Scottish brewer Innis & Gunn has confirmed plans to launch its second The Beer Kitchen bar and restaurant in Dundee.
After the success of The Beer Kitchen by Innis & Gunn that opened in Edinburgh in July last year, it plans to create another in a 3,700 sq ft site at 10 South Tay Street.
Due to open in late March, it will again specialise in a large range of craft beers and good-quality food in a relaxed “Scandi-Scottish-style” interior designed by award-winning architects Morgan McDonnell.
The brand is spearheaded by David Hall, previously of Edinburgh bars Tigerlily, Opal Lounge and Rick’s, and will continue to roll out across the UK and internationally from this year, with plans for another two sites by the end of 2016.
The site in South Tay Street, close to theatres, restaurants and the railway station, was formerly bar and nightclub South Tay Superstore which closed on January 18. It is also near to Dundee waterfront which is undergoing a £1bn regeneration.
Innis & Gunn founder and master brewer Dougal Sharp said: “Dundee is a vibrant, thriving city and, with the huge redevelopment that’s happening, it was always top of our list of cities to launch in as soon as we could.
“We want to open Dundonian drinkers’ eyes to what real beer means to us at Innis & Gunn, in our own relaxed way that’s worked really well for us at our first venue in Edinburgh.
“We’ve zero tolerance for second-rate, tasteless beer but our bars are not about us dictating personal taste – we want our venues to change the world of beer for the better by being flag wavers for incredible, flavour-packed brews, not fixated on selling ‘flash in the pan’ beers that are all beard and no trousers.
“It’s our no-nonsense approach to quality and real flavour in our beers and food that we hope will go down well with the good folk of Dundee.”
The new bar will offer Innis & Gunn’s limited-edition oak-aged cask beers in an exposed beer cellar and also house two five-hectolitre tanks serving Innis & Gunn’s unpasteurised Lager fresh from the brewery.
Hand-mixed Dundee special-edition Boilermakers will be created on the bar alongside beer sampling flights. People can also take fresh tank beer and Innis & Gunn cask beers home in two-litre growlers – a fast-growing trend in the UK.
The kitchen will serve up pub classics with a beer “flavour” alongside chopped and charred and low and slow-style dishes, with a focus on matching them with beers.
The transformation of Dundee’s waterfront spans 240 hectares of land stretching eight kilometres along the River Tay and will include the V&A Museum of Design Dundee which is due to open in 2018.
