If Bob Masson hadn’t hurt his back a few years ago, the Dog Falls Brewing Company might never have happened.
The injury meant he couldn’t get out on his mountain bike. Missing that regular escape, boredom started to creep in.
It prompted an impulse purchase that changed his life.
The five-litre home brewing kit that arrived in the post didn’t yield instant results – but it flicked a switch.
It sparked an obsession that led to Bob buying bigger, shinier equipment and devoting hours to perfecting a technique.
He founded Dog Falls with his wife Louise and soon their entire garage at home in Scaniport, south of Inverness, was dedicated to brewing.
“That first batch was terrible,” said Bob. “But all of a sudden, I just couldn’t put it down.
“Those first few months just snowballed into this.”
The growth of Dog Falls
Nowadays, it’s a full-time gig for the couple.
In fact, it’s a lot more than that.
They didn’t expect it to be unfold like this though. As Bob says himself, in those early days he and his wife were “packed to the gunnels with wilful naivety”.
His previous career in the north-east’s oil and gas trade is now firmly in the rear-view mirror now that the Massons have returned to their native Highlands.
It’s fun but the day-to-day running of Dog Falls is sometimes all consuming.
It’s a far cry from when the company sold its first cans at the Inverness Farmer Market’s just before Christmas 2019.
The pandemic shifted many people’s goal posts and once we were over the initial shutdown, Dog Falls found some early success selling their beer out of the back of a van on Friday afternoons all over Inverness.
The word-of-mouth that caused helped the company continue to grow. It eventually reached a tipping point in 2022 when the home setup just wasn’t going to cut it anymore.
The Massons secured a new home in Lotland Place and in doing so, opened the Highland capital’s first brewery since the 1980s.
They picked up the keys two years ago this week and brewed their first batch in December 2022.
Finding a balance when running a business
Of course, there have been plenty of challenges along the way.
Anyone who runs a business – particularly one which started among the combined storm of the pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis – can relate to that.
Although the business has continued to grow, it’s still a small operation compared to the other giants in the trade they’re up against.
The brewing, packaging, selling and delivering was all handled by Bob and Louise themselves, which prompted them to add part-time brewer Calum Mitchell to the fold this year.
They also brought in Maggie Corbett as a brand ambassador to ease some of the sales and marketing workload.
After going from selling 6,000 litres in 2020 to being on target for more than 40,000 litres in 2024, there was always going to need to be some adjusting.
Trying to find that right balance is something that’s important to Bob and Louise.
“It’s been a fun journey,” Bob said. “But that’s not to make light of the challenges along the way. It’s not like it’s all been a dance through an orchard kind of thing.
“There is an enjoyment in being here. But there needs to be a decent balance, where you can do family things and so on and it doesn’t become a trudge.
“It’s important that we can come back to this place refreshed.”
What’s next for Dog Falls?
One exciting development in the pipeline is the possibility of Dog Falls opening its own bar in Inverness city centre.
The company has lodged a planning application to create a taproom in the space formerly occupied by Semichem in Queensgate.
There have been some objections lodged by nearby residents concerned about the potential for noise and disorder.
However, there have been even more letters of support singing Dog Falls’ praises and signalling their excitement at the prospect.
Bob said: “It’s humbling and mind-blowing to us that people have gone out of their way to offer that support.
“It does remind me of what it was like during Covid when the people of Inverness started really responding to what we were doing.
“Our success is down to those people being keen try something that’s made around here.”
You’ll find Dogs Falls for sale on the company’s website and in a number of Inverness bars including MacGregor’s, Scotch and Rye and the Highlander.
Conversation