Support a Pioneering Small Island Brewery

Aim

We're making pioneering craft beer on the Isle of Eigg for social and environmental good. We need your help to make it happen!

Island.           Community.              Beer.

A Brewery with a Difference.

The Isle of Eigg Brewery, Scotland’s 1st Co-operative brewery, wants to forge a fairer future. We'd love for you to join us on our journey as we build a brewery that: 

• Is for people not profit
• Gives back to the environment
• Explores a world of taste

Together we’ll make beer that’s truly more than the sum of its blurb.

Beer.

For 5 years our predecessor, Laig Bay Brewing Company, braved rough tracks, uncompromising weather and the logistics of transporting anything to a brewery-perched-above-the-highest-residence-on-a-wild-island, to make exceptional beer. We brewed for the Highlands and, in partnership with ALDI, for all of Scotland. But we could never make enough, such was our size. This phoenix enterprise, Isle of Eigg Brewery, will redress this.

We want to build an environmentally-friendly brewery to meet the demand for our beers on and off Eigg. Our new site in the heart of the island is perfectly located for both brewing logistics and local and tourist footfall. A bespoke brewkit and a new building will allow us to meet projected and future interest. Our energy requirements will be met using PV solar panels and Tesla Powerwall technology which will also fuel our electric vehicle.

A total of £230, 000 will cover us from foundations to first brew. To fund this we’ve applied for various grants, but need to raise at least £125, 000 in this community share issue.

The Eiggality

The Isle of Eigg is a tiny island off the West coast of Scotland home to around 100 people.

In 1997 the community famously raised the funds to buy the island and put an end to hundreds of years of Laird rule. For the last twenty three years, Eigg has been a successful model for Scottish land reform and community ownership. Eigg’s pioneering spirit is instrumental in our vision.

We want to explore community ownership beyond Eigg’s borders, helping to increase our economic diversification and future resilience while sharing our remote island experience. We see beer, the great social leveller, as the ideal way to begin this.

The Benefits

Here's what we can create together:

A brewery that’s for people rather than profit

• 3 jobs in 3 years to help secure a tiny island’s economic future
• Annual grant investing in local, entrepreneurial start-ups to increase island resilience
• Owned and run by our investors, the people who drink our beer and share our success 

A brewery that gives rather than takes-from the environment

• Our beer will be brewed using 100% renewable energy
• Our used raw materials will support local farming and Eigg’s tree nursery
• We're working towards zero-carbon deliveries throughout the Highlands

A brewery that adventures in beer

• Taking our inspiration from the US and Belgium-styles, we’ll brew year-round beers, seasonal exclusives and limited edition longer-fermented ales. And we can’t wait to brew collaboratively with brewery friends across the world.
• We’ll send our beer to pubs, restaurants and specialist beer shops throughout the Scottish Highlands and beyond, while our online shop will allow everyone access to our beers wherever they live.
• We’ll host a brew kitchen where you can come and brew your own beer in an idyllic location, and there'll be plenty of time for the odd tasting session.

For more information check out the Offer Document at the bottom of this page or on our website:                                                    www.eiggbrewery.com 

We can only deliver this amazing project, designed to add massive, sustainable value throughout the Highlands, with your help. Please consider investing in our project.

Choose Your Reward!

• The minimum investment is 50 x £1 shares for Eigg residents and 100 x £1 shares for everyone else. 
• You can invest an amount of your choice above the minimum investment by clicking to add more on the Crowdfunder payment page and selecting the option 'Other'. 
• Shares are being sold in £10 blocks. So, if you wanted to invest more than £100, but less than the next reward at £250, you could invest any sum between £110 and £240.
• Everyone has a say in the future direction and strategy of the brewery and the chance to stand for the Board.
• It’s projected that 1.5% interest will be available after Year 3 for everyone who invests
• SEIS and EIS Tax relief has been applied for and our advisors are very confident that advanced assurance will be received. 

What are Community Shares?

Community shares are withdrawable shares that cannot be sold, traded or transferred between Members, unlike shares in a typical company. All Members are entitled to one vote – regardless of how many shares they hold.

Members can be paid interest on their shares if the Board believe it would be sensible to do so, and can also withdraw their shareholding (in effect, have it bought back by the society), along with any interest accrued, subject to the approval of the board after the first 3 years of trading. 

Investors can also claim tax relief on their shares, provided they are eligible UK income taxpayers and meet the investment requirement. 

The rights and responsibilities of members are detailed in the Share Offer Document and the Rules of the Society, which you are advised to read before committing to invest.

The Community Shares Standard Mark is awarded by the Community Shares Unit to offers that meet national standards of good practice. For more information about community shares, the Community Shares Standard Mark and the Community Shares Unit go to www.communityshares.org.uk

This project successfully funded on 29th December 2020