Funding cheer for Scots brewers Heidi and BrewDog

The funding will help BrewDog's plans for an eco-brewery in Aberdeenshire

Two brewers have been awarded grants totalling £2.4m to help them relocate production to Scotland.

Heidi Beers in Glasgow will receive £1.85m from the Scottish government to help a move from Germany to a new facility in Scotland.

Aberdeenshire-based BrewDog will get £551,000 to support a production switch from England and Belgium to a new brewery in Ellon.

They are among 32 firms granted support worth £9m under food and drink funding.

The financial backing has been granted under the Food Processing, Marketing and Co-operation (FPMC) scheme.

Heidi Beers' expansion plans will support 18 new employees and see the firm relocating the 70% of its operations which are currently based in Germany to Scotland.

The company - which trades as West Brewery - is also committed to sourcing 92% of its barley from Scotland as it launches a new low-alcohol lager.

BrewDog expects to create 16 new jobs from the construction of a new brewery in Aberdeenshire.

A new storage facility will see Brewdog increase Scottish-sourced barley from 10% to 50%, while the development will enable expansion into a new non-alcoholic malt-based soft drink range.

Eco-brewery

BrewDog co-founder James Watt said: "The grant award has ensured that our state-of-the-art eco-brewery is being built in Aberdeenshire.

"The new brewery will increase our production capacity 10-fold and give us the capacity to keep up with the overwhelming demand for our beers and continue to grow our business.

"In addition the project will create 20 full-time jobs and significantly increase the amount of Scottish malted barley we purchase."

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said: "The funding announced today will benefit a wide range of small and medium-sized businesses across the country and support the creation of new jobs and further investment.

"While Scotch whisky is the international flag-bearer of our drink offering, our beers and ales are highly sought after and this sector has seen rapid growth in recent years.

"Heidi and Brewdog are innovative Scottish companies and this investment will not only create jobs, but boost Scottish agriculture through more locally sourced barley."

Meanwhile, a Fife firm has been granted more than £550,000 towards the cost of a new distillery.

Kingsbarns Distillers of St Andrews will renovate and convert an existing building for the project and purchase a 1.5 tonne mash turnkey malt whisky distillation system.

Other firms to benefit from the latest food and drink funding round include Falkirk-based butcher Malcolm Allan, who will receive more than £846,000 to buy a new building and upgrade and install meat processing facilities.

Benzie, a Turriff-based carrots and potatoes company, has also been granted more than £341,000 to extend facilities and install a range of equipment including a cleaning line, packing line, bagging machine and a waste water treatment plant.

Since 2008, 159 Scottish projects have received a total of £38m from the FPMC scheme.