EUAN Venters admits he has a hard act to follow. Tomorrow morning, as he gets his feet under the table at Belhaven Breweries, all eyes will be on the new man. For two decades the Dunbar-based brewery has been run by the handlebar-moustached Stuart Ross, who in that time has instigated a management buyout, floated the company and led its £190m sale to Suffolk brewing giant Greene King. For many beer lovers, Ross, who first joined the company in 1973, is Belhaven Breweries. Having someone else at the helm will seem very strange indeed.

Speaking from London, a few days before he takes the helm at Dunbar, Venters is sanguine about the prospect: "There is no doubt about it, in this industry Stuart is a legend," he says. "He's done a magnificent job and, really, Belhaven is his baby. But when the opportunity arose to lead what is one of the most iconic brands in Scotland, a brand that I remember from my university days, I had no hesitation. It was what I wanted to do."

For the next two weeks Venters has a watching brief as, under the guidance of Ross, he learns the nuts and bolts of a business that employs 1,600, runs a large pub estate and exports brands such as Belhaven Best, St Andrews Ale and 80 Shilling. Meetings with distributors, management and staff have been pencilled in but Venters also wants to get his hands dirty with a period on the shop floor. Step into one of Belhaven's 321 pubs in the next few days and you may even find him behind the bar.

"I specifically asked that I could do a stint in a pub," he says. "I have worked for a number of different businesses but the key fundamentals are the same: the brand and the people. What I need to do is to listen, not just to the directors but to everyone, to try and understand the key drivers of this business. It's been such a success under Stuart that I am not in a situation where I am coming in to fix it. What I have to do is familiarise myself with every part of it and draw my own conclusions on how it works."

Belhaven as a standalone business is performing well, with increases in sales and profits, but along with many sectors the brewing industry is experiencing a turbulent time as it grapples with the fallout from the smoking ban, declining beer sales and an increasingly pessimistic outlook for the British pub. To compound matters the drinks industry is under pressure from politicians determined to stamp out binge drinking and civil unrest. Last week a private members Bill, the alcohol sales Bill, was introduced into the House of Commons, calling for a minimum price to be set for alcohol.

"My view is that the pub is a very controlled environment to promote responsible drinking and everyone needs to work together to create an environment where people can drink responsibly," says Venters. "What Belhaven has been very good at is focusing on what the customer wants. I don't see there being a significant change to what has been a successful strategy for Belhaven, which has been good food, good beers and good value for money and that is a winning formula as we go into the downturn. We need to get behind the pub as a place where people can enjoy alcohol. I don't think the pubs are as much a problem as supermarkets which sell alcohol at very low prices and in which there is no control on drinking habits."

Belhaven's recent success has been broadening its appeal to older and female customers, getting rid of what it described as "West Lothian beer shops" and increasing its food sales.

But these days the beer business is not all about pubs. Modern beer companies such as Diageo and InBev are all about brands, how you build them and how you market them. In Venters Belhaven has hired a man who has more then 25 years of experience doing just that, most recently at Sara Lee, where he was global brand president for the group's Body Care unit, heading brands such as Brylcream, Durex and Radox. Before that he worked for Grand Metropolitan, one of the companies that merged into Diageo in 1997, cutting his teeth on brands such as Holstein Pils.

"It's been 25 years since I worked in the drinks industry and things have moved on enormously but my last job saw me heading up a $700m company and we improved market share in a very, very competitive market. So if you ask me can I handle the likes of Diageo and InBev, yes, I am used to playing against big, powerful competitors."

As a fresh-faced economics graduate out of Stirling University in the early 1980s he was part of the team that helped launch Fosters draught in the UK. "I was very lucky. Coming out of university I joined the marketing team at Grand Metropolitan. At the time everyone was very much into German heritage beers so we commissioned a piece of research asking people what other countries they would like to drink beer from and the overwhelming answer we received was Australia. The next step we took was to make sure the advertisements made fun of the British from an Australian point of view. It seems obvious now but it worked very well."

Belhaven, which was once described by Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I as "the Burgundy of Scotland", has a history of innovation and niche marketing. Founded by John Johnstone in 1719, the brewery remained in family ownership until 1972. In December 1993 it was acquired by a management buyout led by then chief executive Ross and in July 1996 it floated on the London Stock Exchange before Greene King paid £190m for it three years ago.

Venters will not be drawn on his plans, saying he wants to learn the business before he formulates a final strategy but suggests he will not be tinkering too much. "It is a traditional, trusted, very Scottish brand and yet despite its niche reputation it has become very mass market. I will be working hard to develop the essence of the brand."

At 51 he is relishing the prospect of returning home and taking on what is one of the most high profile jobs in Scottish brewing. With a family and four children in south Oxfordshire it will be a major upheaval. At first he plans to move into a flat in Leith before he finds a family home "probably in North Berwick". This will mean six months of reverse commuting, catching the first flight up on Monday morning and the last flight down on Friday night. "The kids are used to moving and they are really excited about coming to Edinburgh. For me personally it will be great to check back into Scottish life.

"I like to go out to a place that has a good ambience, serves great beer and where one can have a relaxed and informal chat with friends and colleagues. I'm looking forward to it."

In the meantime Ross will move upstairs in a new role as non-executive director. "It will be good to have him around," says Venters, "with all that experience. I will be glad to use it."