Whitewater Brewery launches vegan friendly hard seltzer range to drive exports.
Castlewellan-based Whitewater Brewery Co. Ltd has invested over £400,000 in its business to develop a new vegan friendly range of Whitewater hard seltzers to capitalise on the growing demand for ready-to-drink products and help it drive exports.
In the last two years, the County Down brewery has grown its business in Sweden, Australia and Russia with its award winning craft beers. Its new range of brewed and fermented hard seltzers are the first of its kind to be produced across Northern Ireland and RoI.
Congratulating the company, John Hood, Invest Northern Ireland’s Director of Food & Drink said: “Whitewater Brewery is an award-winning export focussed business which has experienced great success internationally.
“The company recognises that to remain competitive, innovation is key and following research which has shown it that consumer demand for can and ready-to-drink products is growing rapidly, it approached Invest NI to see how we could support it to break into the ready-to-drink market.
“We have offered Whitewater support to install filling and packaging technology, which has helped it to expand its product offering and production capacity for its new line of ready-to-drink hard seltzers. This in turn is ensuring it is in the best position to capitalise on the major market opportunities that exist for hard seltzers in the UK, RoI and further afield.
“This investment is already leading to new contracts, most recently with Sainsbury’s and with its newfound packaging flexibility, it can tailor its product sizes to meet specific export market opportunities. I want to congratulate Bernard and his team and wish him every success in his new venture.”
Invest NI has offered Whitewater support of £96,700 towards equipment and consultancy services to support the development and launch of the new hard seltzer product line. This follows support in 2018, towards the company’s new County Down manufacturing facility, which has enabled it to capitalise on the growing demand for speciality and craft beer. .
Bernard Sloan, Managing Director of Whitewater Brewery said: “Premixed and ready-to-drink cocktail-style drinks are gaining momentum globally. Recognising that our consumers have become more educated about the quality of ingredients we wanted to create a new low calorie vegan friendly line focussed on the use of natural flavours. Our new hard seltzers come in four flavour combinations and are brewed right here in Castlewellan, fermented from scratch and have no added artificial preservatives or sweeteners.
“Innovation and new product development are core to our business and we are the first brewery on the island of Ireland to launch a seltzer of this type. We wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without the support of Invest NI. The team there has been a real advocate, and has supported our business over a number of years. We have now launched Whitewater Hard Seltzer in Northern Ireland and our next steps include launching in GB and to extend this to our existing export markets of Russia, Japan, Italy and France. Seltzers have seen phenomenal growth in the US market and we hope to be in the lead group of producers outside the US to capitalise on this growing trend.”
More about Invest Northern Ireland
- Invest Northern Ireland works with individuals, companies and organisations in manufacturing and tradable services which show the ambition and commitment to grow by being more innovative, more entrepreneurial and more internationally focused.
- Invest NI’s resources are focused on assisting our clients to improve competitiveness, increase innovation, promote a stronger international focus and create more positive attitudes to enterprise.
- Invest NI’s full range of support and services are delivered through local offices in Belfast, Coleraine, Ballymena, Craigavon, Londonderry, Newry, Enniskillen and Omagh, and an international office network.
