As some may be aware, in March of 2016 we secured a grant from the European Union through Norfolk Lags allowing us to purchase and install a fully automated bottling line. We can now announce that we have had our own specialist bottling line produced by Suprima Service Limited, the same manufacturer that previously installed our semi-automated labelling machine. The bottling line is being commissioned as we speak and marks a great step in our future plans for Panther Brewery.
The installation shows a turn in direction for us and the availability of our beers, and whilst cask ale will remain a large proportion of our business, we will also be exploring new avenues in bottled beer sales over the next few years. The heritage of cask beer in the UK is of great importance to us, particularly in East Anglia. With events such as Norwich’s City Of Ale festival highlighting the abundance of great pubs in the area, which uphold high standards of cask cellarmanship in order for our product to be enjoyed. Complementing our cask range, all of our bottled ales will continue to be bottle conditioned, fulfilling our ethos of maintaining a high quality natural product and providing the flavour profile that we aim for.
To date all of our bottled beer has been lovingly hand bottled, hand labelled and hand packed. We will still maintain our high standards and remain true to our craft credentials using the new bottling line which is capable of packaging a thousand bottles per hour including filling, capping and labelling into either 500ml or 330ml bottle sizes. This will allow us to further expand our bottled beer range in line with our target growth this year. With the anticipated growth, it follows that our local suppliers will benefit from a wider array of seasonal beers and specialties to choose from. Furthermore there will be the opportunity for someone new to join the Panther team later this year, details to follow in due course.
For everybody local, you can expect to find a vast selection of bottle conditioned beers at our brewery shop (which you can find here ), and an expanded range at our frequent farmer’s markets and events! These will include our new ‘Core’ range (500ml), ‘Speciality’ range (500ml) as well as limited editions and seasonal releases (330/500ml).
Aside from the advantages of the bottling line allowing us to bottle our own beers much quicker and more efficiently, we also have plans for contract bottling in order to assist fellow brewers and benefit the East Anglian beer scene as a whole.
More updates on our plans for 2017 to follow soon!
