Member Article

Independent Barnsley brewery set to crack Spanish market

Barnsley’s Acorn brewery is set to crack the Spanish market after successfully selling its real ale in Italy.

Acorn Brewery will attend the UKTI’s Great British Speciality Beer and Food Exhibition on Thursday (February 5th) in Barcelona.

Brewery owner Dave Hughes and commercial director David Broadhead will take a selection of Acorn’s most popular bottled beers to the trade event which is expected to attract more than 60 Spanish buyers – including wholesalers, supermarkets and bar chain owners.

Acorn’s first Italian order, delivered in October last year, was worth £10,000 and repeat orders have followed from the same wholesale buyer, who supplies bars and restaurants in the north of Italy.

The brewery, which has a turnover of £1.2 million, has also seen growth in sales in the UK market.

Dave Hughes said: “The Barcelona trade fair is a fantastic opportunity to get ourselves in front of big buyers in Spain.

“We made a start shipping beers to Italy four months ago and are keen to gain more export sales as a key part of our growth strategy.

“We’ve rebranded and re-labelled our range of bottled beers for the international market and are very pleased to be taking part in this UKTI trade initiative.”

Dave said: “Our aim is to invest in further expansion in 2015 and seek new buyers at home and abroad. We currently brew about 30,000 pints of real ale per week but have the capacity to ramp that up to 45,000 and beyond.”

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) is a government organisation which supports businesses to export and import. According to UKTI figures Spain is the UK’s eighth largest export market and Spaniards drink more beer than wine - beer making up 50 per cent of the total consumption of alcohol there.

Acorn independent brewery was established in 2003. It is based on Aldham industrial estate in Wombwell and employs 12 people.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .