas, the business was keen to expand and Dave and David approached their local Barclays Relationship Manager Rebecca Ainsley to support their growth ambitions. The business is one of a number that have benefitted from Barclays’ £500m Scottish SME fund since it was launched in June 2016 to provide access to funding for companies with turnover up to £25m.

Dave Grant, co-founder of Fierce Beer, said: “Fierce Beer is about strong, bold ‘in your face’ flavours. We believe in flavour, quality and provenance, and are focused on expanding our business.

“With more and more interest from international buyers, it was vital that we had the infrastructure in place to capitalise on new sales opportunities and meet growing demand. We launched our business venture with Barclays’ support, and with its positive reputation for local business banking with global reach they were the obvious choice. The team recognises Fierce Beer’s potential and it’s great that they will be involved in the next stage of our journey.”

Stuart Brown, head of SME Scotland, Barclays, said: “At Barclays we’re passionate about helping Scotland’s businesses and their founders at every stage of their journey. It’s exactly why we have expanded our support for SMEs in Scotland and developed our High Growth and Entrepreneurs offering.

“Fierce Beer is an example of the innovative, ambitious businesses that have seen Scotland’s food and drink sector become so renowned across the world. We were able to offer the company a local team who understood their business but could also provide the type of support and connections that we can offer as a global bank.”