Sainsbury’s and Waitrose stock latest beer from Scotland’s mad scientists of craft brewing

• Vault City’s Triple Fruited Mango sour beer now on supermarket shelves in Waitrose and Sainsbury’s 
• Vault City Brewing stocked in four major supermarket chains across the UK
• Co-founder Steven Smith-Hay hails ‘huge moment’ for independent Edinburgh brewer 
• Scotland’s leading sour beer producer set to see turnover of more than £3 million during its first year of moving to a four-day work week 

MORE UK supermarkets have gone sweet on sour beer,  after Waitrose and Sainsbury’s have stocked up on the most popular creation from Scotland’s mad scientists of craft beer, Triple Fruited Mango.

Scotland’s sour beer specialist, Vault City Brewing, is toasting success after seeing their popular rich, juicy session sour appear on shelves at Sainsbury’s and Waitrose after becoming one of the best-selling craft beer producers across 650 Tesco stores nationwide. 

The modern 6.2% sour beer, which comes in a 440ml can and is priced at £3.50, is now available at 100 Waitrose stores and 250 for Sainsbury’s outlets, and online via both supermarkets’ websites.

Co-founder Steven Smith-Hay has hailed the move as a ‘huge moment’ for the independently-owned brewer, with Vault City beers now stocked in four major supermarkets –  with the beers already proving to be popular in Tesco and Morrisons. 

Commenting on the significant supermarket deal, Steven said: “We’re really excited to see Triple Fruited Mango take to the shelves in Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.

“It gives us so much confidence to have four big supermarkets back our beers and it vindicates all the hard work we do in trying to produce the UK’s best and tastiest sours.

“Our Triple Fruit Mango is just another example of our drinks pushing the boundaries in terms of people’s expectations in a beer. Sweet, sour and packed full of real fruit, it’s incredibly refreshing and is on the shelves with summer just around the corner.

“It’s one of our signature sours, a firm favourite in our two Edinburgh bars – Porty Vault and The Wee Vault – and we believe it will be a very popular pick-up in supermarkets too.”

Steven, aged 32, started brewing beer from his home in Edinburgh before setting up Vault City in 2018.

The business, which specialises in heavily fruited, modern sour beers – with flavours such as Mango Banana Coconut Crumble, Iron Brew and Raspberry Roulade – has since become one of the UK’s best-selling sour beer brands and the biggest in Scotland, with turnover exceeding £3.1 million this year.

The brewer launched its first core range in May – listed by close to 200 independent bars and pubs across the UK – and after a successful crowdfunding campaign, they opened the Porty Vault Taproom and Smokehouse in Portobello, complementing their Wee Vault Tasting Room and Bottle Shop in Haymarket. The firm’s  fermentation capacity has increased from 26,000L to 105,000L with the addition of ten new tanks, while its team of 19 people is expected to grow to more than 25 this year. 

Vault City also received national attention by becoming the first UK brewer to formally adopt a four-day working week in January last year.

To learn more about Vault City Brewing, and to explore their extensive range of modern sour beers, visit vaultcity.co.uk.