One of Scotland’s Michelin-starred chefs is to have a beer created for his restaurants sold by Waitrose.
Tom Kitchin collaborated with Isle of Skye Brewing to find a brew for his Edinburgh restaurants, The Scran & Scallie, Castle Terrace and The Kitchin. Yer Ben, a pale ale, was first made available last summer.
Waitrose will sell the drink in seven Scottish stores from today along with Isle of Skye’s Red and Gold beers.
Mr Kitchin, 38, said: “Yer Ben was a long time in the making. There were a few trips to Skye and tweakings here and there with the head brewer. It was a good six to seven months to get the recipe right.”
He said it went particularly well with fish and chips and rich pâtés. In spite of enjoying the beer-making process Mr Kitchin, said he had no plans to follow the route taken by some well-known chefs and start endorsing a wider range of food products.
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“We get presented with so many crazy projects and you have to pick and choose the ones which are right. No one is going to make loads of money out of [this] but it is a nice project.”
Kenny Webster, 53, the owner and managing director of Isle of Skye, said: “We thought Yer Ben would be a fantastic fit with Waitrose.” Asked if he would like to see the distribution expanded across the UK, he added: “Let’s see how the sales do here over the next three to six months and then we can see if they want to take it in nationally.”
Mr Webster said the island brewery was on course to reach turnover of £1 million in its current financial year, up from £800,000 during the previous 12 months. It also agreed a distribution deal recently for some of its products to be sold in Asda.
Waitrose, which stocks around 800 products from Scotland, said the deal with Isle of Skye and Mr Kitchin was part of a commitment to offer more Scottish beers.