SIBA Independent Brewer Spring 2023

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There is no doubt times remain tough out there. News of closures, from people we know, has been a regular source of shock and sadness in recent months.

But speaking to brewers for this issue of the magazine I sense that those that have made it through are beginning, albeit cautiously, to plan more than two to three months ahead, as they have been forced to do during all this turbulence.

It’s also impossible not to be infected with some sense of excitement and hope for the

year ahead when someone new arrives on the scene – and indeed for this issue I had the great pleasure of interviewing our new SIBA Chief Executive Andy Slee (see Andy’s first CEO Update for us on page 7 and our Big Interview on pages 36-43). I have known Andy for many years now, and I can tell you that it is impossible to come away from speaking to him without being infected with his enthusiasm and passion for the industry he quite obviously loves.

Likewise at this time of year there is also always a sense of excitement building about BeerX in March, SIBA’s flagship event and a must-attend for anyone working in brewing and beer in the UK (see our BeerX Preview on pages 61-67 for all the highlights to watch out for at this year’s event). BeerX is a fantastic opportunity for me, too, to put faces to the names of the many SIBA Members I speak to over the year, so do come and find me and the Independent Brewer team on our stand near the main entrance to BeerX, or drop me a line at the email address below and we can arrange time to catch up over a beer.

Our keynote speaker at this year’s BeerX is Bob Pease, the CEO of the American Brewers Association, who will be sharing insights from the US market. We bring you a flavour of his presentation in our market insight piece on pages 56-59.

Another positive that we can all take from the post-pandemic world is the way that brewery taprooms have really come into their own

when it comes to supporting and nurturing the community around them. Our Guest Columnist this issue is the very talented Emmie Harrison-West, who investigates how taprooms have become even more vital community resources during tough times (see pages 24-25). Elsewhere in this bumper Spring edition we also feature Business Profiles on Five Points (see pages 26-33) and Renegade Brewery (see pages 48-55), businesses in very different parts of the market with really interesting stories to tell. And for our Homebrew in Focus, columnist Andy Parker from Elusive Brewing spoke to Alex Troncoso from Lost and Grounded in Bristol about his seasonal Saison D-Avon beer (see pages 34-35).

Finally, make sure you are maximising the value you get from your SIBA Membership by checking out the Membership Update on pages 22-23 for a round-up of all the benefits available to our members.

Happy reading! And please do keep sending me your press releases, updates, news and views to caroline.nodder@siba.co.uk so that we can share your experiences, thoughts and successes in future magazines – the deadline for submissions for our Summer 2023 edition will be April 28th

Caroline Nodder Editor SIBA Independent Brewer Magazine

Editor: Caroline Nodder (caroline.nodder@siba.co.uk)

Published by: Media Alive Limited

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Cover

Our cover star for this edition is Alana Lim, Shift Lead Brewer at Five Points brewery in London.

We interviewed Five Points Co-Founder Greg Hobbs for our Business Profile feature in this issue, to find out more about his career in beer and the rise of Five Points. Read more on pages 26-33.

News

9-15 SIBA News All the news from SIBA HQ

17 Changes To Beerflex An update on the new improved SIBA distribution scheme

80-87 SIBA Online Regional Bottle & Can Competitions Results from the East, Midlands, North East, North West, Scotland, South East and South West regions

88-97 Brewery News The latest from our Brewing Members around the UK

105-111 Supplier News Updates from SIBA’s Supplier Associate Members

Comment

7 CEO’s Update Our first column from Andy Slee, SIBA’s new Chief Executive

8 Chairman’s Comment Chair Richard Naisby looks at the year ahead

19 The View From Westminster Our regular political update

34-35 Homebrew in Focus Andy Parker from Elusive Brewing looks at how Lost and Grounded in Bristol makes its exceptional seasonal Saison

24-25 Tapping in Emmie Harrison-West explores how taprooms have won the hearts of their communities

46-47 Supplier Viewpoint Warminster’s Robin Appel argues the case for malt

69 Supplier Viewpoint Dominic Smith from Collective Motion Brewing on how to reduce your running costs

78-79 Supplier Viewpoint Gary Robson from Sure Purity looks at the risks presented by the CO2 shortage

77 Technical Focus Brewlab’s Dr Keith Thomas on brewing in wood

103 Supplier Viewpoint The team at Loughran Brewers Select on what makes a quality hop

Features

22-23 Membership Update Are you making the most of your SIBA benefits

26-33 Business Profile We meet Greg Hobbs, co-founder of Five Points, to find out more about this awardwinning business

36-43 The Big Interview Andy Slee, new to the SIBA Chief Executive role, outlines his plans for the organisation

45 Taproom Focus Featuring Camden's Werewolf Beer

48-55 Business Profile Industry legend Ian Rogers tells us how he’s launched Renegade Brewery from the ashes of the failed West Berkshire business

56-59 Market Insight The Brewers Association’s Lotte Peplow offers an overview of the US craft beer sector in 2023 and the challenges ahead

61-67 BeerX UK Preview A taste of what lies ahead at SIBA’s flagship event in Liverpool

71-75 Business Advice Intellectual property, brand & marketing and consumer insight

98-101 Gold Members Croxsons and Vigo

112 Gold & Silver Members Listing of our key sponsors

Contacts Key SIBA contacts

Building strong foundations

Newly appointed SIBA Chief Executive Andy Slee outlines his initial priorities for the organisation in this, his first update for Independent Brewer magazine…

Independent Brewing is a rare British manufacturing success story, so it’s a great privilege to write this as Chief Exec of SIBA as we enter times of challenge and opportunity. A particular thanks to everyone I met at the recent regional meetings and for the warm welcome you have given me in the role, I look forward to working with all of you in what lies ahead.

Thanks also to the fabulous SIBA team for the sterling work they do. In the last few months, supported by the Executive Committee, they have stepped up tremendously at a time when they could have taken their eye off the ball.

I have spent the last eight years working in the independent brewing sector so have a good feel for the challenges we face. However, as part of my induction I was especially keen to understand the challenges facing smaller brewers.

My overriding emotion is that SIBA members have so much we can achieve if we stick together and focus on the many things we all agree on. I find when you dig deeply into many organisations, the majority of people agree on 90% of things but spend 100% of the time arguing about the 10% they disagree on. In truth, many of the challenges facing brewers of all sizes are common and well documented; access to market, high levels of taxation, spiralling input costs, Covid debt and availability of labour were common themes across the membership.

Maximising SIBA’s potential SIBA members currently have 6% market share of UK beer, which I believe under-represents the impact and good will our beers have with beer drinkers.

In order to improve that, SIBA needs to become the best members organisation it can possibly be.

There is a lot of work to do on longer term plans but in the short term it’s clear to me that whilst SIBA lobbying is universally appreciated, we need to be better at communicating other member benefits which could help your business. So what to look out for?

• SIBA is leading the industry in calling for lower duty on draught beer ahead of the Alcohol Duty Review in August. Please support the “Make it 20%” campaign by writing to your MP to give this campaign as much momentum as possible.

• The Alcohol Duty Review includes a number of changes to the way beer duty is calculated and we expect a detailed announcement in the Chancellor's Budget in March. We will of course be helping you through these changes when we know more.

• BeerX is always the focal point of the SIBA year and I look forward to welcoming you to Liverpool on March 15/16 for a range of seminars, events and business awards. Amongst our guest speakers will be Bob Pease, the Chief Executive of the American Brewers Association, SIBA’s sister body in the US. Bob has years of experience in campaigning for independent brewers so his views and insights will be fascinating.

• The launch of a bespoke legal portal, set up and operated by Napthens. This supports the SIBA legal helpline from which you all have an hour’s free legal consultation for every legal issue facing your business. This includes confidential advice if you are concerned about the financial state of your brewery and your duties as a director. Please us it!

• Members in Scotland and Northern Ireland will soon have their own bespoke legal service, representing the unique legal challenges facing members in those countries.

• The Scottish Deposit Return Scheme affects every brewer in the UK who sells small pack beer to Scotland (or anyone who supplies their beer in small pack to the Scottish market). We will be keeping you all updated as to how you are affected.

• We are presently in pricing discussions with our Beerflex customers with every penny increase we achieve in these discussions being passed straight to you, our members, with nothing staying with SIBA.

As a members’ organisation, SIBA prides itself on supporting brewers in this way whilst commercially driven companies look to maintain and grow margins.

Some of these initiatives are the foundations on which any successful members organisation is built.

Over the months ahead we will be building on these to develop a strategy to deliver an aspiration for profitable share growth as well as building on the services you have come to appreciate.

I look forward to working with you on the journey, and of course to enjoying a beer or two.

Cheers!

Andy Slee Chief Executive SIBA

2023: A year of change

SIBA’S Chair Richard Naisby looks ahead to the rest of 2023 with some cautious optimism…

The beer world looks very different at the start of 2023 compared to where we were a year ago. The challenges of inflation, a European land war and consequent energy squeeze seem harsh blows for the industry to bear as we struggle to recover from the ravages inflicted by Covid lockdowns. In 2022, we lost some famous brewery names – and some lesser-known personal favourites.

This year will see some major changes in the brewing world and there are sound reasons for cautious optimism. Wholesale energy prices are now lower than they have been since the start of 2022. Pressure is being applied to ensure that those savings feed through to the end users – the brewers and the pubs which buy our beer. SIBA's political lobbying – led by Barry Watts – has achieved some notable successes recently, not least the recognition that as high energy users, brewers are worthy of enhanced support. Sadly, pubs missed out.

We have a new SIBA Chief Executive, Andy Slee [Read more from Andy Slee in the CEO’s update on page 7 and our Big Interview on pages 36 to 43]. By now, members of all regions should have had a chance to meet him in person. Andy is a big man with a big job to do. He has started with a bang, travelling around the regions to meet as many brewers as possible. His enthusiasm for the sector is great to see and his contacts at all levels of the industry will be invaluable as we fight for the interests of all our members. At the East region meeting we trialled a new format of sponsor supported talks on high interest subjects. This format will become the standard for future meetings and Eddie Gadd's warmly received

presentation on CO2 capture will be repeated at BeerX in March.

As I write, BeerX preparations are far advanced. We are lucky to have the Liverpool Exhibition Centre (March 15/16th) once more – before it hosts the pageant that is Eurovision '23 – and I hope to see many members there.

I will now be able to use the new SIBA Brewery Tracker [See SIBA News for more on this] to tick off all the brewers I meet in Liverpool. One of the frustrations we have had in the past in making our case, politically and financially, has been the variability and unreliability of the database giving the numbers of active breweries in the UK. Estimates have previously varied between 1,400 and 3,500. A lot of work has gone into compiling this new, definitive database – which will be updated quarterly. I’d like to see everyone accept it as the last word on the subject.

The summer will see the biggest shake-up in alcohol duties in a generation. All brewers should familiarise themselves with the changes to come. SIBA is at the heart of the push for the lower draught duty percentage to increase to 20%. Healthy pubs are vital for the on-going success of our members and this change will help to level the playing field and remove some of the unfair advantages enjoyed by the supermarket chains.

SIBA is also active across many other political spheres, whether it is campaigning on the forthcoming Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland or co-ordinating policy responses to the actions of the big pub groups and global brewers, SIBA is there for the independent brewer. Access to market is vital for all our members.

Sometimes we will be shouting loudly about issues, sometimes the more effective route is to whisper quietly in the right ear. There is a very good team in Ripon working on our members’ behalf, specialising in all aspects of the industry. As we continue to recover from the pandemic, your regional directors and I will strive to represent the voice of British independent brewing and I hope to meet as many brewers as possible at BeerX in Liverpool.

Cheers!

Richard Naisby Chairman SIBA

BeerX 2023 –the UK’s biggest beer & brewing event

SIBA’s flagship event, BeerX, is back in Liverpool this year on March 15th-16th for what promises to be our biggest and best event yet, with tickets free and unlimited for all SIBA Members. The event, held annually at Exhibition Centre Liverpool, is the biggest trade event in the UK for beer and brewing businesses, homebrewers and craft beer retailers.

SIBA is delighted that Kegstar is continuing its partnership with BeerX UK for another three years as our headline sponsor. Attracting over 3,000 attendees from the beer industry last year, the event is attended by brewers and beer industry employees looking to expand their knowledge, discover the UK’s best independent craft beers, view the latest brewing equipment, ingredients and services, or network with others from across the industry.

SIBA Head of Comms & Marketing Neil Walker welcomed Kegstar as headline

SIBA launches

sponsors for 2023, saying: “Kegstar has helped BeerX grow into the worldclass beer and brewing event it is today, and we are hugely grateful for their continued support as we look to collaborate with them as Headline Sponsors for the next three years. Container care is a huge worry for all breweries and Kegstar work closely with breweries of all sizes to offer a solution that works for them, whilst offering friendly and flexible customer service. They’ll be available throughout BeerX if you’re interested in a chat, some table tennis, or a beer!”

James Bleakley, General Manager UK & Europe for Kegstar, had this to say on the partnership with BeerX UK: “We’re delighted to continue our long-standing partnership with SIBA. BeerX provides a wonderful opportunity to reconnect, celebrate the achievements of UK breweries and discuss the key topics and challenges facing our industry. We have great admiration for the work that SIBA does through

its campaigns such as the “make it 20” campaign and we are proud to offer our support wherever we can. It's an exciting time for Kegstar, launching our tried and tested scan-free, fixed fee solution last year, making it even simpler for brewers to work with us. Plus, we’re excited to share the many great opportunities for export across Europe, leveraging the support of our global MicroStar network.”

Featuring a packed schedule of expert workshops, panel debates, networking opportunities, a huge trade show of supplier products and services, and the SIBA AGM – plus a trade-only beer showcase exclusively featuring award winning independent craft beers in cask, keg, bottle & can – BeerX UK 2023 is seeking to build on the record attendance recorded in 2022 with what is now a must-attend event.

See our BeerX Preview on pages 61-67 or for more information go to www.beerx.org

‘Make it 20%’ campaign,

for higher draught duty discount

Independent Brewers are calling on the Chancellor to ‘invest in Britain’s pubs’ by increasing the new draught drinks duty discount from 5% to 20%.

SIBA launched a campaign back in January calling for the Government to expand the draught duty relief to 20%, throwing a lifeline to the struggling pubs and hospitality sector. Under changes set to come into effect on the 1st of August draught pub products such as beer and cider will receive a 5% duty discount in an effort to encourage pub-going and support the industry.

But SIBA believes the new policy doesn’t go far enough, and a more substantial cut of 20% is needed to encourage people to support their local community pub rather than drink at home.

Andy Slee, SIBA’s new Chief Executive, said: “The draught duty discount is a hugely positive move by the Government but in order to

act as the lifeline for community pubs and small independent brewers it is intended to be, the Chancellor must go further and invest in this vital industry with a more generous 20% discount. This would represent a real investment by Government in SME businesses in communities all across the UK and provide a shot in the arm for a struggling hospitality sector.”

The Chancellor is due to decide on duty rates which apply from the 1st August in his Spring Budget on the 15th March, presenting an opportunity for him to expand the new draught duty relief from the £100 million a year investment currently planned, to £400 million a year if the 20% rate was adopted.

Andy Slee added: “Pubs and brewers pay far more than their fair share of tax. In fact, breweries are the most taxed part of the UK economy as a share of turnover and the expansion of draught relief could be a huge

calling

help to thousands of small businesses. By supporting draught beer in pubs the Chancellor is also helping the small independent breweries who supply them, improving sales and encouraging more people to enjoy a draught beer in their local. This is particularly important for fresh cask beer which can only be purchased in pubs, the majority of which is produced on a small scale and often by local breweries.” The vast majority (80%) of the beer traditionally produced by small breweries is sold in local pubs within 40 miles of the brewery.

The hospitality sector is under intense pressure from the lingering impacts of the Covid pandemic and the combined energy and costof-living crisis. Nearly 400 pubs closed for good in 2022 in England and Wales and the number of pubs in the UK has fallen 25% since 2000. The UK also lost 160 active breweries during the pandemic and in 2022 80 small independent breweries closed for good.

Positive steps towards a carbon neutral future.

While glass has always been infinitely recyclable, in the sustainable world we now live in, that’s not enough. We’ve made achieving carbon neutrality our aim, which demands a lot from us.

In turn, we are demanding more from our supply chain, one that is already ahead of the pack, achieving some of the lowest carbon emissions and with plans for further ultra-low carbon initiatives and investigating the use of hydrogen-powered furnaces.

We are now a climate positive workforce, offsetting the carbon footprint – and more besides – of our entire team, and we will shortly be a carbon neutral business.

As a business, we can’t do everything, but we must do something.

New UK Brewery Tracker to monitor hard-hit brewing industry throughout 2023

A new UK Brewery Tracker has been launched by SIBA, setting out the definitive number of actively trading breweries in 10 areas of the UK.

The SIBA UK Brewery Tracker shows the National total number of active brewers as 1,828 as of the 1st of January 2023. This comes after a tough 2022 for the industry, where brewery closures are estimated to have been almost double the number of new openings.

The SIBA UK Brewery Tracker will be released on a quarterly basis throughout 2023 and beyond, giving an accurate and up to date brewery number for the UK, something which has often been difficult to track in the past in a consistent way.

“It has been an incredibly tough few years for the independent brewing industry and as we look ahead to the future it is important to be able to track our market-share against the dominant global brewers. The SIBA UK Brewery Tracker plays an important role in this and will give the industry an accurate and timely figure on active breweries, with a clear regional

breakdown of numbers,” said Andy Slee, SIBA’s Chief Executive.

One of the issues which has made tracking accurate brewery figures in the UK tricky in the past was clearly defining what constitutes a brewery, something SIBA has tackled head on with a clear criteria and figures which represent active breweries rather than just registered beer businesses.

The SIBA UK Brewery Tracker defines a brewery simply as, ‘An active business that makes beer and that has its own brewing equipment’ with further criteria defined for breweries with multiple sites, or which are now owned by a global brewer.

Andy Slee added: “The figures released in January are a snapshot of the UK brewing industry as it stands at the start of 2023, but which I believe will form the basis of an incredibly useful resource for tracking the increase and decrease in breweries across the UK in the coming year – an important barometer for industry health. With figures released every quarter we can track numbers nationally and regionally and will be releasing the data freely to all, giving everybody access to up to date and robust data on brewery numbers – something which has been sadly lacking in the past with multiple sources for often wildly conflicting numbers.”

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), the UK’s leading consumer organisation for beer drinkers, has welcomed the launch of the SIBA UK Brewery Tracker. CAMRA Chief Executive Tom Stainer said: "CAMRA welcomes and

SIBA responds to latest announcement of plans for Deposit Return Scheme

Responding to the announcement in January of further details of the proposed Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers in Scotland, SIBA’s Chief Executive Andy Slee issued this statement:

“We support the intent of this legislation and have worked tirelessly with Government and other trade bodies over recent years to propose an efficient solution across the UK. However, this solution adds unnecessary complexity and cost to many small independent brewers as we emerge from the devastation of Covid and its aftermath.

“Small breweries lead the way in sustainability, want to do more to tackle their impact on the environment, and would have supported a Deposit Return Scheme which had the same scope, and was introduced

at the same time, across the UK. Sadly agreement could not be reached amongst the four nations and now we will have a piecemeal system with different containers and requirements in different parts of the UK, causing significant barriers to trade. The decision to include glass in Wales and not in England and NI will have significant repercussions for small breweries operating across the border.

“During the passage of the legislation the Government Minister promised that they wanted to protect the smallest drinks producers from the cost burden associated with the introduction of a deposit return scheme, but small independent breweries now face a significant financial hit which will sadly reduce consumer choice and increase prices. The experience in Scotland has shown that small producers need at least 18 to 24

supports any accurate information which gives a better picture of the state of Britain’s brewing industry. It’s essential we’re able to assess the true impact of the last few difficult years, and regularly updated information about the country’s independent brewing sector, and diversity of beer choice for consumers, will be immensely helpful."

Visit the tracker at www.siba.co.uk/brewerytracker

SIBA UK Brewery Tracker 2023

(Brewery numbers correct as of 01.01.2023)

Scotland: 146

Northern Ireland: 29

North East: 265

North West: 209

East: 178

Midlands: 282

West of England: 75

Wales: 102

South East: 335

South West: 207

UK Total: 1,828

months to prepare for the scheme once all the costs, including the producer fee, are known and systems are in place, which only eight months before it goes live in Scotland are still not known. Undoubtedly the Government’s short timeframe will create further costs for small producers.”

SIBA has launched a new Bottleshop Membership for craft beer retailers

Craft beer retailers across the UK are being invited to join SIBA in an effort to create closer ties between brewers and ‘bottleshops’, as well as offer these specialist retailers representation and support.

SIBA Bottleshop Membership is open to independent bottleshops and beer retailers all across the UK, and provides a range of membership benefits including a free legal helpline, legislative support and advice, networking and promotional opportunities and more.

SIBA’s Head of Comms Neil Walker said: “SIBA has introduced this new membership category to build on the relationships we built with bottleshop owners looking for advice and guidance regarding various issues over the last few years, particularly during periods of Covid lockdown where we fought for bottleshops and brewery shops to be allowed to remain open as essential retailers.”

The new SIBA Bottleshop Membership is the final launch of three new membership categories as part of a remit expansion for SIBA, which last year also broadened its membership to include international breweries and UK-based homebrewers. There has been a huge growth in independent

beer shops in recent years, with many offering new local delivery and subscription services during Covid as people sought to support local independent businesses.

Linda Birch from Brewery Market in Twickenham, Surrey, has pledged her support and joined as one of the organisation’s founding Bottleshop Members. She said: “We are delighted to be one of the first businesses to become a SIBA Bottleshop Member and are fully behind SIBA’s move to bring the Independent Craft Beer industry closer together. We work closely with a huge range of breweries and look forward to engaging more with them to shape the beer industry for the better.

“On a business level the support and member benefits SIBA offers are hugely valuable and for us it’s a no-brainer to become a member – we will be encouraging other beer shops to do the same. I also look forward to working with SIBA to deliver even more opportunities and benefits for us and other members in the future.”

A Hoppy Place, a craft beer bottleshop and tasting room with outlets in both Windsor and Maidenhead, Berkshire, has said SIBA’s support through Covid was a huge benefit to the sector and is also joining as a founding SIBA Bottleshop Member.

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Co-Owner Dave Hayward said: “We are a relatively new business, launching in August 2019. Through the Covid lockdowns we’ve seen the huge benefits SIBA has brought to the sector, battling for the necessary grants and support our industry needed to survive. As a business we took impetus from their work, as well as learning from their panels, and went on to win the UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Retailer (single) category in 2021. We are sure the health of the bottleshop sector is better as a result of SIBA’s efforts and are proud to join as one of the founding bottleshop category members.” SIBA has been a huge supporter of beer shops in recent years through its SIBA Business Awards, where for a number of years a ‘UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Retailer Award’ (with separate categories for single and multiple retailers) has been given. In 2021, this was complimented by a new online retailer award, again seeking to highlight those businesses selling a superb range of independent craft beers and offering a great customer experience.

If you know any bottleshops who might want to join, please email membership@siba.co.uk. For more information visit www.siba.co.uk/ bottleshop

Invite international breweries you know to join SIBA

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SIBA’s International Membership is now live and SIBA would like to encourage all members to reach out to any breweries worldwide you know or have perhaps collaborated with to join as a SIBA International Member.

As a member they get entry into the SIBA International Beer Awards and free entry to BeerX, as well as the opportunity to network with fellow brewers and a range of other membership benefits.

Find out more at www.siba.co.uk/international

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Ground-breaking remote judging session for the SIBA Independent Beer Awards Bottle & Can competition

December saw a bumper remote online judging session for seven SIBA regions in the SIBA Independent Beer Awards Bottle & Can competition.

Judges from across the UK joined the SIBA judging sessions via zoom to blind-judge bottled and canned beers across a huge variety of styles.

The competition was also an opportunity for some of our new Bottleshop and Homebrewer members to judge for SIBA for the first time ever and their expertise and perspective was really valuable to the judging. Welcome aboard!

The SIBA Bottle & Can Independent Beer Awards 2022 are judged by a fleet of expert

judges from across the UK, with beers marked against internationally recognised style guides for the different beer award categories –looking at appearance, aroma, flavour, aftertaste and saleability.

Buster Grant is SIBA’s Competitions Committee Chair and helped run the two-day judging. He said: “The SIBA Independent Beer Awards are one of the largest and most influential beer competitions in the UK, with a rigorous judging system ensuring only the very best beers take home medals. If you’re looking for a local independent craft beer to stock up on this Christmas – or for the perfect present for a beer-loving friend or family member –then look no further.”

The SIBA Bottle & Can Independent Beer Awards, plus the Regional and National competitions for cask and keg beer, are all judged by beer sommeliers, experienced beer judges and perhaps most importantly fellow brewers – making these awards very much the ‘brewers choice’ awards for beer in the UK. The regions being judged in December were the East, Midlands, North East, North West, Scotland, South East and South West.

You can find details of all the winners on pages 80 to 87 in this magazine.

If you have any questions regarding this or any other SIBA competitions email beercompetitions@siba.co.uk

Update on the Drink Cask Fresh campaign

SIBA’s Head of Comms Neil Walker has been working with CAMRA and other industry stakeholders on the development and launch of a new cross-industry cask beer campaign which has the aim of attracting casual beer drinkers to try cask beer and encouraging more younger beer drinkers to convert to the joys of cask.

The campaign is launching with a trial across a range of pubs this year and will be measured against a control group of pubs which won’t have the new merchandise, point of sale, adverts, social media or staff training, with a view to gauging the positive effect the campaign can have on sales of cask and profitability across the pub. The aim is to have a full national roll out in the second half of 2023.

A number of SIBA member breweries, as well as SIBA itself, have pledged support for the campaign and will be involved in the trial.

To find out more or to get involved email freshbeercampaign@gmail.com or speak to Neil Walker from SIBA directly via neil.walker@siba.co.uk

The 29th MaltingsFest will take place this April

This year SIBA’s MaltingsFest is back for its 29th year, thanks to headline sponsor Warminster Maltings.

The festival will take place at Osborne Park in Newton Abbot, Devon, from Thurs 20th April – Sat 22nd April and will showcase a huge range of beers, both craft and cask, local ciders and local spirits (gins, whiskies and rums).

MaltingsFest is run in association with SIBA in the South West each year and features the largest selection of draught beers from Westcountry brewers – in 2022 there were nearly 300 brews available ranging from traditional bitters to stouts, lagers, amber beers, strong beers and New World IPAs with every style of beer in-between.

This is the 29th festival, until 2018 it was housed mainly on one of the Tucker’s

Maltings malt floors, but following the company’s closure later that year it moved fully outside to be a tented festival on Osborne Park. SIBA and the MaltingsFest organisers are hugely grateful for the support of headline sponsor Warminster Maltings, without which MaltingsFest would not be possible.

Opening times:

Thursday 20th April – 5pm-11pm

Friday 21st April – 11am-11pm

Saturday 22nd April – 11am-10pm

Full details can be found at www.maltingsfest.co.uk

Changes to SIBA Beerflex

How SIBA Beerflex works

When was the last time you looked at Beerflex?

Now might be the time…

SIBA’s Beerflex system has had dramatic changes over the last year, with the prices brewers receive no longer connected to the ABV of a Beer and a new online order portal launched to customers, ensuring brewers’ brands are marketed to their full potential - if you haven’t recently assessed whether Beerflex is right for you, then it may be worth another look.

On first listing, brewers must select the pricing band most appropriate for their beers. This important change ensures your beers are priced at a band of your choice.

direct delivery by brewer to the pub or retail outlet

SIBA’s Beerflex scheme is designed to assist you in your sales efforts by making your beers available in the areas of your choice to those local on- and off-trade retail outlets which are owned by national groups.

SIBA provides details of beers available that brewers have listed via their bespoke Beer Manager Profile to the relevant pub/retail customers.

With unique access to SIBA’s Online Order Portal, customers are able to view and order the brands brewers have available, to be delivered direct from the brewery to their outlet. Having the ability to search for a specific ABV, allergen, beer style or distance, the search functionality allows the customer to be as specific as they wish. Alongside orders, brewers are supplied with the pub contact details to enable contact to be made to advise of delivery day (within five working days from order date unless otherwise specified by the customer). Brewers go on to make delivery with the paperwork supplied by Beerflex and SIBA will pay brewers Beerflex is designed to be simple but effective and give independent craft brewers access to pubs which may otherwise be closed off to buying their beer - and as a not-for-profit trade association the small percentage of each transaction SIBA earns through Beerflex is reinvested back into the trade association; providing improved member services and keeping membership fees down.

How has Beerflex changed?

Pricing structures

A brewer must choose the price band they wish to receive when listing a brand for the first time. There are no limits around the price band a brewer may choose.

Price increases

Annual price reviews with 100% of increases passed directly on to brewers.

New customers and opportunities

With new pub company customers coming on to the Beerflex platform for the first time there are now more opportunities to sell your beer, as well as exciting opportunities on the horizon for an expansion beyond cask into keg beer.

Beer Manager makes listing specials a breeze

SIBA’s newly revamped Beer Manager makes it really easy to list your beers and set how long you would like them to be listed for, making the listing of seasonal or one-off specials quick and easy.

Pub companies trading through Beerflex in 2023

Admiral Taverns

Brasserie Bar Co

Fullers

Greene King Pub Partners

Greene King Managed

LT Pub Management

Metropolitan

NUSSL Bars

Punch Pub Co

Red Cat

Red Oak Taverns

Star Pubs & Bars

Trust Inns

Wadworth

*Beerflex is also being trialled in a number of established pub companies, with a view to the trials being rolled out to estates.

The view from Westminster

We have a new year, a newish Prime Minister and set of Ministers and many new challenges for breweries to grapple with in 2023. Many of these challenges come from a significant and problematic lack of detail and certainty which makes planning extremely difficult over the next few months.

Take for example the much-welcomed extension to the freeze in alcohol duty revealed in December. Readers will remember that this was originally announced in September by one Chancellor, then unannounced in October by another before not being announced at all in the Autumn Statement in November. It took until December for breweries to learn that it will be frozen until 1 August when the wider Alcohol Duty System changes are expected to come in. We should learn in the Spring Budget (right in the middle of BeerX) what the overall duty rates will be from the summer.

As part of its lobbying activities SIBA is pushing for the Chancellor to make the new draught duty relief a focus in the Budget and increase the rate from five percent to 20%. Breweries will remember that one of the more radical changes in the new alcohol duty system is the introduction of a draught duty relief – a reduction in duty for beer packaged into large containers. Thanks to SIBA’s successful Make It 20 campaign, the Government agreed to include the 20 and 30 litre containers used by small breweries and community pubs in the scheme. We now hope to build on this and get the Chancellor to Make It 20% - and increase the discount to 20%. You can help by contacting your local MP by using one of SIBA’s template letters in the next few weeks.

We’re also hopeful that we will get the final details of what the far reaching alcohol duty system will look like and SIBA will be holding webinars in the next few months to help you

Thanks to SIBA’s successful Make It 20 campaign, the Government agreed to include the 20 and 30 litre containers used by small breweries and community pubs in the scheme.

prepare. In the meantime a great source of information is our briefing and calculator available on the Toolbox. It will help you get your head around HLPA, cash basis, draught duty and small producer relief amongst the many other changes.

More uncertainty has sadly followed from the latest development on energy assistance. The Government is replacing the Energy Bill Relief Scheme with the Energy Bills Discount Scheme. While the new scheme is less generous, breweries are included under the Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (ETII) support – which is a higher level of help for certain sectors. I think that all the case studies that you sent in (and we shared with the Government) helped to make the case for our inclusion in this support. However (at the time of writing) we still do not know the eligibility or the application process and may have to wait until the end of March for the final details.

The other big uncertainty is the Scottish Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). You only have until the end of February 2023 to register and failing to do so will mean you will not be able to sell cans and bottles in Scotland from 16 August. This includes those direct sales but also indirect sales via wholesalers, online stores and via bottle shops’ own webshops. Unfortunately again many of the details are still lacking especially over VAT and the online takeback service making it extremely difficult for breweries to begin to prepare. SIBA continues

to argue vigorously for a grace period for small producers as well as fair payment terms. Again your best source of up to date information is SIBA’s own guide available on the toolbox. There’s also a video of the webinars we’ve been holding in case you couldn’t attend.

Another bombshell that landed from Scotland late last year was the consultation on restricting alcohol promotion and sponsorship. It’s an extremely wide ranging consultation and could, if fully implemented, even lead to a ban on brewery T-shirts, glasses and online promotion. SIBA will be lobbying the health minister to ensure that small breweries in Scotland are taken fully into account.

Let us hope that as the year progresses we finally get some clarity of these important issues overshadowing the industry.

Barry Watts is Head of Public Affairs and Policy at SIBA. He covers political relations and policy for SIBA members. He can be contacted at barry.watts@siba.co.uk or 07977837804.

Is your Brewery missing out?

Offering a range of Membership benefits from as little as £150 per year, SIBA, the Voice of British Independent Brewing is the one stop shop for Independent Craft Breweries. SIBA are committed to ensuring that our Members’ are equipped with the Tools, Legislative advice, access to market and insight data required to run a successful Brewing business. Look out for the * to see what you could be saving by joining SIBA.

See how SIBA Membership can help your Brewing business

SALES

Various opportunities for increasing sales within the on and off trade accounts through direct delivery, resources or exclusivity at prestigious events

 PROMOTION Exclusive access to promote your beers at prestigious events such as the British Guild of Beer Writers Awards, BeerX and much more. Access to the BGBW event would cost a single brewery *£4k, with other events costing much more.

 INDEPENDENCE CAMPAIGN Standing out from ‘big beer’ by increasing visibility on bottled products with Independent Crown Caps and independence badges for beer labels – assuring consumers that they are buying from an Independent Craft Brewer.

 BEERFLEX An option for all SIBA members to develop on trade sales by supplying to large pub operators at a price band of your choice and with favourable payment terms. The average Beerflex Member generating *£15k turnover.

INTEL

Raising the bar for your brewery and beer by obtaining invaluable industry information and data

 INDEPENDENT BREWER MAGAZINE Featuring Industry News, guest articles, meet the brewer profiles and much more. Independent Brewer is your portal to the wider world of independent brewing, delivered to your business quarterly.

 CRAFT BEER REPORT Data insight and analysis on brewing businesses and the industry from qualified contributors and academics, providing invaluable data for your business planning.

 BREWING IN BRIEF Weekly email newsletter, containing member news, Industry news and upcoming events. A snap shot of the week in brewing.

 LOBBYING Securing Support & Advice via Political representation with a user friendly synopsis of Government Legislation available to members.

 GOVERNANCE Eligibility to take a seat at the table of SIBA Board Directors, helping set the strategic direction of the trade association.

 REGIONAL MEETINGS Access to quarterly meetings, with presentations from industry experts and members of the SIBA Management Team, with complimentary food and beer for you and your fellow brewers.

BUSINESS

From Legal issues, to user friendly calculators and Tools, SIBA has its members covered in all areas with the Business Benefits, potentially saving each member a substantial amount of time and money.

 LEGAL ADVICE Members can contact the dedicated SIBA Legal Helpline, facilitated by Napthen’s Solicitors for 1 hour FREE advice. With legal specialists not only covering England but Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland ensuring no eligible SIBA member goes without. There is no limit on the number of times members can contact the helpline. Potential saving of *£200 per call

*

 HR & EMPLOYMENT Covering all areas within HR & Employment, SIBA Members have access to an array of Templates to customise to their own business branding. Estimate value exceeding *£3000

 DEBT RECOVERY & DISPUTES Debt recovery & insolvency are hot topics at the moment and members can access free of charge template letters to customise and issue. Saving on average *£500

 COMPLIANCE Assisting members with legal compliance, a number of Tools are available for Members to customise to their own business needs. From HACCP and traceability tools to a H&S guide and practical guide to labelling your draught and packaged products, with a value in the region of *£3000

 ALCOHOL DUTY In addition to ensuring Independent Brewers voices are being heard in Government, SIBAs Political team supply members with user friendly guides and simplified Duty calculators.

 COSTING TOOL A Tool aimed at smaller brewers whom perhaps are unable to justify the expense of accounts personnel. Members can access at any time the Brewery Costing Tool to ensure that your sell price is calculated to run a sustainable business.

Unlocking access to exclusive SIBA Member Benefits, resources and everything SIBA, via the SIBA Members Toolbox, whether it be entering Awards to accessing the legal portal, potentially saving each member in excess of *£5000

 LEGAL PORTAL Taking away from our members the stress and pressures of being kept up to date on Legislations. The SIBA Legal Portal, in collaboration with Napthens Solicitors contains every day legal documents tailored to Brewing Businesses. *New to 2023

 INDUSTRY SUPPLIERS From Brewery Equipment, to Ingredients, to Business Saving experts and Promotional items. Members can find a SIBA Supplier Associate Member for every business need from the SIBA Trade Directory.

 BEERX Owners of the UK’s largest Independent Brewing Trade Show, Members can access SIBA’s flagship event FREE. A forever expanding Trade Show showcasing the best beer industry suppliers and packed seminar schedules, from workshop to informative seminars led by key industry personal – saving of *£65, based on 2x Delegate Passes

 AWARDS With Beer Competitions for Cask, Keg and packaged judged by beer sommeliers and Business Awards judged by Industry Leaders, Members have unlimited entries into SIBA Competitions with winners having the opportunity to exclusive events promotion events and opportunities to facilitate with buyers and retailers across the UK *£450 (based on three entries into similar awards)

 FREE ADVERTISING Forget Facebook Market Place –SIBA Classified Ads is the place to advertise everything and anything Brewery related. From job vacancies, to equipment for sale or a Wanted section, all as are free to place by members, with non members charged a fee of *£75

 JOINT PURCHASE SCHEMES From glassware to beer mats, to bar runners – SIBA are able to offer its members promotional items at competitive rates.

 CASK REPATRIATION INC ORANGE LABELS

Protecting your assets with cost effective semi-permanent labels to affix to containers – keeping track of your containers across the country!

Tapping in

On New Year's Eve 2019, my Instagram was littered with 'roaring twenties’-themed house parties. Ours? Apocalyptic themed. Seriouslythe irony is not lost on us.

While friends on socials were clad in Gatsbystyle flapper dresses and beaded headgear, drinking cocktails from crystal coupes, I was dressed as a black hole. Others dressed up in plastic bags, as bees, and climate change, while my husband dressed as a hipster (himself, undeniably). Little did we know that we'd spend the following New Year’s Eve on Zoom, from the safety of our homes.

There’s no denying that what followed were the toughest times this country - and beyond - has seen for generations. Loneliness spiked while we danced in and out of lockdown, using our one walk a day to get a takeaway from our local pub - or sit outside them shivering, before the number of pubs in the UK fell to a record low.

It’s estimated that we lost the equivalent of 2.1bn pints in beer sales over lockdown, with more than 32 pubs in England and Wales closing their doors each week last year. As each pub closes, we lose familiarity, nostalgia, a pillar of the community, and a key hotspot to facilitating friendships - according to CAMRA research.

I think, as our locals shutter around us, we also lose a little bit of ourselves, too.

It’s a different kind of mourning, seeing this country’s great pub culture gradually fall apart. But, like a phoenix rising from the mash tun, taprooms are arming themselves to support their communities as a vital hub - filling the well-worn boots of local pubs who propped up their communities for so long.

As humans, we loathe asking for help - but we need it, now more than ever. Cost of living, rising energy bills, the Ukraine war, strikes - the word ‘crisis’ is starting to become a key part of our everyday vocabulary, and it’s scary. The constant flow of bad news is overwhelming, and it’s easy to feel pretty helpless.

That’s where taprooms come in. Gone are the cold, industrial warehouses of old, with a few benches littered between the roaring, giant steel tanks - now, they’ve been replaced by warm, lively, multi-purpose spaces that bring people together from all sections of the community. Welcoming with open arms friends old and new, taprooms are utilising their space for good –and with that comes hope.

After countless pubs have shut their doors for good, brewery taprooms are becoming the new beating heart of our communities.

Emmie Harrison-West investigates…

Maker’s markets, running clubs, film showings, open mic nights, street food, local artists, live music, charity fundraisers, speed mating, home-brew competitions, drag shows, quizzes, food bank collection points, beer festivals, even Bake Off showings - the list goes on. Taprooms are far from just being a spot to get a good pint.

Local causes and little-known artisans are now being championed through taprooms, and brewery shops - with community groups having a warm, sociable, unique place to meet.

Andrew Finnerty, founder and organiser of London Beer Runners, as well as one of four organisers for Gipsy Hill’s Running Club, agrees. "We start and finish runs at a taproom,” he told me - welcoming new, perhaps hesitant runners with open arms, and pint in hand. “I introduce new people to a new brewery and a new part of London,” he said.

He added: “Taprooms are important to us as we can support local independent businesses” - telling me that he finds that taprooms “are run by people who care about their products, their people and their area”.

“They are the community,” he said. “They are agile, they can get involved in local causes and most importantly, they care.”

Speaking of those who care, County Durham’s own McColl’s brewery has hosted a Men’s Pie Club fortnightly for the last 18 months. “Simply put, a group of men who, for whatever reason, want a few hours to ‘escape’ come down to the taproom on a Saturday morning and make a pie and have a natter,” Daniel McColl, brewery owner, founder and manager told me.

“We listen, and talk,” he told me. “Not just being a production facility makes what you produce so much more important, and the effect the taproom has on bringing the local community together is immeasurable,” he said. “The community we have around us is fundamental to what we do, so much so we have the name of our village and local community in our logo.”

London’s Ignition brewery, founded in 2015 to create well-paid jobs for people with learning disabilities, employs from within its community, too. “We are a not-for-profit limited company; beer sales pay our rent, taxes and salaries,” Ignition’s trustee, Nick O’Shea, told me. “We didn’t realise the impact we had on our community, but once we did, it has been the cornerstone of our approach.”

“We have used our brand to reach out to young people who are often isolated

Comment: Emmie Harrison-West

and don’t have cool places to go, offering discos, games nights and karaoke,” he told me - adding that, this year, the brewery is working with Lewisham Mencap, Sydenham Arts and other local organisations to offer a coordinated response to locals who can’t afford heating. “We have all been keen to ensure that poverty doesn’t just lead to pity and a joyless response,” he told me - adding: “In short, a well-run taproom can help everyone live their best lives.”

Hosforth Brewery, based in Leeds, has responded to rising energy bills, toooffering a free, heated workspace for locals (new and old). Its founder, Mark Costello, told me that the idea was born after a local told him they were worrying about heating their home to work from. “I thought, come work from ours!” he said. “It’s completely free, we have fast broadband, and free tea and coffee. Some people book a space and join us for meetings,” he added. “People are saving money on their bills, and hopefully will then spend it with us.”

It’s estimated that we lost the equivalent of 2.1bn pints in beer sales over lockdown, with more than 32 pubs in England and Wales closing their doors each week last year.

Speaking of the community that the brewery has built, Mark told me that he never expected his regulars to become such good friends. “There’s something really comforting about the taproom,” he said. “We’ve definitely got a lot of people who have made really good friends from coming. People who came in by themselves now chat with other people, and it’s lovely to see.”

Taprooms are bringing the community back together after so long apart, and are vital resources that should be championed. They’ve been essential to me, too. Moving to Edinburgh only a few months back, hundreds of miles from my home and friends, it’s been hard not to feel pretty lonely at times. My local brewery’s taprooms, Moonwake and Newbarns, have helped host women in beer events - being the catalyst for me in meeting new, like-minded people. They’ve helped me sow the seeds of some friendships already, which will hopefully blossom into something beautiful.

Taprooms really do have a special magic about them that connects and nurtures community – and never has that been more important.

Emmie Harrison-West is a freelance journalist, as well as a fierce advocate for women’s rights, and good beer. You can find her beer reviews on Instagram @beerwomxn or follow her on Twitter @emmieehw

Born in a railway arch next to Hackney Downs station, Five Points has the true cockney credentials of one of the first wave of London breweries to re-colonise the Capital. Founded by Ed Mason and Greg Hobbs back in 2012, the brewery launched with an ethos routed in sustainability – not just in terms of its green leanings, but also in its attitude to nurturing its people and its community, and building a business that can support both. Five Points was the first UK brewery to gain Living Wage accreditation and it pledges to pay the London Living Wage as a minimum to all its team members including barstaff at its taproom and pub site, the Pembury Tavern. Ed’s background in pubs has been invaluable in building the retail side of the operation, and the Pembury was added in 2015, while Greg cut his

High Five

brewing teeth at East London Brewing and oversees the production side of the business. Five Points’ beers are all unpasteurised and unfiltered, and blend the founder’s passion for the traditional British cask beers they enjoyed growing up, with the vibrant craft styles they later discovered on their travels. The team at Five Points also recently brewed a commemorative ale, in collaboration with SIBA, to celebrate 20 years of Small Breweries’ Relief and had their ale showcased on the Strangers’ Bar at the House of Commons. Independent Brewer’s Caroline Nodder spoke to Greg in early January to find out more about the brewery’s story, and his thoughts on some of the current challenges being faced by the independent brewing sector…

Business Basics

Name: Five Points Brewing Co

Founded: 2012 (first brewed 2013)

Location: Hackney, London

Owners: Greg Hobbs & Ed Mason (plus a small group of private investors)

Annual production: 11,500hl (est. for 2023, similar to 2022)

Brewing team: 8

Total Staff: 28 full-time 8 part-time (including taproom and Pembury Tavern)

Flagship beers: Pale (4.4% ABV), Pils (4.8% ABV), Lager (4.1% ABV), XPA (4% ABV), Jupa (5.5% ABV), Best (4.1% ABV) & Railway Porter (4.8% ABV)

Production split: Cask 25%, Keg 60% & Small pack 15%

Key export markets: Italy

Business profile: Five Points Brewing Co

How did you come to found Five Points?

“Ed had pubs in London, back in the late 2000s and early 2010s. And I worked in one of his pubs in various positions, including manager and head chef at one point. Ed then opened a bar in Shoreditch called Mason and Taylor, which was one of the early craft beer bars in the Capital, and he actually went on to sell that and then it became BrewDog Shoreditch. So that's where the money came from. We'd always been very passionate about beer and knew the American scene fairly well and we just felt like we could really bring something to the UK scene. I think when we started brewing there were about 20 to 25 breweries in London. And we felt like we were almost a bit late to the party. I think now there's over 100 breweries in London, maybe up to 120, I think. So we're now seen really as the old guard, certainly amongst the newer independent breweries, which is quite bizarre. After working with Ed, I left and went and became a brewer at East London Brewing. So that's sort of where I cut my teeth, as it were. And then we met up over a beer, and were talking about it, and it just made sense to do something ourselves.”

What is the ethos behind the business?

“I don't think we knew it would grow to quite the size that we have today. We definitely wanted to be responsible employers, that was always really important to us. The Living Wage, that was something that we looked at very early on, and all of our electricity was green, pretty much from the outset. Those are things that we're passionate about, about being a sustainable business, in all senses of the word. We also grew up drinking traditional cask ales over here, but loved what was coming over from the States. So having visited the States,

we wanted to marry those New World styles with these more traditional British styles as well, in terms of the beer. And I think that's something that we have become known for over time.”

Your beers are unpasteurised and unfiltered, why did you decide to go down that route and does it present any challenges?

“I don't think we even debated it, it was just what we wanted to do. From the outset, we knew it was the route we wanted to go down, we felt like there was a lot more flavour there. There's nothing being taken away from the beer, which happens in filtration, and we're not changing the flavours in any way due to pasteurisation. It's just the beer in its purest form. As cliched as that is, this is where we felt there was the most flavour and most aroma in the beers. There are challenges. We have to be very careful about hygiene. And there are certain beer styles that we have to be particularly careful about - specifically, if we're involving fruits, which can add sugars to the process, which can then cause re-fermentation later on. But even these days, it's not something that's really questioned. It's just how we do things and how we want to do things.”

When did you open your taproom and how has that side of the business developed since?

We'd

“The original brewery site was near Hackney Downs, which is an overground station in Hackney. And we were in a railway arch, as were many breweries at the time. We had always wanted to open a taproom, but there was just no space on the site. So we did some events, and we did brewery tours, but there was no way we could have a permanent taproom installation. The site we’re on now we actually took on in 2015, but it's owned by Hackney Council and the site was up for redevelopment, and they wouldn't give us a long term lease on the site. So there was no point investing in moving the brewery here, if we could be thrown out in six months. And then Covid came along, and the Council's plans changed, and they offered us a long term lease. At the same time, the landlords of the railway arch were trying to put the rent up by ridiculous amounts. So it just made sense to consolidate all of our operations, as we had a long term secure lease at the site we're in now. So we moved everything down. And actually, it was one of the few good things that came out of Covid, because our demand for beer was so low that we actually had the time to do that relocation in January 2021. So we opened the outside yard of the taproom pretty much straight away on the new site. And then we developed an indoor taproom which we didn't actually launch until November 2021. And that’s open, at the moment, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.”

always been very passionate about beer and knew the American scene fairly well and we just felt like we could really bring something to the UK scene.

Do you have any plans to expand your retail side?

“Since 2015 we’ve had the pub, the Pembury Tavern that’s owned by Five Points. In terms of expanding, we always keep our eyes open and ears to the ground for any changes of hands or pubs up for sale, but I think it needs to be the right opportunity. And if the right opportunity comes along, then we will definitely go down that route.”

What does sustainability look like at Five Points?

"Since the start, we've had green electricity and energy. We started with that mindset. But there's plenty more that we can do, and plenty more that we're looking at doing. But it's always been part of the conversation, when there's been changes to be made. When we were relocating the brewery, for example, we were looking at how we might be able to introduce or improve sustainability within that. And there's a lot of projects that we're looking at, at the moment - feasibility studies on how we can improve things again. CO2 recovery is a big one that we're looking at at the moment. We're looking at the potential for solar panels on the roof - because we don't own the building that’s not that straightforward. And obviously, a benefit of being in London is that a lot of

Times are tough out there, and there are a lot of breweries closing. So I think, first and foremost, it's about making sure that we're on top of things and continue to be a sustainable business, both from a green stance, but also financially this year.

our deliveries are close by so we're investigating whether we can move to an electric fleet of vehicles.”

What do think the sector could be doing to build a more diverse workforce?

“We offer an apprenticeship scheme, which is something in our early days that we worked quite closely with Hackney Community College on. The provider has changed a few times since then, but I think the brewing apprenticeship is really good. And I think that could really help if it's sold in to the right communities. It's a real pathway to a career, the idea being that you don't need a specialist knowledge or education to come in to the brewing sector. I think that's really valuable. And I think that could be

rolled out further. I'm on the committee for the London Brewers Alliance as well. And one of the things we're looking at at the moment is mentorship scheme as well. Whether there might be ways to increase diversity by using mentors and linking them up with mentees. There's, a local charity we work with too that gets disadvantaged children into work.”

What are your key goals for the business in

2023 and beyond?

“Times are tough out there, and there are a lot of breweries closing. So I think, first and foremost, it's about making sure that we're on top of things and continue to be a sustainable business, both from a green stance, but also financially this year. Making sure we can continue to do our best to counter these rising energy costs and other ingredient inflation. And then, above and beyond that, looking at the retail estate, and improving sustainability. Just focusing on improving the business as opposed to growing it out and out. We haven't put our prices up for 12 months, so we’re due a price rise, but we don't want to pass on all the costs, we don't want the price of a pint to become £10. But we also need to be able to pay all of our wages and all of our overheads. So that's a really tricky balancing act.”

Business profile: Five Points Brewing Co

You recently worked with SIBA on a beer to celebrate 20 years of Small Breweries’ Relief. How did that come about?

“Barry [Watts, SIBA’s Head of Public Affairs & Policy] came to us with this idea of celebrating Small Breweries' Relief (SBR) with a special beer and we took it from there. Initially, we started out discussing doing it on our pilot kit, which brews about 750 litres, and then we ended up doing a full batch of it, which is 3,500 litres. It was actually a really fun project. And it was good to highlight all of the great things that SBR has done. The House of Commons Strangers’ Bar took six firkins, and we went in with Barry and met our local MP there and had a bit of a photo op as well. Barry also took me and some of the other brewers who were involved in initially setting up SBR to one of the debates in the House of Commons as well after the brew day, which was an amazing experience.”

What is your view on the current review of SBR?

“If it comes in in August, as is currently planned, it's going to save us something like £70,000 at the back end of this year. So, assuming it does come in in August, that will be the saving compared to what we're currently looking at paying, which is significant. And then obviously, if you annualize that, from 2024 onwards, that's more like £130,000 or something like that. It really could have a massive impact, particularly when there are so many inflationary pressures, it is one of the few things that is actually going to come in for us.”

What do you see as the current threats to the UK’s independent craft beer sector?

“The inflationary pressures and the knock-on effects to the cost of living and people's disposable income. I mean, our malt prices went up by 36% from last year to this year. Hopefully, things like that are going to start plateauing or coming down, because there isn't much further they can go before we can't absorb any more extra costs, basically. We are a hugely draught-led brewery, small pack is a very small part of what we do, so if the pubs are quiet, we are quiet. So if people's habits change, and going to the pub is more of a treat, so they might go once a week, as opposed to a few evenings a week, that's really going to have a big impact on us.”

What do you think the independent beer sector can do about the continued decline of cask?

“It's a massive concern. Cask beer is something that is really important to us, it’s something that we champion, and something that we take pride in. It's what we can do about it. I think the last few years, the up and down nature, that opening and closing of pubs, the different levels of trade, really haven't helped cask beer in particular, because of its short shelf life and turnaround time on the bar. I've been into lots of places that used to sell cask and used to be known for selling it, and they don't really have any on any more because they just don't want to waste the beer. I think if we could return to regular, predictable trade that would help massively. But then the other side of it is about education - both for pubs and people who have cellars, but also for the general public as well. There's a lot of people who still don't really understand what cask is about, and what makes it special. And it's something that we've tried to do in the past, both sides of that education piece. We used to run, and we hopefully will again, cellar training courses where we invite our key customers down and show them how we want our beer to be looked after in the cellar. Obviously, that translates to all cask beer, really. So I think it's just about championing it. And helping to make people aware of what they're actually drinking. It's a real challenge. I think there's also this capped price point for cask, which is always lower than the keg equivalent, for whatever historical reasons. We've certainly been bringing our cask wholesale prices up to match the keg prices to reflect the fact that it is as valuable, if not more valuable, as a product. I think sometimes that low price may put people off and people think of cask as a cheaper product. I don't think that necessarily helps.”

Continued on page 33

How do you support the community around you?

“We've done fundraising in various different ways. We've done brews on the pilot kit, where the proceeds sold at the taproom then go on to a specific charity We raise money on the webstore where £1 from every order goes to a specific charity. There's a group of people every year that run the Hackney half marathon, and they’ve done it for a few different charities. We’ve done all kinds of things. We have a scheme at the moment called ‘a tin for a tin’, which is a food bank offer, so you can bring in a can of baked beans or a can of soup and get a free beer for it. We've done similar things with a clothing drive - so bring in an item of warm clothing and you get a free beer. It’s just about leveraging our position in the community to hopefully fundraise, or collect items for local food banks or for night shelters and that sort of thing.”

You were the first UK brewery to be accredited as a Living Wage Employer, how important was that for your business?

“It was something we had in mind from the outset and something that we always wanted to do. And it’s something that we've maintained also across our retail operation as well. So it's not just production, but it's barstaff in the

There's a couple of pieces of advice that really jump out at me. One is that you can learn something from every brewery you visit, no matter how big or how small they are, you just need to pay attention to how they do things in their processes.

taproom and the Pembury Tavern. I think it's been amazing, it's been a real asset, and it's been a real draw for people to come and work at the brewery. And these days, loads of breweries are Living Wage accredited, which is great. That's such an amazing thing for the industry. And it's been a real positive for us. Certainly, at the more entry level positions, that is definitely a draw, and a reason for staying and sticking around.”

What is the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you about brewing?

“There's a couple of pieces of advice that really jump out at me. One is that you can learn something from every brewery you visit, no matter how big or how small they are, you just need to pay attention to how they do things in their processes. And I 100% agree with that. At

every brewery I've visited, I've seen something and thought ‘ah, that is such a great way of doing that!’. Breweries are such individual places that all have their own set of challenges and it's always amazing to see how other people approach them. Then the other one, from setting up and running a brewery, is that it's not enough to just be great at brewing beer or just be really good at business, you have to have both to make a sustainable long term career and business out of it.”

Who do you most admire in the craft beer sector and why?

“It's a bit of a cop out, but I struggled to single out only one or two breweries. There are so many breweries out there doing good things. And I think that's what I came back to is that I think the sector in general is amazing, and breweries do so much good for their local communities, the craft brewing sector is so progressive these days, is great for diversity and equality, and things like the apprenticeship scheme, and championing sustainability and corporate responsibility. I think the collaborative nature of the craft beer sector is incredible, and should be lauded.”

‘Tis the Saision

Elusive Brewing’s Andy Parker, the current Guild of British Beer Writers’ Brewer of the Year, takes a look at Saisons, a popular style with homebrewers, and explores this classic Belgian category with some insight from Lost and Grounded’s Alex Troncoso who’s seasonal Saison D’Avon beer is a perfect example of this style…

Homebrew in Focus columnist Andy Parker

Lost and Grounded Brewers: Saison D’Avon

Saison (meaning ‘season’ in French) is a broad church of a style, perhaps better considered as a family. Saison originated in the Wallonia region of southern Belgium where they were traditionally brewed in the winter months to be served as refreshment for seasonal farm workers (les saisonniers) in the warmer months. In the glass, a Saison is typically effervescent in carbonation, pale to deep gold in colour and laden with fruity, spicy and earthy aromas that carry over the palate. Typically dry and crisp, the humble Saison is a very refreshing beer to enjoy on a sunny day.

of ingredients, acidity, dryness and somewhat restrained bitterness, as too much conflicts with the acidity and phenols if present.”

Targets

OG 1.059

FG 1.010

ABV 6.5%

Colour 10-12 EBC

Bitterness 28-32 IBU

Mash at 64C for 60 minutes

If working with equipment that allows for a stepped mash (such as a Grainfather) then mash in at 52C (5min), then 62C (40min), 67C (10min), 72C (20min), then raise to 78C for mash out.

Grist

5.25kg Pilsner Malt (German or Belgian)

250gm Flaked Oats

250gm Belgian Wheat Malt or Flaked Wheat

Hops & Spices

Brewers Gold @ 60 mins - 15g (4.9% AA)

Chinook @ 10 mins - 15g (11.2% AA)

Savinjski Goldings @ 10mins50g (2.3% AA)

Grains of Paradise (ground) @ 10min – 2g

The Saison style is a fantastic one for homebrewers to tackle, both novice and more experienced alike. My second ever all grain recipe was a Saison and it turned out really well. It was based on a clone recipe for Saison Dupont but used Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand with Lallemand’s Belle Saison yeast to take it in a more new world direction. This recipe evolved into Lord Nelson which we still brew today. Saisons may especially be of interest to those who lack fine grained temperature control in their fermentation set up as the yeast strains are typically very forgiving and versatile. Belle Saison loves a warmer fermentation temperature and will happily work as high as 30C.

Many years before co-founding Bristol’s highly regarded Lost and Grounded Brewers with partner Annie Clements in 2016, Alex Troncoso’s early forays into brewing included dabbling in Saison and other Belgian styles. Amongst many successes he was the proud winner of the Belgian Specialty category in the 2003 Vicbrew (Melbourne) state home brewing competition in his native Australia!

It was a trip to Europe soon after this that cemented their love of Belgian beer and brewing methods, as Alex explains: “Annie and I lived in Brussels for a short spell in 2006/2007 and that was our true introduction to Belgian beer. Prior to that we had of course drank Belgian beers but only in limited quantity as they weren’t widely available in Australia. Whilst not a Saison, my epiphany beer back in 2007 was Rochefort 8. it is a brewing master class in how to balance malt, bitterness, yeast character and ABV. I still think about that beer! Saison Dupont or St-Feuillien Saison are the two benchmark Saisons for me.”

Whilst best known for their flagship Keller Pils Lager, Lost and Grounded produce exemplary Belgian styles including their seasonal Saison D’Avon. “We love the diversity that Saison offers as a style – from “clean” Saisons such as Saison Dupont, through to mixed fermentation offers from the likes of Burning Sky.” said Troncoso. “For me I like a Saison to offer balance without being too aggressive in phenolic character, with a considered use

Lost and Grounded’s Saison D’Avon is perhaps my favourite example brewed in the UK. It has a delightful yet delicate floral character with a softness that somehow doesn’t take away from the snappy and refreshing finish. Alex explains the back story: “Saison D’Avon started out as a one-off beer that we brewed for the Independent Manchester Beer Convention in 2016, with the name being a bit of a joke. The brewery is based across the street from the banks of the River Avon in Bristol – it sounds romantic, but our section of the river is tidal, and half the time is a mud flat! Saison D’Avon became a full-time core beer in 2017 and has been a labour of love ever since. All our Belgian-style beers have continually evolved due to us forever seeking the right yeast strain that has restrained-to-no phenolics, attenuates well, flocculates predictably and isn’t diastaticus (a wild strain, present in many Saison yeasts) - it seems that it is almost impossible to find that combination!”

Sometimes more traditional types of hops work best in certain styles and Saison is definitely in that category.

Like all of their beers, Lost and Grounded’s take on this classic style is well considered, leading to a highly polished end product. “The base of Saison D’Avon is the same as the original – Pilsner malt, with a touch of wheat and oats.” Troncoso continues: “We use Brewers Gold hops for bittering with Chinook and Savinjski Goldings for late the addition, to around 32 IBU. We use a touch of Grains of Paradise late on which lend a floral edge. However, the yeast is now Bastogne (White Labs WLP510) which is used for the majority of our Belgian styles. It fits really well with our rendition of a Saison, is very soft with subdued “Belgian” character (i.e. not spicy) with more focus on fruity esters. We love it!”

Asked about tips for perfecting the style, Troncoso proffers: “I would say to not try and over complicate the beer – don’t add too much (especially bitterness). Pick a yeast you tend to like or sounds like you’ll like. Don’t just use “X” strain because a book says you should. Sometimes more traditional types of hops work best in certain styles and Saison is definitely in that category. In terms of water treatment, we use a combination of Calcium Chloride and Calcium Sulphate with the water profile largely in favour of chloride at a ratio of 2-3:1.”

The Big Interview: Andy Slee

The Big Interview: SIBA’s new Chief Executive, Andy Slee

SIBA’s newly appointed Chief Executive Andy Slee is a passionate and outspoken advocate for the brewing and pub sector who has worked in the industry since the 1980s. He will already be a familiar face to many within the sector. And having worked on both the pub and beer side for Bass in the early stages of his career, he went on to work for other big names within both drinks and retail with senior roles at Punch Taverns and Coca-Cola. This eventually lead him towards an end of the market he has always been extremely passionate about both personally and professionally with his appointment as Chairman of Black Sheep Brewery and as a Non-Executive Director at Titanic Brewery, so the move to SIBA seemed a logical one, in an organisation he had always admired and often supported with advice behind the scenes. Since taking the helm at SIBA officially at the start of the year, Andy has been on a whirlwind tour of the country, attending every one

of SIBA’s regional meetings and getting to know SIBA members, their concerns and aspirations, better. With the independent brewing sector still experiencing some turbulent times, Andy has hit the ground running with a number of ambitious plans, including the ‘Make it 20%’ campaign, aimed at winning an increase to the Government’s proposed duty differential for draught products, as well as an overall goal of getting SIBA Members’ share of the UK beer market up from 6% to 10%. And as a passionate supporter of cask beer, Andy is determined that SIBA will also be a major force behind the new cross-industry Cask Fresh campaign that hopes to win consumers over when it comes to choosing cask. Independent Brewer’s Editor Caroline Nodder spoke to Andy back in January to hear more about his plans for SIBA and his thoughts on some of the challenges his members are currently facing…

Continued on page 39

What is your background and how did you come to work in the brewing sector?

“I started in the industry in the mid-80s at Bass, so I’ve been around for a while. I spent 12 years at Bass, both working on the brewery side and the pub side. I then spent 12 years at Coca Cola, running sales teams as their commercial sales director for all their sales to the on-trade. And then I spent five years at Punch. I was part of the turnaround team at Punch at that time working for Roger Whiteside, who went on to become the Chief Executive at Gregg’s, and at that point, I took the decision to step out of corporate life really, and get involved in a sector that I’ve always been interested in, which is independent brewing. That was when I took up positions at Black Sheep and Titanic, so it’s a sector that’s always interested me, both from a professional point of view and as a consumer. At Punch I spent some time dealing with independent brewers, when Punch Taverns joined Beerflex, so I was on the other side of the table then but I was always inspired by the energy and the enthusiasm and the entrepreneurial spirit that came out of the British independent brewing sector. SIBA was an organisation I had always admired, actually. It was a group of like-minded individuals that want to promote independent brewing and that have achieved some tremendous things over the years.”

When did you take over as SIBA’s CEO and what led you to apply for the role?

“I've actually been helping SIBA out for a while on the commercial side behind the scenes on Beerflex. Helping them develop relationships with some of the customers I know, but very much back-of-house really. And the more I got involved with SIBA, the more I liked what I saw. Not only the challenges, but the opportunities that there are for independent brewers. So when the vacancy came up, it was the logical step.”

How do you see SIBA’s key role within the UK brewing sector?

“The key role is that it's the only truly authentic voice for independent British beer. And its role is promoting our members as a force for good, not just within the beer market, but also within the communities that our members serve across the country.”

SIBA has a very diverse membership, does this make strategising at SIBA more difficult?

What are your priorities in your first few months as CEO?

“Initially, it is meeting as many of our members as possible. So I've been doing that over the last couple of months. And obviously, with my time at Black Sheep, I've got a pretty good understanding of the nuances and the challenges of running bigger independent breweries, having been very close to that for a number of years. But what I need to understand is the challenges behind running a more contemporary brewery or smaller brewery. So that's the first thing, to understand that. One of the things that has come up in the conversations I've had so far, is that there's a number of benefits of SIBA membership that aren't clear to brewers. So that's one of the things I want to focus on is promoting the benefits of SIBA membership both to SIBA members and to prospective SIBA members. We're also about to launch a big new initiative, which is the ‘Make it 20%’ campaign on lower draught duty, to increase the differential on lower draught duty to 20% from the 5% that's been announced. And then I will also be focussing on understanding the implications to brewers of the various Deposit Return Schemes that will impact us all, and helping the wonderful head office team deliver a successful BeerX.”

“It can do. But actually those smaller members I've spoken to, and I've asked them what their challenges are, they say, ‘actually my challenges are that I pay too much tax compared to my mate who runs another business, I've got a problem with access to market, I've got a problem with recruiting and retaining staff, and I've got a big concern about input costs’. So although it is a bit different, those four things affect a big brewery just as much as they affect a small brewery, just in different proportions. So, while the members might think they are different, I would suggest they’ve got a lot more in common than they have differences. All of us have got more in common with each other than any of us has with Diageo. One of the key things will be to emphasise what we do all have in common, and the fact for all of us to be successful we need to accentuate what we all have in common but recognise there will always be differences on certain things.”

SIBA is a democratic organisation, how can members make sure their views are heard by you and the board?

“One way would be to come to regional meetings. I'm just about to do a ‘world tour’ of all SIBA’s regional meetings. I'm going to all of them. And then secondly, if they can't do that, just drop me an email. And if I can't get to the brewery to pick it up personally, then we'll organise a Zoom call so we can have a chat. I've spoken to 30 or so people already. The members of the Executive, the senior management team and members, and I've found every single conversation I've had has been of use. I've picked up something from everybody that I've spoken to, that I actually hadn't thought of, or an idea about something. So I'd encourage people just to talk to me and the team.”

I was always inspired by the energy and the enthusiasm and the entrepreneurial spirit that came out of the British independent brewing sector.

Recent research is uncovering how di erent yeast strains can in uence avor and aroma by interacting with speci c hop-derived avor compounds, a process called biotransformation. The Lallemand Brewing R&D lab has identi ed speci c enzyme activities in several LalBrew® Premium strains that are important for biotransformation, including β-glucosidase and β-lyase.

Armed with this data, the brewer is well equipped to choose the best yeast for each IPA style. Lallemand Brewing is at the forefront of hop avor and aroma research and we are ready to help you with any questions about brewing hoppy beer styles.

SIBA’s lobbying work consistently tops the list of member priorities in the annual SIBA Members’ Survey, is this an area you will be heavily involved with?

“The first thing to say is that I have nothing but admiration for what SIBA has achieved in lobbying over the years. The work, particularly that Barry [Barry Watts, SIBA’s Head of Public Affairs & Policy] has done has been outstanding. I have got some experience in that area, I represented Black Sheep with government during my time there so I have an understanding of the issues affecting small brewers. My plan would be to get involved in that where I can add value over and above what Barry is doing. I'll get involved when I need to be.”

Are there any big new initiatives you’re planning this year?

“The big idea that we'll be sharing with the regions and also at the SIBA Board meeting is our aspiration to grow the SIBA member beers’ share of a thriving UK beer market from 6% to 10%. Our American cousins have 14% of the American beer market, and it's worth 25% by value. So there's no reason why SIBA members shouldn't have a 10% market share. And there are three projects we're going to be kicking off to help us achieve that. One is what help we need from government. The second one is putting together a commercial story about why independent brewery beers are the right thing for customers of all sizes - and that includes the pub companies and the supermarkets. And then the third one is what member services should we be offering if we want to grow from 6% to 10% - what help could we provide for those breweries that want to join us on that journey. But we also recognise there are many breweries I've spoken to who have said you know what, I admire your aspiration, but I'm happy where I am. And I've got no problem with that at all, whatever is right for their business. So we're working on plans in all of those areas. And if

we need more resources in certain areas, I'm happy to go to the Board and ask for them, obviously with a very well thought through business case.”

Route to market continues to be a huge issue for small independent brewers, what is your view on how SIBA should help address this?

“Members from across the country talk to me about where they believe their access to market is being restricted. I’m a passionate believer in a ‘demand pull’ rather than a ‘supply push’ beer market as I know members’ beers sell well and add to the offer of any pub and bar when they are made available. Members with concerns on access to market should email either Barry [barry.watts@siba.co.uk] or myself [andy.slee@ siba.co.uk] with specific examples of where you believe your access has been hindered.”

Cask ale has been something you have championed in your previous role at Black Sheep, what can SIBA do now to address its accelerating decline?

“Cask beer is an integral part of a vibrant beer portfolio. If you went to the marketing department of any company and said, ‘I’ve come up with a new product, which is fresh, is served in 100% recyclable containers, is consumed fairly close to the point of production so has got really good green credentials and is uniquely British’, then they'd think they’d died and gone to heaven. Yet we already have that in cask beer. And first of all, we have to promote all beer, all beer is important, but cask beer is disproportionately important to SIBA members. So we have to promote these positive aspects of cask to consumers and promote it to younger consumers that aren't aware of those merits. We're working on a cross-industry Cask Fresh campaign and we'll be supporting that through our members. That's being spearheaded by CAMRA, but we're being very active in

supporting it just to try and change the dial on attitudes to cask. As part of the research for that campaign, 18-to-24-year-olds were asked, ‘What is the freshest product in a pub?’. And their answer was, ‘bottles of Budweiser’. What that shows to me is what an appalling job the British beer industry has done in communicating something that is unique, that is fantastic, that is uniquely British. It's our fault, as an industry. We need to change that, and that’s what the Cask Fresh project is about. No SIBA member is big enough on their own to create an impact in this area. We've got to do it collectively.”

Energy price rises mean sustainability in brewing has moved from being a ‘nice to have’ to an essential. How will you be approaching this through SIBA?

“It strikes me that a number of the solutions to help members in this area are already out there. The challenge is about how we share that knowledge and information in the most effective way. So for example, Eddie Gadd is doing a really interesting CO2 recapture project [see Independent Brewer’s Winter 2022 edition for full details]. And the great thing with Eddie is he's really happy to share what he's done. So one of the challenges here sharing that kind of best practice as opposed to having to reinvent the wheel. If there are things already out there that are working, how do we share that to a broader forum as quickly as we can? One of the ways we can use which has been quite successful is webinars – this is something the American Brewers Association do really successfully. We can invite people online to a webinar on a particular topic, they can attend live or we can record it and put it online so they can watch it whenever they like. We've got a couple of those coming up, one is on the Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland, and we've got one planned on the changes we've made to Beerflex, and how that can help people's businesses. And we're looking for other topics so environmental issues and energy savings will no doubt be right up there.”

Continued on page 43

I have nothing but admiration for what SIBA has achieved in lobbying over the years. The work, particularly that Barry Watts, SIBA’s Head of Public Affairs & Policy has done has been outstanding.

Do you think the pandemic has permanently changed consumer attitudes to craft beer in the UK market?

“People are more inclined to support local businesses post pandemic, and particularly those businesses that supported their communities during lockdown. And there’s a really strong franchise for independent brewers’ beers in communities across the land. What we've got to do is create an environment in which that’s allowed to thrive.”

Do you anticipate significant brewery closures within the sector in 2023?

“The economic outlook is challenging for everybody in every sector. And there's no doubt there will be continuing challenges, but it is important not to talk ourselves into a downward spiral. The thing SIBA can do is support our members who are concerned about the future. Napthens, who are the company solicitors, offer a free hour’s advice to SIBA members and there have been a number of brewers ringing up concerned about the future and how they can be helped. Almost inevitably, Napthens say, in almost 100% of cases people ring up about two months too late. So one of the key things is to use that free advice as a SIBA member if you are concerned but take that advice early.”

SIBA members are generally nimble and hugely innovative. Who do you see succeeding in the current market?

“I think those brewers who have got more control over their route to consumer are the ones that I sense are doing best. So they've got retail outlets, whether it's a brewery tap or pub or bar, or they've got a really good website with a good loyal membership base, those are the ones that have really impressed. Those that are doing that are innovative in terms of styles of beer, and don't compromise on quality. It is quite easy when times are tough to compromise on quality. And then there are initiatives like Eddie Gadd’s which are looking at longer term thinking, and are potentially game changing for everybody.”

Who do you most admire in the beer and brewing sector and why?

“I had a really good, informative call with Bob Pease, the Chief Executive of the American Brewers Association, just before Christmas. And the clouds parted a little bit, because there are many similarities in the two markets, and we can share experiences in the two markets. So that gives me confidence that there are other people facing the same challenges as we have. He would definitely be one person I admire, and in fact he is speaking this year at BeerX UK in Liverpool in March. In brewing, I don't want to pick any individual out, but in all the

conversations I've had I would come back to that point that I've picked up something from everybody I've spoken to. Everybody has something to contribute, and I admire anyone running an independent brewery in the UK today.”

What interests do you have outside of work?

“I’m married with two kids and live in Stoke on Trent. My main interests outside work are cricket, which I played competitively up until a couple of years ago and football. I have been a season ticket holder at Stoke City for more years than is good for my sanity! I also always have some music on – my tastes are as varied as Joy Division, Julian Cope, Underworld, Sigur Ros and The Fall.”

What do you love most about beer and brewing?

“The people. Simple. The sector attracts a certain type of person. They're a social convivial, friendly, bunch. And I'm still in touch with people that I joined Bass with back in 1987. I'm still in touch with people from every company that I've worked for. It's just a great environment to work in. And if you're in trouble, you know you can pick up the phone to somebody, and somebody will always help you out.”

There’s a really strong franchise for independent brewers’ beers in communities across the land. What we've got to do is create an environment in which that’s allowed to thrive.

Taproom focus with Charlie Docherty

SIBA’s Business Development Officer highlights some of the best taprooms from across the UK…

Name: Werewolf Beer

Founded: 2019

Location: Camden, London

Taproom Hours: Fridays 16:00 to 21:00 / Saturdays 12:00 to 21:00 / Sundays 14:00 to 21:00

Check out their social media for upcoming events.

Werewolf Beer was founded in April 2019 by Rich White, an American brewer in London, with the intention of being 'An American Brewery in London'. They were on track to open in mid-2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic intervened. They successfully raised over £30,000, and after some pilot batches at nearby pub The Rose & Crown, finally threw open their doors in April 2022.

The beers are brewed on site, and the majority of the brewery’s output goes through the taproom. My recommendations? Start with a pint of Moonstomp. It’s a rice lager, which they describe as sitting somewhere between an American and Japanese style of lager. It requires a lot of skill to brew this kind of beer, and having tried a couple of batches of it, I can confirm it’s always great - the sort of beer that doesn’t obstruct conversation.

There’s also Psychobilly - a Pale Ale packed with classic American hops - it’s clear, it’s piney and it's citrusy - it’s great. For food, they often have hotdogs fresh from the steamer, and pizza from local slice-slingers True Romance.

For those marking their Taproom bingo cards, the usual features are here: it’s in a railway arch, there are communal tables and seating with no back support, and you’re within touching distance of the brew kit. Less usual are the decorations - a skeleton in a coffin, a mummy and haunted house cars that double up as extra seating. Every new taproom has to find its own way to embed itself in the local community, and Werewolf has used its space to host book launches, pre-parties for gigs in Camden’s many live venues, and exhibitions for American artists in London. In the future, look out for events around the 4th July, and Halloween - they’re sure to be great parties!

Big recent news - they’ve just got a glass washer, so you can enjoy your beers in proper pint glasses.

If you’re wanting to turn your trip to Werewolf into a North London brewery tour, you can head one stop east on the overground and visit Hammerton brewery, and then a few more stops and you’re in Hackney Wick, and Howling Hops’ tank bar.

Taproom focus: Werewolf Beer

Should we care more about malt?

Should we care more about malt? As a maltster, I am bound to answer that question in the affirmative. Of course, all maltsters care a lot about malt. And so do a lot of brewers. But, in my experience, there are a number of the new generation of brewers who appear to think that malt is ...just malt!

What makes me think that? Well, if you ask these brewers to name the varieties of hops they use, they will reel them off, just like that. Ask them the variety of barley they use, unless it is Maris Otter, some will hesitate, they do not know! Why is this, and does it really matter?

Malt matters

As malt is the main ingredient of beer, some say ‘the body of beer’, surely it does matter. So how is it, we in the malting industry appear to have collectively failed to ensure that in all cases our customers not only know the specifications of the malts they buy, but also know, and fully understand, the variety, or varieties, we are supplying to them? So that they know their malts intimately, like they know their hops? Sadly, the answer lies in the commoditisation of malt which has needed to overlook this detail, enabling the blending of different varieties according to availability and price. We are talking about malt production driven by economics, another victim of the industrialisation of food and drink.

Who was it who first assumed that all barley

varieties are mostly the same, taste the same, and that barleys from all regions are more or less the same? Back in the 1950’s and 1960’s, when Sales Maltsters were busy persuading family brewing companies to close their on-site maltings, and, instead, buy from the Sales Maltsters, all the malting barley across the UK was a single variety named Proctor. So, I can understand why maltsters then may have avoided talking about individual barleys, or where they came from. But today, with our constant change in varieties, and with what we now know, I think this subject requires closer interrogation. I will try to explain why.

Flavour

When it comes to flavour, barley varieties present a wide spectrum, from the very malty, biscuity Maris Otter, backwards across to milder flavours, and on to some varieties that are almost totally bland. The malting process enhances the flavours that exist, but the finished malts coming out are only as good as the raw material going in.

What now appears to be happening, our new varieties of barley are declining in flavour. Our modern-day barley breeders are not breeding for maltsters and brewers, they are breeding for farmers, because it is the farmers who reward them with Royalties, when they buy new seed. So new varieties are selected, first and foremost, for their agronomic performance. Malting and brewing qualities are secondary, if not by

chance. Even then, breeders dwell on physical and chemical attributes; I observe no mention of flavour profiling!

My concern is, the selection of new barleys is now coming from a relatively small pool of former successful varieties, and this selection continues to exaggerate agronomic performance, and in the process dilutes other virtues, such as flavour. If we are not careful, before very long, we could easily get back to a point where, once again, the malt variety will not matter. But for all the wrong reasons, surely totally unacceptable to brewers!

Off flavours

There is one thing far worse than barley varieties lacking in flavour, that is a barley which does not taste very nice. We had this back in 2007; the then new Spring malting barley ‘Tipple’ presented flavours that were described by professional tasting panels as “astringent and bitter, not very nice at all”! These flavours were found to transmit right through to the beer. Could this happen again? The malting industry screens new barley varieties for distinct ‘off flavours’, but only after it has been malted and made into beer. They missed ‘Tipple’, so perhaps they should screen raw barley, or malt, for ‘off flavours’, or even establish flavour profiles for comparison. No Craft Brewer wants to be handicapped by something like that again.

Robin Appel is Maltings Principal at Warminster Maltings Ltd, Britain’s oldest working maltings. Here, he considers why malt is sometimes unfairly treated as a second class citizen when it comes to flavour…

Climate

Climate change is beginning to impact our domestic barley crop. Forever, East Anglia has been dubbed the source of the finest malting barleys, and that is why the malting industry is concentrated all along our Eastern seaboard. But this area is now becoming much drier, and despite parts of this region being blessed with the preferred barley soil type, the Icknield Series, grain size is shrinking. For the best barleys it is now necessary to follow the Icknield soils south, to where they spill across the counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset, where there is currently a bit more rain across the summer months.

Local

Is ‘local’ not part of the mantra that is craft beer? Whilst it may not be possible for every brewer to have malt made from barley grown just down the road from the brewery, is there not some merit in being able to claim the origin of the malt? To at least be able to refer to the region where the barley was grown will, almost certainly, have some resonance with the younger members of our society. We are constantly reminded that these people are far more concerned than their parents ever were about the origins and ingredients of their food and drink. Part of their satisfaction, and their enjoyment, is understanding and appreciating this, and we are told they will probably pay more in return!

Process

Of course, I am bound to round-up with this - the malting process can definitely make a difference. We are back to the economics again, pneumatic malting (the modern factory method) versus the very traditional method of ‘floor malting’, which we still retain at Warminster.

Pneumatic malting was first invented in the mid 19th century, and it was always promoted as more economical - less labour, reduced space - it was never claimed to produce a superior product. But it could not immediately be taken up in Britain because our industry was governed, and restricted, by the rigorous rules and regulations of The Malt Tax. However, this tax was repealed in 1880, and the doors to the new technology were finally opened. But the first projects did not impress! In fact it was widely reported that this new method “could not produce the quality of malt that brewers demand”. So maltsters, and brewers, went back to building even bigger and more grand ‘floor maltings’. Witness the Bass investment at Sleaford, in Lincolnshire: eight blocks of malt floors, each six stories high, with a 1,000 ft frontage, which opened in 1906. The last ‘floor maltings’ to be built in this country, in Grantham, began production in 1952 (now closed).

I cannot speak for others, but at Warminster there is no ‘blueprint’ for our ‘floor malting’

process. Our interventions on the germination floors are 7 or 8 times per every 24 hours, and are always determined by the progress of the ‘green malt’ in order to maximise the extract for our customers. We are advised when we get it exactly right, which we mostly do, the pay back, compared to pneumatic malt, can be up to 5 firkins of extra beer from a single tonne of our malt. A rich reward indeed!

So there you have it. All the way up to the millennium, Marstons Brewery insisted on all it’s malt being ‘floor made’, and today ‘floor malting’ is the choice of brewers all around the world who really do care about their barley and their malt. But, sadly, the UK has little ‘floor’ capacity left now, to meet this growing demand. Even so, I am concerned about brewers who say to me the price of malt is what matters most. To them I say, think again. After all, each £100 per tonne of the malt price is equal to just one penny of the price of a pint of beer. It cannot possibly be a limiting factor. And I am certain Craft Beer enthusiasts would be far happier to know that brewers care as much about their malt as they do about their hops. They are both magical ingredients, and both should share the same status and provenance. Neither of them should ever be taken for granted.

Find out more at www.warminster-malt.co.uk

The malting process enhances the flavours that exist, but the finished malts coming out are only as good as the raw material going in.

Renegade Master

Ian Rogers, the Managing Director of newly launched Renegade Brewery, is something of an industry legend having over 30 years ago, at the age of only 27, founded Wychwood Brewery, and created the now iconic Hobgoblin beer brand. More recently he has been called out of retirement to launch a new business, Renegade Brewery, from the ashes of the failed West Berkshire Brewery (WBB) operation which fell into administration in 2021. Ian’s journey in beer began at the tender age of 14 when he started homebrewing in the family bathroom, before eventually turning down a place at Loughborough University in favour of going straight to work. After stints at Bass and Allied, working for the managed division of Halls of Oxford, he ended up selling his house to fund the purchase of a small local brewery, then called Glenny Brewery, which he relaunched in 1990 as Wychwood, a pioneering and fiercely independent brewery. Wychwood’s flagship

ale Hobgoblin broke new ground at the time as an independent premium bottled ale in a part of the market dominated until then by beers from larger breweries. After he sold Wychwood, Ian went on to head up Randalls Brewery in Guernsey which he did until retiring in 2020. That retirement was short-lived, and in late 2021 be was enticed back into the sector by the Yattendon Group, which successfully bid for the assets of the failed WBB operation and asked Ian to head up a new brewery operation on the same rural site. The WBB plant, estimated to have cost £12M, was picked up with other business assets for a rumoured price of just over £3M, and in September last year Renegade Brewery was launched on the same site. Independent Brewer’s Caroline Nodder caught up with Ian in early January to find out how it feels to be back in the industry and how he’s gone about turning the business around…

Business Basics

You have been involved in the brewing sector since the early 1990s. Tell us a bit more about your background and how you originally came to found Wychwood.

Name: Renegade Brewery

Founded: WBB assets acquired December 2021, Renegade launched September 2022

Location: Yattendon, Berkshire

Owners: The Yattendon Group

Annual production: 20,000hl (including contract brewing)

Brewing team: 6

Total Staff: 60 (including taproom)

Flagship beers: Good Old Boy (4% ABV best bitter), Renegade Lager (4.1% ABV lager), Queensbury

Jack IPA (6.2% ABV IPA) & Brewski

Peach Lager (4.1% ABV lager)

Production split: (25% own production, 75% contract brewed) 25% draught (split roughly 50/50 keg to cask) & 75% small pack

Key export markets: Just sent first container to Eastern Europe

“I decided at 14 when I started brewing beer in the family bathroom that I wanted to own a brewery and pubco. That was 1976 and coincided with the inauguration of CAMRA - I tried to become a member but was not allowed because I was underage. I had a confirmed place to read Economics at Loughborough Uni, deferred my place for a year, began working for Duracell, and then decided to give University a miss. I joined Bass in 1984, with my first boss being Peter Swinburn who later became the worldwide CEO of Coors. I worked for 18 months for Peter on sales and then transferred to managed houses, and left Bass in 1987 to join Allied, looking after managed houses in the West Country for Halls of Oxford and in 1989 transferring to take over Oxford city.

"In 1990 at age 27 I sold my family house and used the proceeds to buy the Witney based Glenny Brewery from Paddy Glenny. I immediately changed the brewery name from Glenny to Wychwood. In 1992 Paul Adams, the ex-Finance Director of the Firkin pubs, joined me as a partner in the business and we opened our first two ‘Hobgoblin’ managed houses in Staines and High Wycombe. By the end of 1993 we had six pubs and 3i joined us as an investor. The Wychwood brewery grew rapidly from 1990 in part due to focussed marketing on the Wychwood forest legends of witches, goblins and fairies and the fact that the Government had introduced the ‘Beer Orders’ in 1989 which allowed big company tenancies to have the freedom to purchase a guest beer.”

How would you compare the independent beer market now in 2023 with that of the 1990s?

“The competition is much, much stiffer now. So back in 1990, there were only 100 or so small independent breweries. Me taking over Glenny and turning it into Wychwood was in 1990 which was only a year after the 1989 Beer orders, which basically stopped the national brewers, who all owned around 6,000 pubs, having vertical integration. So they basically said you’re either a brewer, or you're a pub company. I mean, they circumnavigated it and it never really changed. But the one thing that did change was that those pubs that were owned by the big companies were allowed to have a guest cask beer. So that did make life much easier. You had to make great beer, then produce a pump clip, and if it was good, it would sell. Whereas nowadays, it's a hugely

declining cask ale market, mainly because of the growth in craft. And all the young, educated type people that are between 18 and 39 have moved over to craft because the flavours are more fulfilling. You can get sour beer and hazy beer and IPAs, and the craft beer in pubs and bottle or can is always consistent. I am a cask ale drinker, but the big difference now is that you are able to go and say, ‘can I try that beer?’, and they think you're trying the beer because you haven't tried it before, but I'm trying it to make sure it's in good condition. And if it's in good condition, I'll have a pint. If it's not, I'll have a Guinness. That is the issue that we have. More younger people are moving away from cask and go into craft, which means there are less people drinking cask, which means that the beer is not getting such good throughputs, so the beer is not always in such great condition. So the pumps are going from four pumps to three pumps from three pumps to two pumps, there's less variety. And it's just an ever-decreasing circle as far as I can see. I have a theory about why craft has grown. I believe that each generation wants to drink something different from the older generation. You had my generation which was all about CAMRA and the resumption of fantastic cask beer. And now my kids don't want to drink cask, they don’t want to drink the same as their Dad, they want to drink craft.”

How did you come to grow Hobgoblin into the iconic ale brand it became?

“We made the original Hobgoblin beer as a wedding beer for the daughter of the landlord of the Plough in a little village called Kingham. Initially it was a 6.5% strong ruby ale and some of it ended up going to an off-licence, ‘The Grog Shop’, in the Jericho district of Oxford where back in the day they served draught beer in containers. The following day The Grog Shop came back and said they needed another three firkins, and the reason it had sold so well was that a student who was working part-time at the off-licence had re-named the beer Hobgoblin. So I asked a friend of mine to illustrate the Hobgoblin and we launched it as a draught beer, eventually lowering the ABV to 5%. The USA didn’t do cask ale and had no or zero access to the keg lager market and so instead concentrated on weird and wonderful European/UK style beers, ales, stouts, porters and put them in bottles.

"I took a leaf out of this approach and decided that the UK off-trade market could also do with a shake-up. In 1995, with the help of Ed Org and Dave Noonan the illustrator and graphic designer, we launched Hobgoblin bottled beer with what I believe was the first pictorial bottled

Continued on page 51

beer label in the UK off-trade market, we used gold leaf embossed full colour labels and an hourglass clear flint bottle with a Goblin and the words “Fiercely Independent” embossed on the bottle. Independent chain Unwins took the bottles first, quickly followed by Tesco. Within a year Hobgoblin was the 5th biggest selling bottled ale in the UK.”

What was it that enticed you out of retirement to launch Renegade?

“I live about half an hour from here [Yattendon], and I was buying an electric mountain bike. And the best electric mountain bike shop is next to the brewery. So I came in to the shop and saw the brewery and then heard that it was going into administration. And when it did go into administration, every man and his dog were looking at the business, including a well-known Scottish independent that wanted it as a Southern base, so they visited, and some well-known regional brewers visited. But the people that own all the land here, including the bike shop and the brewery building, and were renting the premises to the West Berkshire Brewery are The Yattendon Group and they had a liking for it as well. So they took it over on the 23rd of December [2021] and bought the assets. When they delivered my bike on the 6th of January [2022], the guy at the bike shop asked if I knew who had bought the brewery and when I said I was interested and what my background was he gave me the number of

We decided to change the name to Renegade Brewery. We've now got a group of beers, based on a group of runaway characters, adventurers, misfits that are ‘the Renegades’.

the Estates Manager. So I spoke to the Estates Manager and the next day I went to see the owner of the Yattendon Group and said, ‘I think I can probably fix it for you. But I only want to do three years and then I want to go back to Guernsey’. So I joined on the 6th of April [2022] and I've now done nine months.”

What would you say the key mistakes made by West Berkshire Brewery were and how have you gone about turning things around?

“The brewery was started in 1995 by a guy called Dave Maggs. And of course, I know Dave Maggs, because they were local to me when I was at Wychwood. He then grew the business. He had a great product called Good Old Boy, which is a fabulous product. And these guys from the City, then bought him out in 2017/18, and built the brewery here in 2018. And it was too big. This brewery could quite easily do 80,000hl. You don’t go from the

beer sales they had to this. They had a brewery that was much too big and they didn’t have the brand to make it work. They did have great cask ale, but they needed to embrace the craft beer industry, and they hadn't embraced it enough. They quite rightly were brewing and packaging for other people but they weren't making enough profit. It's taken six months to get our new branding up and running. But we do think we have a good enough craft offering now and we are continuing with the cask ale as well.”

Have you come across any challenges with the turnaround?

"When the business went down, it had raised quite a lot of money on crowdfunding over the previous years. And anybody that did invest in the crowdfunding gets the opportunity of looking at the previous year's accounts. And then they invest. And I think the reason they invested is the people around here, within a 20 mile radius, they love Good Old Boy, they love the business. They love coming to the brewery, because it is spectacular. So my theory is that people that love the beer would walk in here and see how fabulous is this, think ‘they must be doing great, here's my money’. Whereas really, they needed to do a little bit more checking. They all lost their money. And there were somewhere between 1,500 to 2,000. Some of those were just a few £100s, and some of those were lots of money. We then took over the business. But it kept the name, we couldn't

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Business Profile: Renegade Brewery

change the name to something else automatically. So what happened was a lot of people in the area that loved our beer, let's say they drink in the Dog and Duck, that used to do five or six firkins a week of Good Old Boy. And they say to the landlord, 'if you take their beer, we will not drink in here anymore'. That has been quite a challenge. So we're gradually mending hearts and minds really. It helped a lot when we switched to Renegade in September. And we sent out an olive branch to all the shareholders, and said: 'Look, it wasn't us that lost your money, we just picked up the assets of the company. But we would like you to still be fans of the new brewery, which is the Renegade, and if you'd like to become a bronze member of our club, which entitles you to 10% off this and 10% off food and free this we’ll give it to you free for a year'. We picked up 500 in a few weeks, so that is good, but we haven't got back into all the pubs that we want to be in yet.”

What is the concept behind Renegade’s beers?

“In about 2015, my head brewer at Randalls, Matt Polli, a brilliant guy, said to me, ‘Why don’t we do a 3D beer?’ Back when we did Hobgoblin we were probably the first to do 2D labels, in other words a pictorial label. This would be 3D, making a model of a character we called Queensbury Jack and creating a 3D pumpclip. So we had this idea but never did anything with it, but we took ownership of the concept and the model. And when I was contacted about WBB I liked the idea because it meant I could finally do something with Queensberry Jack. I knew that in transforming this failed business we needed to work heavily with the craft beer industry, that we needed to focus on craft, but also not throw the baby out with the bathwater and continue with the cask ales. I contacted Dave Noonan [who worked on the packaging and pumpclip designs for Hobgoblin] while I was driving to the brewery one day, and wherever you come into the village of Yattendon, you have to drive through a forest. The next day he phoned me with an idea for the concept for the brewery and Queensbury Jack, with the beers being this group of characters that have left the world of Covid, and the war in the Ukraine and high gas and oil prices behind and just gone to live in the forest. So there was our narrative. I’ve done two Queensberry Jack beers, one at 6.2%, a traditional IPA, which we do on draft, but it's mainly a canned beer. And then we've done a session Queensbury Jack, which is 4.8%. And then WBB already had a Renegade lager, and they did actually set up a company called Renegade, but they never used it, they carried on calling it West Berkshire. We needed the name to change and I liked the name, so we decided to change the name to Renegade Brewery. We've now got a group of beers, based on a group of runaway characters, adventurers, misfits that are ‘the Renegades’. I wanted our stuff to stand

Continued on page 55

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REDUCE PROCESS COST

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We have a difference here, we're much bigger, the plant here is incredible. So I want to try and eventually get our beers into the bigger operators.

out. I think we do make the best possible beer. But there's a lot more to selling beer than just having fantastic quality beer, you've got to make it look desirable to the consumer, and I think ours do look desirable to the consumer.”

How will you make Renegade stand out from the crowd?

“We have a difference here, we're much bigger, the plant here is incredible. So I want to try and eventually get our beers into the bigger operators. In a similar way to someone like Beavertown I don't want to sell my beer cheap for £1 a can and I don't think I need to sell my beer at £6.50 a can, but we can make equally great beer at somewhere in between those figures. So we will have our standard beers, which are fabulous, the new lager that we've got, Renegade Master, they've never done a 5.1% one before and it's absolutely fantastic. But we will also do the specialist hazy one-offs too. And eventually we're big enough to be able to get into one of the better supermarkets with this stuff, because we're already with the supermarkets but with our Good Old Boy [4% ABV traditional best bitter]. It’s a long process. We are going to remain independent, because that's the way that the business wants to be, they want this as a long term business.”

What are your key goals for the business in 2023 and beyond?

“We have to increase sales of our own beer by 50%. So not only have I got fabulous looking canned beer, that tastes great. We're also doing the 3D pump clip, which I think is key. It's quite unique. And when we've put it into my son's

pub, the Star in Oxford, literally people walk up to the bar they look at it and they go, ‘What's that?’ And they have a taste, ‘I like that, I’ll have a pint of that, please.’ That's how it works. So we believe that we can possibly get to a 50% increase in our own beer sales. And then we are increasing our brew and pack third party contracts by 50%. And we've already managed to do that - we picked up 8,000hl in the last month. We are developing our online sales and we've just gone live with Amazon as well.”

How are you approaching the issue of sustainability?

“I'm glad you asked this question because we're right at the forefront of this. We are building a water treatment plant to treat our effluent and return it to the ground. And we've got loads of ground for it to return to. We're installing solar panels on our huge roof space. And solar will be able to supply all the electricity that we need, including charging, and we’re changing our drays from diesel to electric. We're installing our own nitrogen plant, literally at the moment, which will see a reduction in our CO2 use. We're growing our own barley, because we've got 12,000 acres. We're looking at establishing a hop garden, which will mean that we're nearly self-sufficient because we have a borehole that we're going to start using for our own water as well. So we'd then have our own water, our own malted barley, our own hops, and we will re-use our yeast with the yeast propagation system. We are also recycling all our materials - cardboard, plastic, metals, glass, food and batteries. Nothing from here goes to landfill.”

What does success look like to you?

“I have been very lucky. I've had two successful brewery and pub company businesses. I grew my first brewery from small beginnings to a £30 million turnover business and a household name beer before I was 40. I transformed Randalls of Guernsey into a vibrant brewery, distillery, wine merchant and pub company. And success here will be to establish Renegade Brewery as a successful, profitable business. With recognised beer brands in both craft and traditional cask, that in time will become household names. To be known for producing amazing, flavoursome beers, and make this company a place where everyone that works here is happy in their work and proud of what we do.”

Who do you most admire in the craft beer sector and why?

“I've worked with lots of amazing people. I couldn't have achieved the success at Wychwood and Randalls without them. But I have worked with two standout characters. The first one was my first boss at Bass. He had great focus, attention to detail, intellect and was good at setting goals for the future. And I learned a lot from him. That's a guy called Peter Swinburne. And the other person was James Coyle, who worked for me as a sales director. I think he is an exceptional talent. He was at Innis & Gunn and I think he's at Freedom at the moment. Then in the craft sector, I admire Verdant, Deya and Beak. I know nothing about them. But I like what they're doing. And I like their beer. They are merchants of quality.”

American craft brewing trends and insights

Lotte Peplow, The Brewers Association’s American craft beer Ambassador for Europe, looks at how American craft brewers can continue to stay relevant, and explores current trends impacting the craft beer market…

The Brewers Association, the not-forprofit trade organisation representing small and independent American craft brewers, conducts an annual consumer survey** looking at trends within the American craft beer industry. In this article we take a highlevel look at what’s going on today.

Increased Competition

One of the primary reasons craft beer consumption is slowing is due to increased competition within the beverage alcohol space. With more choice than ever before American craft brewers are facing stiff competition from wine, liquor, spirits, seltzer, cider, FMBs (flavoured malt beverages), RTDs (ready to drink) and more. In the survey, the number of consumers indicating increased consumption over a 12-month period decreased from 14% of respondents in 2017 to 7% in 2022. Furthermore, 11% of American craft beer drinkers claim they drink less craft beer now because they drink more of something else, up from 8% in 2017. And 90% of weekly craft beer drinkers say they drink at least one other beverage alcohol category weekly. When a consumer walks into a bar these days they’re not thinking “what craft beer shall I try first” they’re thinking “what beverage alcohol shall I buy today.”

Brewery Count Growth

Despite competition from other beverage alcohol categories, beer remains a dominant beverage in America today. Craft brewers* accounted for 13.1% by volume and 26.8% by financial value of the total U.S. beer market. There are approximately 9,500 American craft breweries and, despite the last three challenging years, the number of breweries has continued to grow, albeit

more slowly. The number of openings and closings is expected to balance out this year as the industry moves into a more mature pattern of growth.

Flavours

Survey respondents were asked which flavours they were interested in versus a year ago and these included crisp, juicy/hazy, dark, malty, hoppy, spicy (yeasty) and tart. Crisp is overwhelmingly the dominant flavour showing steady growth over the last five years. Crisp holds interest among all craft beer drinkers from those who drink daily to those who only indulge several times a year. Crisp is also the most popular flavour profile amongst all age groups.

Juicy/hazy flavours were also popular, up 9% in the last three years, and appeal to consumers under 54. Tart beers are the least popular and polarising by age with the 45+ age group not keen on them, but 50% of people say they’re more interested in tart than they were a year ago.

Demographics

The American craft brewing industry is a maturing market. Breweries are getting older as are beer drinkers. This brings opportunities but also challenges as breweries will need to do more to reinvent themselves and stay relevant to the next generation of beer drinkers. In 2030 the American Census Bureau projects there’ll be as many legal drinking age population Gen Zs (born between 1945 and 1965) as Baby Boomers (born between 1996 and 2010) and 15 million more Millenials (born between 1981 and 1995) as both the former categories.

In the last 10 years the age of the craft beer drinker has gone up 1.5 years and if that trend continues over time we’ll see the craft beer demographic continuing to age. A few years ago Millenials may have been on higher incomes and drank more high end products but now they’re aging or moving out of that stage and drinking less or adapting their consumption accordingly. A more mature market requires brewers to think about finding new niches for growth. Another important factor is knowing your consumer base and matching the flavour profile in your beers with their preferences.

Attributes

The next generation of craft beer drinkers is showing greater interest in what goes into their beer. Weekly craft beer drinkers were asked what attributes they were interested in such as local ingredients, low carb, low ABV, organic, low calorie, gluten-free, smaller formats etc. Local ingredients ranked highest, followed by lower ABV and low calories.

Some of the trends we’re seeing in the broader alcohol beverage category are only going to intensify within craft beer as the incoming generation of beer drinkers clearly cares more about these attributes than previous generations. The youngest segment, 21–24-year-olds, showed stronger interest in these attributes than in the past. For example, a beer drinker who cares about calories at 21 is going to care a lot more about them at 34 because in general calories become more important as people age. The number of respondents not interested in any of the attributes dropped from 37% in 2019 to 27% in 2022.

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Importance of ABV

Alcohol by volume (ABV), particularly higher and lower ABV, is becoming more important to craft beer consumers and driving trends in the market where beers of 4% and below are growing and 6/7/8% and above are also growing.

Respondents were asked how important ABV is to them and 72% of craft drinkers said that it was at least somewhat important rising to 82% of weekly craft drinkers. Nearly half of all weekly craft beer drinkers said ABV was very important to them. Attributes like ABV, calories. gluten-free etc are becoming more important on beer labelling and making them visible on packaging, tap handle or font is key.

Craft Beer Styles and Trends

IPAs remain the dominant style in the American craft beer world accounting for approximately one third of the craft beer market. Part of IPA’s success stems from the category’s continual evolution. A category formerly marked by high bitterness is now inviting a new and growing segment of beer drinkers seeking less bitter, juicier, and hazy profiles in addition to the classic American IPA.

Lagers and lighter styles are also growing. Some of this growth may be due to the effects of the generational shift as an aging population moves towards lighter styles but it may also be because the latest legal drinking age (LDA) drinkers grew up, and are more accustomed to, craft beer as an option than previous generations. The majority of the beer market is lager so if craft brewers can find a way to unlock the potential for craft lager, and convince consumers to pay the price for quality, there’s an opportunity for breweries.

In 2016 three quarters of craft beer drinkers thought style first brand second when making their purchasing decisions, but over time the

brand is becoming more important and more relevant. Craft beer drinkers are more confident in their choices because they know the brands they like and this is particularly the case as drinkers age. Style still wins but consumers now think 60:40 style v brand when purchasing beer whereas in 2016 the figure was 75:25 style v brand.

Innovation

In general the craft beer industry needs to find new niches to grow, new places to sell, new innovations, new customers and new preferences. Brewers should be asking themselves what else they could do to make their business more successful.

A good example of innovation is the nonalcohol sector which represents 0.5% of the overall craft beer market. This may not seem much but when compared to other subsets of the market it’s a good chunk and it’s growing. Trial and discovery, particularly in January, stimulates the market and leads to steady growth. In America the biggest volume driver for the non-alcohol sector corresponds with that for the beer industry in general, ie. in the summer months, particularly in the week leading up to Independence Day on 4th July.

The UK is the largest export market in Europe and second biggest individual export market for American craft beer accounting for 8.4% of all exports. American craft brewers pioneered the global trend for craft beer and their brewing skill, creativity and relentless innovation produces world-class quality beers that are popular throughout the world and regularly win top honours at prestigious international beer competitions. Last autumn, American craft beers won a total of 85 medals at three high profile global competitions.

Craft Brewers Conference

And, there’s still time to register for the Brewers

Association’s Craft Brewers Conference® & BrewExpo America® (CBC™), America’s largest gathering of the craft brewing industry, and World Beer Cup which is taking place in Nashville, Tennessee, 7-10th May 2023. The Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) delivers concentrated, affordable brewing education and idea sharing to improve brewery quality and performance. More than 11,000 brewing industry professionals will have the opportunity to meet with 500 exhibitors and hear from 200 speakers during 70+ seminars across ten different relevant educational tracks ranging from brewery operations to sustainability and government affairs. The World Beer Cup, often referred to as ‘the Olympics of Beer’ is expected to be the most competitive to date with more than 11,000 entries anticipated from around the world. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony on 10th May. CBC registration closes on 29th April 2023.

Lotte Peplow is the American Craft Beer Ambassador for Europe for the Brewers Association and is based in London, UK. She is a Certified Cicerone®, BDI accredited Beer Sommelier, beer writer, author, beer communicator, international beer judge, homebrewer and beer lover.

Don’t miss Bob Pease, CEO/ President of the Brewers Association’s keynote speech at SIBA BeerX in Liverpool at 4pm on Wednesday 15th March.

The Brewers Association publishes a wealth of resources to help brewers, importers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers understand and enjoy craft beer, downloadable free of charge from www.brewersassociation.org

*According to the Brewers Association definition

** Harris Poll 2022, among 1,900 US adults aged 21+

In general the craft beer industry needs to find new niches to grow, new places to sell, new innovations, new customers and new preferences. Brewers should be asking themselves what else they could do to make their business more successful.

- Determination of alcohol, density, extract, and further quality parameters

- Optional measurement of turbidity, color, and pH value, based on your needs

- Easiest analysis of beer, wine, and spirits in various production stages - Full compliance with standard reference methods

COMPLETE BEVERAGE ANALYSIS IN ONE MEASURING CYCLE FROM RAW MATERIAL TO FINISHED PRODUCT

the UK’s biggest beer & brewing event

BeerX UK 2023, set to take place on the 15th and 16th of March at Exhibition Centre Liverpool, is the biggest trade event in the UK for beer and brewing businesses, homebrewers and craft beer retailers.

www.beerx.org

Attracting over 3,000 attendees from the beer industry last year, it is attended by brewers and homebrewers, as well as beer retailers, buyers and industry professionals looking to expand their knowledge, discover the UK’s best independent craft beers, view the latest brewing equipment, ingredients and services, or network with others from across the industry. Featuring a packed schedule of expert workshops, panel debates, networking opportunities, a huge trade show of supplier products and services, and the SIBA AGM – plus a trade-only beer showcase exclusively featuring awardwinning independent craft beers in cask, keg, bottle and can – BeerX UK 2023 is seeking to build on the record attendance recorded in 2022 with what is shaping up to be a must-attend event.

The SIBA International Beer Awards, Homebrew Beer Awards & National Independent Beer Awards will all take place at BeerX 2023

The new SIBA International Beer Awards 2023 and SIBA Homebrew Beer Awards 2023 will make their debut at BeerX, alongside the National finals in the SIBA Independent Beer Awards – the culmination of 12 months of regional heats across the UK.

The SIBA International Beer Awards welcome breweries from across the globe to enter beer across a variety of internationally recognised style categories – all judged by some of the UK’s most experienced beer judges, Beer Sommeliers, and Master Brewers.

Entry into the awards is included as part of the SIBA’s newly launched International Brewing Membership, which also includes a range of membership benefits such as free entry to the UK’s biggest beer and brewing event – BeerX UK in Liverpool.

Free to enter for SIBA Homebrewer members, the SIBA Homebrew Beer Awards be judged by professional brewers at BeerX and give homebrewers the chance to see their beer professionally brewed at an award-winning brewery.

This year SIBA has partnered exclusively with Yakima Chief Hops to provide Homebrewer members with their new experimental hop HBC 586 which has been described as “a large medley of fruit flavours…mango, guava, lychee, citrus with herbal notes.” Entrants are challenged to brew the best single hop pale ale which showcases the full potential of this exciting new hop variety.

Kegstar will return as Headline Sponsors in 2023, extending their four-year partnership with the event

SIBA’s Head of Comms & Marketing Neil Walker welcomed Kegstar as headline sponsors for 2023: “Kegstar has helped BeerX grow into the worldclass beer and brewing event it is today, and we are hugely grateful for their continued support as we look to collaborate with them as Headline Sponsors for the next three years. Container care is a huge worry for all breweries and Kegstar works closely with breweries of all sizes to offer a solution that works for them, whilst offering friendly and flexible customer service. They’ll be available throughout BeerX if you’re interested in a chat, some table tennis, or a beer!”

A new “Empowering People” Award will be included in the Business Awards 2023, seeking to highlight the best breweries in the UK to work for.

The new award will put a spotlight on independent craft breweries who go above and beyond for the members of their team; empowering people to achieve more in their professional career, introducing initiatives and incentives which create a positive working environment, making efforts to promote diversity and inclusivity, or providing benefits or support mechanisms which encourage a happier healthier life for employees.

“The brewing sector is an incredibly hands-on and collaborative industry and the wellbeing of employees is at the forefront of all successful brewing businesses. This new award seeks to highlight the breweries in the UK who are not only supporting their staff but helping them to have a happier, more successful working life.” Neil Walker, SIBA Business Awards Chair of Judges.

The SIBA Business Awards seek to congratulate excellence in the brewing industry across a variety of categories, from pump clip, can and bottle design, to efforts taken by brewers to make their business more sustainable, innovative or successful, as well as naming the UK’s best pubs, bars and retailers of craft beer from independent breweries.

The new categories introduced last year for the “UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Retailer – Online”, “UK’s Best Independent Craft Brewery Webshop” and “Community Engagement” will also return for the 2023 Awards following huge interest from the industry.

The SIBA Business Awards 2023 are judged by a panel of industry experts and presented at the UK’s biggest beer and brewing event –BeerX UK in Liverpool, March 2023.

For more information about the awards visit www.siba.co.uk/businessawards

New “Empowering People” award will form part of the SIBA Business Awards 2023 taking place at BeerX

2023

The SIBA Business Award Categories for 2023:

Marketing Implementation

Sustainable Business

Community Engagement

Individual Design

Concept Design

Business Innovation

Commercial Achievement

NEW!

UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Retailer – Single

UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Retailer – Online

UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Bar or Pub – City

UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Bar or Pub – Rural

Empowering People

UK’s Best Independent Craft Brewery Taproom

UK’s Best Independent Craft Brewery Webshop

UK’s Best Independent Craft Beer Retailer – Multiple

Best Independent Craft Beer Promotion

Supplier Associate of the Year

SIBA Brewery Business of the Year

Unique new look glassware has been launched for BeerX UK 2023

Mad about beer and high yield?

Mad about beer and high yield?

Introducing the new craft beer

centrifuge skids: the highly efficient plug & win i.

Introducing the new craft beer

centrifuge skids: the highly efficient plug & win i.

As a craft brewer who likes to do his own thing, the new GEA plug & win i centrifuge skid is just what you’re looking for. No oxygen pick-up and lower energy consumption thanks to the new GEA twin hydrohermetic sealing and the new, state-of-the-art GEA direct drive.

As a craft brewer who likes to do his own thing, new GEA plug & win i centrifuge skid is just what you’re looking for. No oxygen pick-up and lower consumption thanks to the new GEA twin hydrohermetic sealing and the new, state-of-the-art GEA direct

Experience the multi-purpose skid for the first time live at drinktec 2022. Stay mad about beer with GEA as your partner you can count on.

Experience the multi-purpose skid for the first time at BeerX 2023. Stay mad about beer with GEA as your partner you can count on.

BeerX UK Preview

BeerX seminar, speaker and panel debate highlights not to be missed

Opening Keynote: The power of independence wth Bob Pease - CEO Brewers' Association

How to write better tasting notes with the British Guild of Beer Writers

PANEL: What's stopping independent breweries joining SIBA?

Pushing the boundaries of beer with Vault City

Producing great-tasting No and low alcohol beers sustainably

How independent breweries of all sizes can cut costs with CO2 recapture technology

PANEL: How can beer retailers support independent beer, make a profit and guarantee quality?

Taking the leap from Homebrewer to professional

Yeast and fermentation profile: A comparative tasting of DEYA beers

Wood, whisky and time: A vertical barrel-aged beer tasting with Brew York

Emerging beer and drinks trends we'll see following the Alcohol Duty changes

Empowering people and growing your business with brewing apprenticeships

Please note the above is just a selection of the content planned for BeerX and is correct at the time of going to print. Sessions may be subject to change so please see the official event guide or website for final running order.

thing, the what lower energy hydrohermetic direct drive. first beer

Main Entrance

At the Enterprise Group you will find a personal commitment to your project, whether it’s a single machine for integration into your existing line or a turnkey project on a green field site.

At the Enterprise Group we are not just agents, we can offer you a total package. Our experienced project layout engineers working with state-of-the-art CAD facilities, combined with our team of field engineers, allows us to respond quickly and accurately as your project develops.

This commitment continues with machine efficiency trials and performance tests, followed by full aftersales service and backup.

If you’re talking bottling and canning lines, shouldn’t you be talking to us?

Reducing your running costs

Dominic Smith, Director at brewery equipment specialist Collective Motion Brewing, offers advice on the steps that brewers can take to reduce their running costs amid the ongoing energy crisis…

The prospect of energy bills substantially increasing from April is a major concern for countless breweries and cider producers. The government has confirmed the next stage of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme for businesses is being allocated £5.5bn over a year, compared with the original scheme’s £18bn for six months.

The cut still offers some support, but thousands of pubs and breweries will still face a huge uphill struggle. Thankfully, breweries can undertake a range of measures to significantly reduce their running costs.

Simple steps

Keeping equipment in good shape can deliver valuable annual savings. For example, a simple check of the temperature sensor for calibration could save a few hundred pounds per year. Making sure the heating element is descaled is also an effective step. Limescale build-up can dissipate the heat and prevent correct heat transfers between water and heating elements.

Look for leaks

Checking for leaks can make a huge difference. Leaky compressed air pipes make compressors work harder and use more electricity to perform. Water valves should also be kept leak-free. Investing in watersaving technologies can deliver savings in the long-term. Automated washing machines such as cask washers, keg washers, and CIP systems can reuse grey water to pre-rinse containers/tanks and save water that would otherwise go to drain.

Chemical dosing

Maintaining correct chemical dosing is also important in increasing efficiency and reducing expense. It’s worth introducing a standard operating procedure to ensure that

the process is consistent. Alternatively, the built-in consistency of automatic dosing equipment is another investment that will deliver long-term returns, saving hundreds of pounds in overdosed chemicals as well as being more environmentally responsible.

A unified approach

We advise many brewers to review their processes across both production and packaging. It’s rarely given much thought in the busy day-to-day running of a brewing business, but a thorough review can form the basis of a standard operating procedure, which is a superb way of unifying the approach across all teams and functions. Generating a skill matrix helps to ensure the best coverage of skills across all departments and shifts, thereby increasing efficiencies and reducing waste. It's worth getting in touch with machinery and raw material suppliers to see if there is a skill gap in the operation of a certain piece of machinery which may need addressing with a ‘toolbox talk’ or a refresher course.

Bespoke equipment changes

In some cases, bespoke changes to equipment configurations can make facilities more energy-efficient. One such example is a project we carried out for Cockermouth-based Bottled in Cumbria. The company needed to install a single-head keg machine, but prohibitive costs and a limited electric supply precluded the use of a large electric steam generator or a gas-fired steam generator to supply hot water for the detergent set.

As an alternative to feeding mains cold water to the detergent set and steam-heating it, we developed a system which used a separate hot water tank to feed pre-heated water. The tank offers added value as an efficient means to heat bulk amounts of water for cleaning and other internal processes. It delivers greater efficiency through dual use and a less energy-intensive system in service of the detergent set. It's a solution which has the

potential to serve the same purpose for many other brewing facilities.

Cold rinse techniques

Brewers can also consider trialling cold rinsing techniques to dramatically reduce energy costs. We recently worked with a microbiological laboratory on a series of tests carried out at Workington-based Tractor Shed Brewing to determine whether decreasing the rinse temperature applied to kegging equipment would increase the risk of microorganisms and product contamination. The results showed there was no significant difference between a hot rinse and cold rinse when followed by the steam sterilisation cycle.

A combination of factors determines levels of cleanliness - time, temperature, the turbulence and velocity of fluids and the chemical strength and composition of fluids. The tests showed that a reduction in temperature can be compensated by the other factors.

Preventative maintenance

We would advise brewing businesses of all sizes to conduct a periodic health check on their facilities and service their machines on a regular basis. Costly downtime or product recalls are the last things that breweries need in these challenging times. Yearly maintenance or, better still, a structured programmme of Planned Preventative Maintenance will help to avoid the emergence of a fault or breakdown in equipment, providing peace of mind in the knowledge that facilities will remain in smooth operation.

The energy crisis is giving pubs and breweries a major headache, but giving some thought to their operating procedures and applying a little TLC to their equipment can alleviate a lot of the pain.

For more information email Dominic Smith at dominic@ cmbrewery.co.uk or go to www.cmbrewery.co.uk

More than 200 new breweries opened in 2022 bringing the total number of UK breweries to 2,426, according to UHY Hacker Young. With so much competition, what is it that makes a successful beer brand?

This is a niche landscape ripe with creativity and unique brand identities. Knowing exactly where you want to sit is vital to carving out your ability to create and maintain a successful beer brand.

What do we mean by ‘brand’?

A brand is an identity, a culmination of several elements both tangible and intangible that are defined by consumer perception, including the name, logo, quality of the product(s), the company’s actions, message, tone, and voice.

All of these are essential when it comes to communicating with your target audience and positioning your product in the marketplace. For a successful brand, each element - the tangible and the intangible - has to be in place and to support the other.

Let’s look at the tangible first. The key element of a successful beer brand is the quality of the product itself and the consistency of that quality. Without that, the brand is unlikely to build trust and recognition that in turn leads to sales and customer loyalty.

But what if your product does not stand out?

How will people know about it?

Standing out from the crowd involves a brand with a clear unique visual identity that conveys the brand’s personality, which can be leveraged with effective marketing. That’s where the intangibles have star-making power.

Name and logo

There are many important things to consider when choosing a good name and visual identity for your brand, both for the name and identity of your brewery but also for the name and appearance of your products. However, of most importance is that the name and logo be distinctive. Even unique product design, such as, attention-grabbing and unusual packaging and bottle shapes can help get your brand noticed.

Creating a distinctive name and visual identity is one thing but choosing a distinctive name and logo that is not already being used by someone else, is another thing entirely.

Building a successful beer brand

By conducting relevant trade mark and in-use searches you can establish the potential risks that could be associated with the launch of your new brand. Brand creation agencies can help come up with great name suggestions and logo designs but advice on their availability for use and registered protection should involve the services of a qualified trade mark attorney.

Connecting with consumers

Behind the name and logo sits your story and company ethos.

The story gives the brand personality and is the base for any marketing message to your customers on everything from social media to print advertising. Consumers buy in to the history and narrative of the brand and its people. However, the story should also give an insight into the company’s culture, mission, and values in a genuine and transparent way, avoiding virtue-signalling, greenwashing, and tokenism.

Keeping an eye on the competition

Understanding your competitors’ position in the marketplace is vital. Awareness of what your competition is doing will help avoid imitation and ensure you differentiate yourself in a crowded market.

Understanding your competitors will also enable you to identify gaps in the market and position your brand accordingly.

Safeguarding brand reputation

Once you have chosen your unique brand identity, it is important to protect it (by design and trade mark registration) and to manage the goodwill and reputation in the brand by policing its use against imitators and infringers and attempts to diminish its distinctiveness.

Any beer brand aiming for longevity must be able to deliver a superior value proposition to its consumers. A proposition based on a unique brand can be copied. It is therefore important to understand how to protect that brand concept to maintain its novelty and distinctiveness.

This could involve enrolling in a watching service that monitors for competitors’ and newcomers’ activities that might conflict with your rights and taking the appropriate action to safeguard your brand.

Brand strategy

A successful brand identity is only as strong as the brand strategy on which it relies, which helps to keep the brand unique and involves management of all intangible aspects of the brand, from the names, logos, designs, colours, trade secrets, domain names. A solid strategy should involve the following:

• Brand Guidelines - a clearly defined set of rules and standards that communicate how your brand and brand assets should be used and represented.

• Brand Protection and Enforcement –protection of valuable brand assets and taking action to prevent third parties from using those assets without permission.

• Business Plan - a description of your business, its objectives, strategies, sales, marketing and financial forecasts and how it plans to achieve them.

• Market Research - the gathering of information about your target markets and customers.

• Marketing Strategy - best and efficient practices for reaching those target markets and customers to increase sales and achieve a competitive advantage.

• Organised Assets - good housekeeping of all files and supporting materials for ease of use and distribution.

Think how you’re going to achieve the above, involve qualified professionals to realise those goals and help build your successful brand.

Potter Clarkson helps companies, organisations and individuals across all sectors of business to understand, create, protect and defend the commercial value of their innovations anywhere in the world through intellectual property rights.

As a full-service intellectual property law firm with expertise in patents, trade marks, designs, litigation, licensing and consultancy, the firm can provide specialist support in all areas of IP. Find out more at www.potterclarkson.com

Chris Baume, a trade mark attorney at Potter Clarkson and a member of the firm’s specialist food and drink team, takes a look at how to build and protect a strong beer brand…

When times are plentiful and the beer is readily flowing, it can seem as if money is no object. Sponsoring the festival beer glasses? Sure thing! Hey, let’s go with the super embossed shiny golden flyers; that’ll make us look premium. Mailchimp Professional? Why not, it’s only £35 a month.

But when the chips are down, what’s the first thing to get axed from your expenditure? Marketing. Oh no, we couldn’t possibly take out a Facebook ad right now; I might as well buy a bucket of steam. Flyers to promote our new taproom? I’m pretty sure if we build it, they will come!

Given that marketing and its effectiveness are difficult to measure in real life, even with technological tools at our disposal, it’s not hard to understand why brewers immediately slash their marketing spend in tougher financial times in favour of pushing sales.

But what people often fail to recognise is that marketing is what got people into the shop in the first place; sales is merely the point where a purchaser puts their money where their mouth is.

Telling your story

I once worked for a brewery housed in beautiful red-bricked Victorian former polish works. Rustic timber beams and vintage memorabilia adorned the interior. It was a hipster’s paradise.

down on your marketing?

Unfortunately though, with the exception of a handful of CAMRA members, the brewery taproom remained largely empty. On a brew day, total strangers would often walk in off the streets and gawp in wonder at this charming building steeped in character. ‘Wow!’, they’d say in wide-eyed wonder, ‘How long has this been open?’. ‘Eleven years’, I’d reply. ‘Eleven years?! I never knew it was here!’

This script was so well rehearsed that I decided we should open an Instagram account and start showing off the brewery and the building. I also suggested we incorporate the building’s rich history within our branding and brand narrative in order to draw people to the source, to taste our beers in-house and maximise profits.

Fortunately, the stars aligned and an artisan food hall moved in opposite the brewery around the same time. Before we knew it, we were full to the rafters with punters.

Now, you could argue that by simply being across the road from the food hall, we’d inevitably receive footfall. True. However, in order to measure our marketing, I would ask people at random, ‘How did you find out about us?’, to which many would respond, ‘Oh, I saw it on Instagram! It’s the first time I’ve been here’.

Measure, measure, measure

The main reason people slash their marketing spend is because they don’t know which of their endeavours is having an effect, and thus conclude it’s all a waste of money. And yet marketing, as I’ve just shown, is the very thing that gets people to engage in the first place.

The key is tracking and measuring your marketing with every tool available: from technological solutions such as Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics, through primitive methods such as simply asking people questions.

Now isn’t the time to cut your marketing spend. But it is time to crunch the numbers, analyse the data, do some market research and find out where people are spending money at the moment. And once you’ve done that, it’s time to market the hell out of your business and generate income.

Nick Law is the Creative Director of Hop Forward: a branding, marketing and business consultancy for the brewing industry. He works with a variety of beer businesses both in the UK and overseas and also runs a weekly podcast with a variety of guests from across the world of beer. Find out more at www.hopforward.beer or email nick@hopforward.beer

Is now really the time to cut

Brand and marketing guru Nick Law looks at why saving on marketing costs when times are tough can create more problems than it solves…

Beer. Do you remember your first glass? I do, it was with my friend Gemma in her parent's kitchen. Her parents, it has to be said, were not aware of this at the time, we might not have been of legal age. The fact that I remember drinking it alongside a cheese sandwich on Mighty White bread certainly points that way.

Alcohol, and my consumption of it, has come a long way since 1995, but the experience of sitting in a pub or restaurant, with good friends and sipping a perfectly served glass simply cannot be beaten. I have a feeling many of you would agree with me, but KAM’s recent research identifies one part of this experience that many hospitality customers really don’t enjoy… the actual process of choosing and ordering their drink.

Information at point-of-sale

Research we carried out in partnership with Hallgarten & Novum Wines, a specialist wine supplier to the on-trade, looks at the customer experience when ordering in pubs, bars and restaurants and I was surprised to find that 1-in-3 customers don’t feel confident ordering wine specifically in pubs, bars and restaurants, with 1-in-9 admitting that they often find the experience intimidating. They are put off by confusing jargon and the perceived complexity around wine. They feel embarrassed to ask staff for advice and therefore default to what they know, switch to a different category, or worse, go without.

Not quite the outstanding customer experience we’re hoping for in our great venues.

When asked, many customers say they don’t feel that pubs and bars provide enough information to help them make an informed decision when ordering wine and I strongly suspect that many beer drinkers, especially where it may not be their regular drink, feel exactly the same way.

Choosing no and low

Different research we carried out in partnership with Lucky Saint looked

Helping them choose

specifically at the experience of selecting low and no options in pubs and bars. It found that customers find it very difficult to identify what is alcohol-free (they’re not necessarily familiar with all the names and branding yet) and again, many feel staff don’t have the expertise to help them. What happens in this situation? A huge proportion will default to tap water and the venue loses a sale and a customer (again) has a below-par experience. In fact, when we spoke to them, many publicans themselves told us that they want further advice on how to better display and communicate their low and no range. More than 2-in-3 licensees wanted extra support with how to better satisfy these customers- a great opportunity for brewers to facilitate collaborative growth.

Making changes

So how can we address this ‘accessibility’ and ‘visibility’ problem (or should I say opportunity?) How can we re-engage and connect with drinkers in venues?

Whilst the layout and copy on menus is critical in helping give greater clarity and confidence for customers, there is also obviously a key role for staff to play when it comes to breaking down any confidence barrier and influencing and inspiring a customer’s drink choice. Nothing can replicate the ease at which well-trained and knowledgeable staff can put the customer when guiding them through their selection.

During a recent chat with wine guru, Harry Crowther from Grain to Grape he suggested that operators need to train their teams to talk about drinks in a language that they can relate to. We often make it over-complicated and involve ‘industry jargon’ rather than talking in simple, everyday terms. If staff can relate to the language which we use to describe our fine drinks, then so will the customers.

Stuck in a loop

So, what is the current experience? How do customers select their drinks in hospitality venues? We find that a huge proportion of

customers order from a very small repertoire of drinks, again and again.

Are we missing an opportunity here? Surely venues should be making it easy for drinkers to explore and discover new drinks. Through creating the same, well-worn path we inevitably end up leading customer down the same route. We end up in a situation whereby on-trade sales are influenced perhaps most by what consumers are drinking at home and not by what hospitality venues have to offer. We see that 1-in-4 drinkers want to try something new – firstly are we helping these customers on their journey of discovery, and secondly, we should be encouraging this figure to rise higher.

Beer leading the way

If customers are just drinking the same drinks in pubs, bars, and restaurants as they are at home, then it becomes much easier for them to stay at home and not venture out. In 2023 we need to work hard to provide that point of difference for customers - and beer is a great place to start.

Just because a beer is available at a venue does not mean the customer is aware of it, sees it and knows enough about it to consider ordering it.

Venues must recognise the value proposition for customers – if the experience isn’t there then it’s a much easier decision for them to enjoy their experience at home instead of going out. Getting that experience right is key for venues and with a category that customers find so enjoyable, it needs to be dialled up to ensure it’s an experience that they don’t forget.

KAM is a boutique research consultancy, specialising in hospitality and retail, running bespoke and syndicated customer research programmes for both pub companies and on-trade suppliers. Find out more at www.kam-media.co.uk.

Katy Moses, the Founder and MD of consumer insight specialist KAM, takes a look at how you, as a brewer, can support consumers when choosing what beer to drink…

Rot your timbers

We see, and use, the term ‘traditional’ extensively in beer descriptions, typically with reference to ingredients and occasionally to processes and values. To be truly traditional is, of course, an impossible achievement – we can’t reverse time. Also, because we don’t have the same equipment and, being considerate to our staff, because past working conditions would seriously infringe today’s employment and safety regulations.

What though could be included to more authenticate the term than just using heritage malt and hops? If we go back to the golden age of brewing – arguably from 1860 to 1880 (or possibly 1914) – we would be running multiple mashes, boiling wort with coal and delivering casks by dray horse. Go back further and bottles would be leather, pipework raw lead and recipes including condiments to enhance intoxication.

One feature, however, which contemporary brewing has successfully revived from history is the use of wooden casks. Cask-aged ale has an enhanced marketing image and a higher premium return. True, it requires wooden casks and extended storage but certainly has an impact on beer flavour. All these lend towards single variety production and enhanced demand. What though is the chemistry behind brewing in wood and its future potential?

Thankfully the chemistry of wood impact on beverages is well known due to investigations by the spirit and wine industries, whisky and brandy particularly. These show the flavour contributions from wood when degraded by charring or toasting during cask construction. Hemicellulose and lignin polymers degrade to smaller, flavour active compounds with vanillin, aldehydes and phenols commonly extracted. Colour can increase if oxidation occurs. Charring of the wood also removes potential contaminants leaving a layer of charcoal which can adsorb undesirable flavours from a spirit. Finally, some oxidation of compounds is likely as air permeates into the cask.

All this takes time, at least three years in the case of whisky but often 10 or more. But what of beer which can’t afford such a maturation?

Studies with beer show that wood cask-ageing does not deteriorate beer quality but can change flavour through the release of the compounds mentioned previously. Vanillin is particularly important providing sweet, spicy and candy

aromas with a low flavour threshold of 200 µg per litre. Phenol extraction can provide smoky, phenolic and burnt character while eugenol with a low threshold of 6 µg per litre contributes clove and balsamic aromas.

All these flavours will complicate the intrinsic flavours of your beer and it is advised to manage cask maturation to prevent them dominating and distracting excessively. To do this look at the effects of alcohol, time, temperature and the degree and type of wood contact. Each of these will enhance the rate of extraction so high alcohol beers (say over 7% abv) kept for 12 months in oak casks at room temperature will develop a more pungent and unique character compared to a bottled version. Change these factors and the intensity can be controlled. Casks themselves aren’t the only means of wood aging but are certainly the most expensive and difficult to manage. Adding wood chips to casks is a common alternative allowing large surface areas to contact beer and accelerate flavour extraction. Studies show similar effects to wooden casks under identical conditions although permeation of air and oxygenation will be absent. Chips may also reduce cask to cask variation which can be up to 50% in flavour levels.

Incubation time has an effect with different phases identified in the movement of flavour initially from the surface of wood and progressively from the interior. These depths will have different structures and progressively release different flavours. That said some flavours may rise then fall as further chemical changes occur in the beer.

One feature deserving further study is the effect of different woods. Oak is a typical choice providing extensive tannic content. Other woods are possible although not particularly used in wine or spirit maturation and, of course, some such as yew and mulga are toxic while others can induce allergies. Nevertheless, with caution, this could be a consideration and trials with beers worth initiating. The geographic origin of barrel wood is well noted to vary the flavour impact and, in effect an example of terroir. With more breweries investing in hop gardens will we see woodlands planted for future brewery use?

A final and more speculative element of wood aging is the effect of microbial contamination. This is a recognised hazard particularly from

Brettanomyces fungi but also from bacteria. While this may be a variable feature it is likely to have been a common contribution to historic stock ales resulting in the specific character of these beers highly regarded by Victorian brewers. Brettanomyces and other fungal species have been identified in the DNA analysis of historic Victorian beers by Brewlab. Brettanomyces was often present at high levels but timber saprophytes including Stereum, Hyphodontia and Trechispora were also evident.

The effects of Sterium growth are also recorded in the brewing literature and may have been more prevalent than currently known. It is unlikely that such saprophytes are hazardous beyond flavour spoilage. In contrast, some timber fungi are increasingly promoted for health benefits. The turkey tail fungus, Trametes versicolor, is one example, cultivated and sold for its bioactive components. With the potential for breweries to develop biotechnology applications wood chip inoculation could be an interesting opportunity to rot your timbers and diversify your brewing.

With a growing interest among brewers in barrel-ageing projects, Brewlab’s Dr Keith Thomas looks at technical side to brewing in wood…

Risks to quality and food safety from CO2 shortages

Shortages of carbon dioxide (CO2) recently made headlines in Europe, and sometimes quality can be overlooked in the trade-off when the availability of supply is lacking. When this happens, it creates risks in the supply chain and shows the need for greater awareness of quality and food safety when disruptions occur.

Background

In Europe, CO2 used by the food and beverage industry is produced as a by-product from only three traditional sources. The primary products made by these sources are ammonium nitrate production (nitrogen fertilizer), ethanol production (industrial fermentation) and hydrogen production (steam methane reforming). All sources face frequent economic and seasonal challenges for production operations to remain viable. This includes increased energy costs, raw material shortages and seasonal demand for the primary products (e.g., fertilizer).

This requires careful planning and cooperation between the parties responsible for CO2 supplied to the food and beverage Industry, from the company operating the raw gas source of by-product CO2 and from the suppliers of the CO2 to the food and beverage industry. The bulk industrial gas producer who buys, processes and distributes the CO2 is also responsible for the quality, supply contracts and the supply chain of the food and beverage to end users.

CO2 shortages

Disruption to the CO2 supply chain is caused when the producer of the raw gas by-product

and the industrial bulk gas company do not foresee an extreme event, such as an unplanned plant stoppage, issue with a raw material, energy price hikes, military unrest or power failure.

Summer of 2021 CO2 shortage

The recent disruption in the United Kingdom was well publicized, and it’s an event that could easily have been predicted. More than half of the U.K.’s bulk CO2 comes from two fertilizer plants when one company (the United Statesbased CF Industries) shut down a plant in the summer of 2021. A perfect storm occurred when several of the largest sources in mainland Europe were forced to shut down effectively cutting off the supplementary supply. A temporary arrangement was put in place to restart one of the CF Industries plants after a deal was reached in early October between the U.K. government and CF Industries, but this is by no means a permanent solution to the problem. Since this deal was struck CFF has announced the permanent closure of its plant in Ince Cheshire and the mothballing of its largest plants in Bellingham, Teeside, it is not expected that this plant will re-start its CO2 business as it has been earmarked for Carbon Capture and sequestration. How the combined output of over 1000 tons per day of beverage grade CO2 is to be replaced is yet to be determined.

Source-specific impurities

When CO2 is produced, it contains chemical impurities specific to that source, e.g., ethanol fermentation contains high amounts of ethanol in the raw CO2. A lot of care is taken by the

bulk industrial gas producer to monitor the condition of the incoming raw gas as it enters their purification process. This process reduces the number of impurities to levels well below the requirements of the food and beverage industry to make the CO2 safe for us to consume. Because CO2 is the only industrial gas we consume, the quality is tightly controlled and certified.

The quality of the final product is controlled by sophisticated analytical equipment that controls quality in discreet batches and sequentially numbers the batch for traceability. The delivery tankers are also analysed to provide a certificate of analysis and conformity to the standard in which it has been produced and sold by, e.g., EIGA, ISBT and/or any customer specific requirements.

New sources and their challenges

Environmental initiatives, sustainability goals and consumer pressure have led to the development of several new sources of CO2 being developed. The most publicized and attractive new source developing is from the anaerobic digestion (AD) of highly convertible biomass. Although the primary output from one of these plants is methane, the upgrading process creates a valuable co-product stream of biogenic carbon dioxide.

Some challenges exist with this source scaleup. There’s limited output because it would take more than 100 average-size AD plants to replace one CF Fertilizer plant. Since a small AD plant with CO2 production can cost £10M-£15M , investment in capital equipment

Gary Robson, Managing Director of Sure Purity Limited, looks at the risks presented to brewing businesses by the recent CO2 shortages…

can also be an issue. There are also some negative perceptions about where this CO2 comes from (if people only consider the AD feedstock and not the actual methane upgrading process). There’s also a lack of historical data on CO2 quality. But, ultimately, the economics are now swinging in favour of AD.

Distribution and handling

Distribution of liquified bulk gases can be complex at the best of times, but in a stressed or disrupted supply chain getting CO2 from point A to point B becomes even more challenging, as greater distances have to be covered and multiple forms of transport become involved such as carrier ships, rail and road tankers. When the number of hands of custody increase, then the opportunities for contamination of perfectly good product also increase.

Sub-distribution hospitality F&B service end users

The hospitality food and beverage service,

fast food outlets, bars, restaurants, hotels etc are served by a network of independent distributors, that buy the liquified gas in bulk from the Gas Producer and then deliver a range of gases in refillable cylinders (or store based micro-bulk dewar tanks) to the end user. Contamination of the cylinders can occur when beverages back flow into the empty cylinder, or ingress from the atmosphere, if a cylinder minimum pressure valve is not used, corrosion and deterioration will occur. Fillable microtanks are permanently installed on-site for many years without any cleaning or build-up of contamination.

The certificate of analysis of the CO2 can be traced from the bulk industrial gas supplier to the batch of final product at the source. However, very little or no information on CO2 quality is traceable in cylinders or micro-bulk permanent tanks intended for beverage use. A lack of understanding on how to achieve full end-to-end traceability is the most challenging issue to address.

Managing the Risk

The risks to your business depend on how your CO2 was sourced, produced, monitored, distributed and how many times the product was transferred, as well as the cleanliness of the processing and the management of the contamination risks.

Point of Use multiple barrier polishing filters are an effective, low cost solutions that remove both trace chemical impurities in the CO2 and any physical contaminants from the supply chain. Products such as the Carboguard from Sure Purity come in a variety of sizes suitable for a soft drink bottling plant or brewery’s needs all the way down to a miniaturised version of the technology suitable for a bar, tap room or drive-thru fast-food restaurant.

For more information go to www.surepurity.com

SIBA Online Regional Bottle & Can Competitions

Regional Bottle & Can CompetitionOnline

SIBA East Independent Bottle & Can Beer Awards 2022

Bottle & Can Lager

G GOLD: Brentwood - Elephant School

Pils 4.6%

S SILVER: Ferry Ales Brewery Lincoln

Lager 4.3%

B BRONZE: Adnams Kobold 4.7%

B BRONZE: Norfolk Brewhouse - Moon

Gazer Dewhopper 4.0%

Bottle & Can Bitter

S SILVER: Brewsters Brewery Aromantica 4.2%

B BRONZE: Lincolnshire Craft Beers Bomber County 4.2%

Bottle & Can Pale Ale

G GOLD: Brentwood Brewing Company

Falcon Punch 5.1%

S SILVER: Oakham Ales Citra T90 4.6%

S SILVER: St. Peter's Brewery

Golden Ale 4.7%

B BRONZE: Nethergate Brewery

Growling Dog Big Sesh 4.5%

B BRONZE: Mauldons Brewery

Silver Adder 4.2%

Bottle & Can IPA

G GOLD: Wibblers Brewery Here Be

Dragons 5.8%

S SILVER: Brewsters Brewery IPA 6%

B BRONZE: Oakham Ales

Green Devil IPA 6%

Most of the Regional Heats for the SIBA Bottle & Can Independent Beer Awards are now judged online via Zoom, using the UK’s most experienced beer judges, beer sommeliers and master brewers. This system takes the pressure off the in-person regional competitions, which can now focus on cask and keg, and ensures the very best quality judging for our awards.

Bottle & Can Amber, Brown & Red Ale

B BRONZE: Artefact Brewing Ltd

Heritage Ruby Ale 4.5%

B BRONZE: Lacons Brewery Affinity 4.8%

Bottle & Can Stout & Porter

G GOLD: Brewsters Brewery

Dragon Street Porter 4.9%

S SILVER: Wylde Sky Brewing

Coffee Stout 5.6%

B BRONZE: Humber Doucy Brew Co Porter 5%

Bottle & Can Imperial & Strong Ale

G GOLD: Adnams Tally Ho 7.2%

S SILVER: Tring Brewery

Death or Glory 7.2%

S SILVER: Lacons Brewery

Penny Black Porter 10%

B BRONZE: Norfolk Brewhouse - Moon

Gazer Bouchart X 10%

B BRONZE: St. Peter's Brewery

Cream Stout 6.5%

Bottle & Can Sour & Wild Ale

G GOLD: Bowlers Brewery Ltd

Mangoes Into a Bar 4%

S SILVER: Elgood and Sons Ltd

Coolship Fruit 5%

Bottle & Can Belgian, French & Abbey Ale

S SILVER: Wylde Sky Brewing Saison 4.8%

B BRONZE: Adnams Broadside strong original 6.3%

Bottle & Can Speciality & Flavoured Beer

G GOLD: Elgood and Sons Ltd Plum Porter 4.5%

S SILVER: Wibblers Brewery Stoaty McMilk Shake 5.6%

B BRONZE: Billericay Brewing Company Billericay Barista 5.9%

B BRONZE: Humber Doucy Brew Co Hedgerow-Nettle & Elderflower Saison 4.5%

SIBA Midlands Independent Bottle & Can Beer Awards 2022

Bottle & Can Lager

G GOLD: Thornbridge Brewery

Bayern 5%

S SILVER: The Chiltern Brewery

Chiltern Lager 3.8%

B BRONZE: Little Ox Brew Ltd

Oxford Pilsner 5%

B BRONZE: Rebellion Beer Co. Ltd.

Rebellion Lager 4.4%

Bottle & Can Wheat Beer

G GOLD: Virtue Brewing Uber Die Brucke 5.2%

Bottle & Can Bitter

G GOLD: Rebellion Beer Co. Ltd. Roasted Nuts Extra 5.8%

S SILVER: Purity Brewing Company

Limited Jimbo Very Best Bitter 4%

S SILVER: Titanic Brewery

Captain Smiths 5.2%

S SILVER: Welbeck Abbey Brewery

Hennymoor 3.7%

S SILVER: Derby Brewing Business as usual 4.4%

S SILVER: Woodcote Brewing Co Ltd

Squires Gold 4.5%

B BRONZE: Chapel En Le Frith Craft

Brewing Cracken Edge 4.6%

B BRONZE: Charnwood Brewery

Old School 5%

Bottle & Can Pale Ale

G GOLD – BEST IN CATEGORY: Green Duck Beer Co Remedy 4%

G GOLD: Thornbridge Brewery

Chiron 5%

S SILVER: Attic Brew Co Intuition 4.4%

B BRONZE: Woodcote Brewing Co Ltd

Randan 5%

B BRONZE: Welbeck Abbey Brewery Atlas 5%

B BRONZE: Rebellion Beer Co. Ltd. 24 Carat 5%

Bottle & Can IPA

G GOLD: Attic Brew Co Signals 5.6%

S SILVER: Blue Monkey Brewery New Hampshire IPA 6%

B BRONZE: Peak Ales IPA 6%

Bottle & Can Double & Triple IPA

G GOLD: Alter Ego Brewing Co

Disappear Completely 8%

Bottle & Can Amber, Brown & Red Ale

G GOLD: Welbeck Abbey Brewery

Red Feather 3.9%

S SILVER: Little Ox Brew Ltd

Ox Blood 4.3%

S SILVER: Woodcote Brewing Co Ltd

Ruby Mild 4.7%

Bottle & Can Stout & Porter

G GOLD: The Collyfobble Brewery

Black Ower Bill's Mother's 4.8%

S SILVER: Derby Brewing

Dashingly Dark 4.8%

B BRONZE: Windmill Hill Brewery

Porter 4%

Bottle & Can Speciality & Flavoured Beer

G GOLD – BEST IN CATEGORY: Thornbridge Brewery

Necessary Evil 13%

G GOLD: Charnwood Brewery

Coffee Cream 5.4%

S SILVER: Purity Brewing Company

Session IPA 4.5%

S SILVER: Little Ox Brew Ltd

Redemption 8.5%

B BRONZE: Lincoln Green Brewery

Gin and Beer It 5%

B BRONZE: Titanic Brewery

Plum Porter Grand Reserve 6.5%

SIBA Online Regional Bottle & Can Competitions

SIBA North East Independent Bottle & Can Beer Awards 2022

Bottle & Can Lager

G GOLD – Best in Category:

Turning Point Brew Co Nova 4.6%

G GOLD: Rudgate Brewery

Pilsnor 4.7%

S SILVER: Hambleton Brewery

Cavalla 4.6%

S SILVER: Triple Point Brewing

Mardy 4.6%

B BRONZE: Ainsty Ales Brewery

Jewel of York 4.5%

B BRONZE: Ossett Brewery Yon 4%

Bottle & Can Amber to Dark Lager

G GOLD: Twice Brewed Brew Co.

Juno Black 4.7%

Bottle & Can Bitter

G GOLD: Abbeydale Brewery

Daily Bread 3.8%

S SILVER: Acorn Brewery

Barnsley Bitter 3.8%

S SILVER: Daleside Brewery

Monkey Wrench 5.3%

B BRONZE: Hadrian Border Brewery

Tyneside Blonde 3.9%

B BRONZE: Saltaire Brewery Best 4.4%

B BRONZE: Cullercoats Brewery

Jack The Devil 4.5%

Bottle & Can Pale Ale

G GOLD: Amity Brew Co Waterpistol 4.6%

S SILVER: Rooster's Brewing Co.

Thousand Yard Stare 5.4%

S SILVER: Turning Point Brew Co

Disco King 5.1%

S SILVER: Ossett Brewery

Silver King 4.3%

B BRONZE: Vocation Brewery

Crush Hour 4.6%

B BRONZE: Cullercoats Brewery

Grace Darling Gold 5%

B BRONZE: Brew York Limited

Time Travelling Taxi 5.4%

B BRONZE: Wensleydale Brewery

Semer Water 4.1%

Bottle & Can IPA

G GOLD: Triple Point Brewing Flux 6.8%

S SILVER: Full Circle Brew Co

Looper IPA 6.4%

S SILVER: Brass Castle Brewery

Galaxy Crush 6.5%

B BRONZE: Rooster's Brewing Co.

Baby-Faced Assassin 6.1%

B BRONZE: Wold Top Brewery

Scarborough Fair IPA 6%

Bottle & Can Speciality IPA

G GOLD: Abbeydale Brewery

Black Mass 6.6%

B BRONZE: Brew York Limited

Juice Forsyth 5%

Bottle & Can Stout & Porter

G GOLD: Timothy Taylor's

Poulter's Porter 4.8%

S SILVER: Hadrian Border Brewery

Ouseburn Porter 5.2%

B BRONZE: Acorn Brewery

Old Moor Porter 4.4%

B BRONZE: Rudgate Brewery

York chocolate Stout 5%

B BRONZE: Wold Top Brewery

Marmalade Porter 5%

Bottle & Can Imperial & Strong Ale

G GOLD: Harrogate Brewing Company

Kursaal 9%

Bottle & Can Sour & Wild Ale

B BRONZE: Belschnickel Brewery

Limited Pfaffendorf 4.1%

B BRONZE: Brass Castle Brewery

Pickleback 4.6%

Bottle & Can Speciality & Flavoured Beer

G GOLD: Daleside Brewery

Morocco Ale 5.5%

S SILVER: Rooster's Brewing Co.

Hello, Dimitri? 10.4%

B BRONZE: Harrogate Brewing Company

Bitter Wheat Symphony 7.4%

B BRONZE: First & Last Brewery Plum 5%

SIBA North West Independent Bottle & Can Beer Awards 2022

Bottle & Can Lager

G GOLD – BEST IN CATEGORY:

Lakes Brew Co NZ Pilsner 4.5%

G GOLD: Brimstage Brewery

Brimstage Lager 4.5%

S SILVER:Ennerdale Craft Brewery

Seven Bridges 5%

B BRONZE: Weetwood Ales

Kuhl Lager 4.2%

Bottle & Can Wheat Beer

G GOLD: Wander Beyond Brewing

Wah Donka 10.5%

Bottle & Can Bitter

G GOLD: Windermere Brewing Company

A Bit'er Ruff 4.1%

S SILVER: Red Rose Brewery

Bear Incessantly 3.6%

B BRONZE: Hawkshead Brewery

Hawkshead Bitter 3.7%

Bottle & Can Pale Ale

G GOLD – BEST IN CATEGORY: Chapter Brewing Company Teeter 5.1%

G GOLD: Great Corby Brewhouse

Tizzie Whizie 3.5%

G GOLD: Lakes Brew Co

NE SESSION IPA 4.7%

S SILVER: Bullhouse Brew Co SUDS 4.5%

S SILVER: Wily Fox Karma Citra 4.3%

B BRONZE: Hawkshead Brewery Mosaic

Pale Ale 4%

B BRONZE: Bank Top Brewery

Palomino Rising 5%

B BRONZE: Brimstage Brewery

Shed Day Session IPA 4.4%

Bottle & Can IPA

G GOLD: Hophurst Brewery Ltd Talus 6%

S SILVER: RedWillow Brewery Ltd

Idaho 343 7%

B BRONZE: Lakes Brew Co

West Coast IPA 5.6%

B BRONZE: Bullhouse Brew Co

Merc Bro 6.5%

B BRONZE: Chapter Brewing Company

Limited Keystone 7.3%

Bottle & Can Amber, Brown & Red Ale

G GOLD: Red Rose Brewery

Navigators 3.9%

S SILVER: Chapter Brewing Company

Limited Aiwass 6.9%

Bottle & Can Stout & Porter

G GOLD: Serious Brewing Company Ltd

Moonlight Stout 4.5%

S SILVER: Cumbrian Ales Vanilla

Oatmeal Stout 4.8%

Bottle & Can Imperial & Strong Ale

G GOLD: Windermere Brewing Company

Shih Tzu Faced 7%

S SILVER: Hophurst Brewery Ltd

Peanutter 10%

B BRONZE: Keswick Brewing Co

Resist 8.5%

Bottle & Can Sour & Wild Ale

B BRONZE: Bullhouse Brew Co

Budgie Smuggler 4.5%

Bottle & Can Belgian, French & Abbey Ale

G GOLD: Red Rose Brewery

Crossover 4.7%

Bottle & Can Speciality & Flavoured Beer

G GOLD: Wily Fox Dark Flagon 5%

S SILVER: Great Corby Brewhouse

Coffee Milk Stout 4.7%

B BRONZE: Bank Top Brewery

Port O'Call 5%

B BRONZE: Wander Beyond Brewing

Great Armoured One 10.6%

SIBA Online Regional Bottle & Can Competitions

SIBA Scotland Independent Bottle & Can Beer Awards 2022

Bottle & Can Non Alcoholic & Low ABV

G GOLD: Burnside Brewery

Right to Roam 0.5%

Bottle & Can Lager

G GOLD – Best in Category: Ferry Ferry Pils 4.5%

G GOLD: Cold Town Beer

Cold Town Lager 4%

S SILVER: Loch Lomond Brewery

Safesurfer 5%

S SILVER: Williams Bros Brewing Co

El Perro Negro 4.5%

B BRONZE: Dargavel Brewery Ltd

Bo Ho Bull 5%

B BRONZE: Simple Things Fermentations

German Ale 5%

B BRONZE: Five Kingdoms

Renton 4.5%

Bottle & Can Amber to Dark Lager

G GOLD: Inveralmond Brewery.

Ossian Golden Ale 4.1%

Bottle & Can Wheat Beer

G GOLD: Moonwake Beer Co.

Weissbier 5%

B BRONZE: Dargavel Brewery Ltd

HAUD YER WHEASHT! 5.1%

B BRONZE: Burnside Brewery

Silver Lining 5.4%

Bottle & Can Bitter

S SILVER: Kelburn Brewing Co Ltd

Goldihops 3.8%

B BRONZE: Cairngorm Brewery/Loch

Ness Brewery stag 4.1%

B BRONZE: Born Brewery

Best Bitter 4.5%

Bottle & Can Pale Ale

G GOLD: Williams Bros Brewing Co

Talking Head 4.4%

S SILVER: Loch Lomond Brewery

Southern Summit 4%

B BRONZE: Campervan Brewery

Nelson Haze 4.5%

B BRONZE: Kelburn Brewing Co Ltd

Jaguar 4.5%

B BRONZE: Harviestoun Brewery

Bitter and Twisted 4.2%

Bottle & Can IPA

G GOLD: Dog Falls Brewing Co

Split the Tree 7.2%

S SILVER: Stewart Brewing

Radical Road 6.4%

B BRONZE: Five Kingdoms

Captain Morrisons IPA 6.5%

Bottle & Can Double & Triple IPA

G GOLD: Windswept Brewing Co Ltd

Coastal Haze 8%

Bottle & Can Speciality IPA

G GOLD: Williams Bros Brewing Co

Juicy Joker NEIPA 5%

Bottle & Can Amber, Brown & Red Ale

G GOLD: Dargavel Brewery Ltd

MOO-LIN ROUGE 5%

S SILVER: Arran Brewery Milestone 6%

S SILVER: Stewart Brewing

Stewart's 80/- 4.4%

B BRONZE: Sulwath Brewers Ltd

Knockendoch 5%

Bottle & Can Stout & Porter

G GOLD: Hybrid brewing ltd

KONGO 6%

S SILVER: Cairngorm Brewery Company

Black Gold 4.4%

S SILVER: SaltRock Brewing

Louis Louis 5.5%

B BRONZE: Lerwick Brewing Company

Tushkar 5.5%

B BRONZE: Arran Brewery

Clyde Puffer 4.5%

Bottle & Can Imperial & Strong Ale

B BRONZE: Inner Bay Brewery Ltd Jet 9%

Bottle & Can Sour & Wild Ale

G GOLD: Campervan Brewery

Mimosa 4.8%

B BRONZE: Cold Town Beer

Raspberry Miami Weisse 4.3%

Bottle & Can Speciality & Flavoured Beer

G GOLD: Inner Bay Brewery Ltd

Ruby 10.7%

S SILVER: Windswept Brewing Co Ltd

Bear 10.5%

B BRONZE: Campervan Brewery

The Hoppy Botanist 3.8%

B BRONZE: Glen Spean Brewing Co

Dark Mile 5%

SIBA South East Independent Bottle & Can Beer Awards 2022

Bottle & Can Non Alcoholic & Low ABV

B BRONZE: Hammerton Brewery ZED 0.5%

Bottle & Can Lager

G GOLD: Abyss Brewing Gonzo 4.6%

S SILVER: Anspach & Hobday

The Lager: Kolsch Style 4.5%

S SILVER: Gun Brewery

Numb Angel Lager 4%

S SILVER: The Park Brewery 1637 Pils 4.9%

B BRONZE: Exale Brewing Zorc 5.2%

B BRONZE: By The Horns Brewing Co.

West End Pils 4%

B BRONZE: Hackney Church Brew Co

Halo 5.1%

B BRONZE: Signature Brew

Studio Lager 4%

Bottle & Can Wheat Beer

G GOLD: Hackney Church Brew Co

St. Clements 5%

S SILVER: Powder monkey Mary Rose 4.6%

S SILVER: Anspach & Hobday

The Wheat Beer 4.5%

B BRONZE: Tap Social Movement x

Fauna Brewing Start Somewhere 5.1%

Bottle & Can Bitter

G GOLD: Long Man Brewery

Old Man 4.3%

S SILVER: Anspach & Hobday

The Ordinary Bitter 3.7%

Bottle & Can Pale Ale

G GOLD: DOUBLE-BARRELLED

PARKA 4.5%

G GOLD: Three Acre Brewery

Blood Orange Pale 4.9%

S SILVER: Bedlam High Tide 3.9%

S SILVER: Unity Brewing Co

Conflux 4.8%

S SILVER: Long Man Brewery

Twenty12 Pale 4.6%

S SILVER: Cellar Head Brewing Company

Amitola 4.2%

B BRONZE: Disruption Is Brewing

Demockracy 4%

B BRONZE: Powder monkey

Drop Anchor 4.6%

B BRONZE: Loud Shirt Brewing Co LTD

Hazed & Confused NEIPA 4.5%

B BRONZE: Renegade Brewery

Queensbury Jack Session IPA 4.8%

B BRONZE: Neckstamper Brewing

Moon Curser 5.2%

B BRONZE: Hackney Brewery

Boogie Van 5.5%

Bottle & Can IPA

G GOLD: Unity Brewing Co Only The Sea 6.2%

S SILVER: Powder monkey

Explosion IPA 6%

B BRONZE: Cellar Head Brewing

Company Wonderland 5.8%

B BRONZE: Bedlam Hunky Dory 6.2%

Bottle & Can Double & Triple IPA

G GOLD: Disruption Is Brewing

Even More Chaos 8%

Bottle & Can Amber, Brown & Red Ale

B BRONZE: Tonbridge Brewery

Parallel 49 4.5%

Bottle & Can Stout & Porter

G GOLD: Orbit Beers

Dead Wax London Porter 5.5%

S SILVER: By The Horns Brewing Co.

Lambeth Walk 5.1%

S SILVER: London Beer Lab Stout 5.2%

S SILVER: Neckstamper Brewing

Bonebox Cooler 4.4%

B BRONZE: Tap Social Movement

Inside Out 5.5%

B BRONZE: The Cronx Brewery

Entire 5.2%

Bottle & Can Imperial & Strong Ale

G GOLD: Elusive Brewing I'm Gonna Bee 11%

S SILVER: Disruption Is Brewing

Cereal Thrilla 7.2%

Bottle & Can Sour & Wild Ale

G GOLD: Orbit Beers Tzatziki Sour 4.3%

S SILVER: ORA brewing Prickly margarita 7.5%

S SILVER: Hackney Brewery

Millions Of Peaches 4%

Bottle & Can Speciality & Flavoured Beer

G GOLD: Hammerton Brewery

City Of Cake 5.5%

S SILVER: Deviant & Dandy

Lobsters On South Beach 2.5%

S SILVER: Elusive Brewing

Carve'n Yams 5.2%

B BRONZE: ORA brewing Balsamic

imperial stout 10%

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Web-Based Software

SIBA

South West Independent

Bottle & Can Beer Awards 2022

Bottle & Can Non Alcoholic & Low ABV

B BRONZE: Firebrand Brewing

Shorebreak AF Hazy Pale 0.5%

Bottle & Can Lager

G GOLD: Powderkeg Beer

Harmony helles 4.2%

S SILVER: Kettlesmith Brewing Company

Mission Bay 4.5%

B BRONZE: Cheddar Ales

Lisa Likes Nelson 5%

B BRONZE: Ramsbury Brewery

Red Ram 4.5%

B BRONZE: Keltek Cornish Brewery

Swifties Lager 4%

B BRONZE: St Austell Brewery

korev 4.8%

Bottle & Can Amber to Dark Lager

G GOLD: Utopian Brewing

Cerne Specialni 5.9%

Bottle & Can Bitter

G GOLD: Ramsbury Brewery

Farmer's Best 3.6%

S SILVER: Abbey Ales Bath Best Bitter 4%

B BRONZE: PALMERS BREWERY

Palmers 200 5%

B BRONZE: Otter Brewery Otter Head 5.8%

B BRONZE: Salcombe Brewery Co.

Devon Amber 3.8%

Bottle & Can Pale Ale

G GOLD: St Austell Brewery

Tribute 4.2%

S SILVER: Quantock Brewery

Theatrical Skies 4.8%

B BRONZE: PALMERS BREWERY

Dorset Gold 4.5%

B BRONZE: Eight Arch Brewing Co.

Square Logic 4.2%

B BRONZE: Zerodegrees Bristol

Downtown 4.6%

B BRONZE: Arkell's Brewery

Voyager American Pale Ale 5%

Bottle & Can IPA

G GOLD: Quantock Brewery

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat 6.3%

S SILVER: Hop Kettle Brewery

Supernova: Citra CRYO 5.6%

Bottle & Can Double & Triple IPA

B BRONZE: Brewhouse & Kitchen

Staycation 8%

Bottle & Can Speciality IPA

B BRONZE: Hop Kettle Brewery

Cosmic Shake 4.4%

Bottle & Can Amber, Brown & Red Ale

G GOLD – BEST IN CATEGORY:

Powderkeg Beer 6ixes & 7evens 5%

G GOLD: Driftwood Spars Brewery

Alfie's Revenge 6.5%

S SILVER: Arkell's Brewery

Kingsdown 4.8%

S SILVER: Southbourne Ales

Sunbather 4%

B BRONZE: Otter Brewery Otter Ale 4.5%

Bottle & Can Stout & Porter

G GOLD: New Bristol Brewery

Coffee and Biscotti Stout 5%

S SILVER: Driftwood Spars Brewery

Midnight Skinny Dipper 6%

B BRONZE: PALMERS BREWERY

TALLY HO! 5.5%

B BRONZE: Eight Arch Brewing Co.

Quarterjack 4.8%

Bottle & Can Imperial & Strong Ale

G GOLD – BEST IN CATEGORY: Padstow Brewing Co.

Cold Desert 8%

G GOLD: Exmoor Ales

Exmoor Beast 6.6%

Bottle & Can Sour & Wild Ale

G GOLD: Firebrand Brewing

Pink Lemonade 6%

B BRONZE: Padstow Brewing Co.

Like Nan Used to Make 4.7%

Bottle & Can Belgian, French & Abbey Ale

G GOLD: Castle Brewery

A New Season 5.5%

Bottle & Can Speciality & Flavoured Beer

G GOLD: Driftwood Spars Brewery

Codename Robin 7%

71 Brewing wins four Gold awards at the Scottish Beer Awards 2022

Independent brewery 71 Brewing, which was established in Dundee in 2016, won a Gold in four award categories at the 2022 Scottish Beer Awards, for Cloud Fall in the Best Pale Ale category, Haze Halo in the Best Juicy or Hazy beer category, Heavy Lifting 80 in the Best British Style category and Blackcurrant Apple Crumble in the Best Fruited Sour Beer category

The Scottish Beer Awards were founded in 2016 and aim to recognise the best breweries and beers in Scotland. Using 48 expert tasters, who participated in a wide-ranging blind tasting competition, a Gold medal is awarded to those who are rated highest in quality, appearance and flavour, without judges having any information on brewers, branding or labels.

Two of the award-winning beers are part of the brewery’s core line-up, Cloud Fall and Haze Halo. At 4.5% and 5% ABV, both are available

in 440ml cans, and are distributed through wholesalers Brakes, Filshill and Williamson. Heavy Lifting, re-released in December, is a special and Blackcurrant Apple Crumble is part of the Fruition Seasonal Sours summer range, also available in 440ml can.

71 Brewing has gone from strength to strength since being founded by entrepreneur Duncan Alexander in 2016 and has firmly claimed its position as Dundee’s first active brewery for more than half a decade.

Duncan Alexander said: “We’re delighted to win four Gold awards at the Scottish Beer Awards. It’s a real recognition of the quality of our beers by expert tasters at the highest level. It’s a testament too, to our incredibly talented brewing team for creating beers which meet the highest standards in quality, appearance, and flavour.”

For more information visit www.71brewing.com

Salcombe Brewery announces new listing with Tesco

Wild Horse Brewing Co, based in Llandudno, North Wales, released a brand-new beer to celebrate Cymru's World Cup '22 campaign, their first since 1958.

The beer was called Pêl Êl and is a zesty, refreshing 4.8% ABV pale ale brewed with Simcoe, Idaho 7 and Chinook hops, bringing bright tropical fruit notes, a piney undercurrent and just the right amount of bitterness.

Chris Holyfield, Wild Horse’s Head of Sales, said: “We are a proudly Welsh brewery and we’re unbelievably excited about Cymru’s involvement in the football World Cup. Like many other fans, I wasn’t sure I’d ever see this day so we just had to brew a beer to celebrate the occasion and enjoy on match day. We’ve gone for a playful name in Pêl Êl, which is how a Welsh speaker in our area might say ‘Pale Ale’. Pêl also being the Welsh word for ball. On the can label we have tweaked the team motto to read ‘Gorau Yfed Cyd Yfed’ which taps into the Together Stronger message.” Wild Horse Brewing Co was established in 2015 with the goal of brewing modern flavoursome beer that North Wales could be proud of. It now has annual production of over 185,000 litres (325,000 pints) with a strong focus on the North Wales market. The majority of beer is sold to hospitality businesses within the region, as well as through their brewery retail shop and website. Earlier this year it completed a £175,000 expansion project increasing capacity by 40% and installing a fully automated canning and labelling line.

Find out more at www.wildhorsebrewing.co.uk

Salcombe Brewery Co. has announced that it has secured an agreement with Tesco to sell its golden ale, Shingle Bay, and its amber ale, Seahorse, at stores across the South West.

Jordan Mace, Salcombe Brewery’s Managing Director, said: “Getting Shingle Bay on the shelves of Tesco stores in the South West is an amazing highlight in what has already been a hugely successful year for Salcombe Brewery.

“Shingle Bay is our best-selling bottled beer and one that holds a special place in all our hearts. It is because John Tiner, the founder of Salcombe Brewery, loved Shingle Bay so much that he set up the brewery in the first place. He was told by a local landlord that they were probably going to have to stop stocking Shingle Bay because the brewery that made it, Quercus, was having problems.

“Having no experience of the brewing industry, he went over to visit Quercus and ended up offering to buy the brewery so that he and all the other Shingle Bay fans could carry on drinking it.

“Seahorse is also very important to us at Salcombe Brewery Co. because the Salcombe estuary is a haven for both British species of seahorse and as part of our commitment to our local environment we are trying to help conserve these amazing animals by donating 5p a bottle towards The Seahorse Trust.”

Award-winning, SALSA accredited Salcombe Brewery’s vision is to be recognised as a leader in producing high quality products crafted using sustainable methods that look after people and the planet. They have just started their journey to becoming a B-Corp accredited company. For more information go to www.salcombebrewery.com

Wild Horse supported Wales at the World Cup with a special beer release

Powderkeg launches 'Green Friday'

Exeter-based brewery Powderkeg has launched an eye-catching environmental initiative called Green Friday.

Instead of offering a discount on its products over the last weekend of the month Powderkeg has pledged to give 20% of web sales to the Devon Environment Foundation. The multi award-winning brewery has been making great strides on its sustainability journey over the last few years, adopting fully recyclable packaging, investing in hybrid vehicles, reducing waste and re-using process items.

Co-founder Jess Magill said: “As a small

independent business much of our trade is done in the local area and it’s so important to us that we put as much back into the place where we live as we can.”

The Devon Environment Foundation has an ambition to protect and restore at least 30% of Devon’s land and water by 2030. This is achieved by supporting grassroots projects that regenerate nature, especially those that can be replicated and scaled across the county.

Executive Director Amanda Keetley said: “Initiatives like Green Friday really help by raising funds and drawing attention to the vital work that is being done in our local area to protect and regenerate the environment. This all plays a part in flood prevention, carbon sequestration, reducing drought impact and generally lessening the impacts of climate change”

Rather than offer discounts to Powderkeg's website customers, Green Friday effectively makes a charity donation on their behalf so they can feel good about buying their beer. Powderkeg is encouraging other businesses to join the initiative, and it is hoped in coming years that Green Friday can make a huge difference to funding and awareness for environmental projects. For more information go to www.powderkegbeer.co.uk

Powderkeg celebrates double Gold at SIBA South West awards

Powderkeg topped the tables in two categories at the South West 2022 Bottle and Can Beer Awards held by SIBA in December.

The beers taking the top spot were Harmony, Powderkeg's crisp easy-going session lager, and 6ixes & 7evens, a West Coast Amber that was part of the brewery’s special editions range for 2022. "We're delighted to be given the Gold in two categories," said founder and head brewer John Magill, "Especially in the lager category, as that's so hotly contested. To be ranked above big names such as St Austell's Korev, Keltec and Cheddar Ales is fantastic.

"As always we strive to make each brew surpass the last, always following our curiosity about what to make and using our expertise to make it even better. We're finalising our specials range for 2023 and we can't wait to let you see what we have in store."

SALT Craft + Cocktails heads to Leeds Riverside

The award-winning SALT team is bringing craft beer, cocktails ‘on tap’, and good vibes to Calls Landing this winter, adding tap number nine to its impressive portfolio. SALT has had an amazing year of success, with bars now spread across the North with two in London – Deptford and Woolwich. And the team shows no signs of slowing down, with tap number 9 coming hot on the heels of number 8 in Oakwood.

Famed for serving up a diverse selection of locally brewed craft beers, the sites have got something for everyone, from the craft curious to the connoisseur.

True to the distinctive SALT brand, the bar features four cask ales, and seven craft beers, including the popular Jute, Session IPA, new refreshing pale ale, Loom, and Ossett Brewery’s crisp YON Lager.

SALT Founder Jamie Lawson said: “We are very proud of how far we have come in such a short time; we have development plans in place to launch more taprooms across England in 2023 but for now we can’t wait to welcome the people of Leeds into our newest venue SALT Calls Landing.”

Find out more at www.saltbeerfactory.co.uk

Yorkshire coast brewery wins international beer awards

The team at a Yorkshire Wolds brewery Wold Top is celebrating after winning two awards at the International Beer Challenge (IBC) 2022, which attracted entries from 31 countries.

Wold Top's Marmalade Porter won a silver award in the Best Stout/Porter category and Intuition won a bronze award in the Best No/Low Alcohol Beer category in the global competition, that was judged by 70 industry experts.

Wold Top's Director and Head Brewer, Alex Balchin (pictured with the winning beers), said: "Marmalade Porter is an established and best-

selling beer in the Wold Top range, whereas Intuition was a year in development and marked our first foray into the low-alcohol market. We're over the moon that both beers have won these accolades in an international competition that is judged by experienced industry experts ranging from retailers, importers, publicans and brewers to writers and flavour analysts." Intuition also won a silver award in the low and no alcohol category at the World Beer Awards 2021.

For more information visit www.woldtopbrewery.co.uk

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2 Cameron Court Winwick Quay Warrington, Cheshire WA2 8RE

Hogs Back Brewery calls for customers to support their local

Surrey-based Hogs Back Brewery supported pubs in offering broad customer appeal during January with POS support for its flagship ale Tongham TEA, the launch of Little Swine Low Alcohol 2.8% ABV beer on draught and a new Little Swine 0.5% bottled beer.

POS on Tongham TEA pump clips invited customers to "Support Your Local, Go TEA Total" by enjoying a pint of their favourite ale, repeating the successful, and slightly tongue-in-cheek, January campaign from previous years.

Meanwhile, those consumers looking for low and no alcohol beers in January had the choice of Little Swine 2.8% on draught, or in 330ml and 500ml bottles, while Little Swine 0.5% launched in 330ml and was available in 500ml bottles from the end of January, with POS support.

Hogs Back Brewery managing director

Rupert Thompson said: "We knew that January was going to be a challenge for pubs, with worries about the high cost-ofliving combining with the usual new year's resolutions to cut back.

"So, we helped them appeal both to customers wanting to beat the January blues with a flavourful pint of Tongham TEA, and to the increasing number of consumers with a thirst for beers with full taste but lower strength.

"Currently, pubs mainly offer low and no alcohol versions of global beer brands, and we believe many consumers will welcome the option to support local brewers producing great-tasting no and low alcohol beers.”

Both the 0.5% and 2.8% beers are gluten free, which is clearly communicated on labels alongside the beers' calorie content. Find out more at www.hogsback.co.uk

Hogs Back celebrates design award for Tongham TEA

Hogs Back Brewery has been given an extra 30th birthday present with the news that its flagship ale Tongham TEA has won a prestigious drinks industry design award. The distinctive new pack design and branding for Tongham TEA, launched last year, won the silver medal for best Design and Packaging in the International Beer Challenge (IBC), which recognises global beer excellence.

Docks Beers brews with Size?

For Adidas trainer launch

Grimsby brewery Docks Beers has created a trio of beers in collaboration with Size?, the UK’s leading trainer retailer. The three beers were brewed to celebrate the launch of the Adidas Originals Seaside Series of trainers, featuring three limited edition shoes inspired by iconic coastal places; Brighton, Blackpool and Cleethorpes. The shoes are exclusively available to the Size? chain of UK stores.

The beers were launched alongside the trainers in December at a special gig at Docks Academy, the music venue above Docks Beers, with performances from Reverend & The Makers, DJ Finn Tech, Grimsby band Indigo Bay and hosting by comedian Lloyd Griffith.

Shaz Shadan, Director Docks Beers, said: “Of course, we leapt at the opportunity to work with Size? on an Adidas trainer launch like this. The three beers we brewed are ‘BN1’ a Sea Buckthorn IPA for Brighton, ‘FY1’ a Session Pale Ale for Blackpool and ‘DN35’ a Lemon Lager for Cleethorpes. These can be purchased as a box set which comes with a matching glass and postcards which feature the can artwork. The can designs, by Source 4, feature iconic imagery from each town. For Cleethorpes it’s seagulls stealing chips in front of the famous Ferris Wheel on the North Prom. All of these trainers will become collectibles and we hope the beer cans will too.”

Find out more at www.docksbeers.com

Glad tidings for Driftwood Spars

Coastal brewery Driftwood Spars scooped a haul of regional awards at the end of 2022, bringing early festive cheer to one corner of the Cornish coast.

The Driftwood Spars Brewery at Trevaunance Cove, St Agnes, won two Golds and a Silver at the SIBA South West Regional Awards; one of the winning beers, Codename Robin, will now progress to the national finals set to be held at BeerX in Liverpool this March.

Codename Robin, an Imperial Gingerbread Stout, won Gold in the Speciality and Flavoured Beer category. Presented in a 750ml sharing bottle, this seasonal ale has become a Christmastime tradition for small-batch beer aficionados.

Also winning Gold at the regional level – this time in the Amber, Brown & Red Ale category - was Alfie’s Revenge, a strong, rich ale with a beautiful deep polished red colour.

Named after a legendary stuffed squirrel which was mischievously liberated from the bar at The Driftwood Spars brewpub many years ago, and has been MIA ever since, Alfie’s has a big malt flavour, with prominent chocolate and biscuit notes.

Finally, Midnight Skinny Dipper from the Cove canned range of contemporary beers was awarded a Silver in the competitive Stouts & Porters category.

Mike Mason, Head Brewer at The Driftwood Spars Brewery, said: “These awards are hotly contested between SIBA brewery members, so this is brilliant recognition from our peers in the industry. We’re especially excited that Codename Robin, an experimental beer first brewed for Christmas 2020, will go through to the national finals. It really hit the mark and has built a cult following in subsequent years.”

Find out more at www.driftwoodspars.co.uk

Bohem and OSB chase lager Lovers with Emil collaboration

A new collaboration lager from London brewers Bohem Brewery and Old Street Brewery (OSB) celebrates one of the Czech Republic’s most famous and bestloved athletes, long-distance runner Emil Zátopek.

Emil is a 4% ABV American Lager. The name honours Zátopek, who won three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, broke numerous running records, and was nicknamed the "Czech Locomotive".

OSB owner Adam Green is a keen runner, and felt the collaboration with London’s only authentic brewer of Czech-style lagers was the perfect opportunity to celebrate one of his running heroes.

Innis & Gunn finishes off

Emil is described by beer writer and Bohem shareholder Glynn Davis as having “hints of citrus fruits on the nose, with an initial woody character from the US hops that develops into a piney citrus finish. Emil is packing a big flavour, with a chunky body for its very modest ABV of 4%”.

The collaboration brewing day saw Bohem brewers Matej Krizek and Jan Svatek joined at Bohem’s Tottenham brewhouse by Josh Billington of OSB, Working on Bohem’s specialist decoction brewing kit, imported from the Czech Republic, they brewed a sessionable lager that will appeal to both mainstream drinkers and beer aficionados. For more details go to www.bohembrewery.com

2022 with top accolades

Innis & Gunn consistently ranks in the UK’s top industry awards in the on- and off-trade with Scotland’s No.1 craft beer awarded three prestigious accolades.

Inveralmond Brewery, sister brewery to Innis & Gunn, has scooped Gold with Ossian Golden Ale in the ‘Bottle and Can Amber to Dark Lager’ category of the SIBA Scotland Industry Bottle and Can Beer Awards 2022.

Meanwhile, in the Scottish off-trade, Innis & Gunn once again secures its respected place as one of Scottish Grocer’s Top 10 Alcohol brands, which are measured against Kantar take-home sales in Scotland for the 52 weeks to w/c 4th September 2022.

In the UK on-trade’s craft beer category, Innis & Gunn Lager represents an exciting new entry to the Top 10 table where all featured brands have delivered increased growth in both volume and value by at least 59 per cent in the on-trade.

Commenting on the award wins and league positions, Dougal Gunn Sharp, Founder and Master Brewer of Innis & Gunn, said: “We are absolutely delighted with these results. These are a real honour and welcome recognition for our continued focus on delivering quality beer.

“We never rest on our laurels. We are continually up against strong competition, and it’s been a challenging couple of years, for everyone in the brewing industry. However, we have continued to focus on the quality of our products whilst tapping into new opportunities and demand.”

Scotland’s No.1 craft beer, Innis & Gunn’s Lager has won a total of 21 accolades in the last year, in addition to these wins.

Find out more at www.innisandgunn.com

Bowlers Brewery takes home Gold

Bowlers Brewery is delighted to have taken home the Gold in the Wild/Sour Ale category for its 'Mangoes Into A Bar' Gose style beer at the SIBA East Independent Bottle/Can Beer Awards, held at the Legra Tap & Kitchen, Leigh on Sea.

Mangoes Into A Bar is described as slightly sour, and bursting with refreshing mango and a hint of coriander.

Dave Gowler from Bowlers had this to say on their win: “Having only been brewing for

Balancing the new with the old at the Vale of Glamorgan

This year looks set to be a big one for the Vale of Glamorgan (VOG) Brewery in South Wales, as it celebrates its new brewery site and kit by looking back at its history with the launch of a new heritage cask series.

Like a lot of breweries, VOG had an eventful 2022, but the team is bracing itself for another challenging year.

After purchasing the brewery in late 2021, Craig [Edmunds] and Barney [Hibbert] were faced with bringing in new staff, updating the range, upgrading the kit and having to find a new home. VOG is their lead brand, specialising in modern interpretations of classic beer styles using new world hops. The plan was always to brew more keg but cask is the brewery’s bread and butter and passion. So with the brewery finally in a new home, 2023 will see a heritage cask brand fully launched to celebrate the brewery’s past.

The original Vale of Glamorgan Brewery was actually in 1865 by the son of a farmer, a maltster by trade, who saw an opportunity and grabbed it with both hands, but it was eventually sold to a big brewery which shut the doors during WW1. With the resurgence in both nostalgia and the growing

consumer demand for provenance, craft and independence the decision was made to go back to the brewery’s roots and start producing a range of cask beers brewed exclusively using British hops and celebrating the ‘classic’ styles of yesteryear – Dark Mild, ESB, IPA, Porter etc.

VOG’s Rich Tidy said: “Since the re-launch of the brewery we’ve seen sales grow both locally and further afield. We’ve responded to the challenges, took on board feedback from our customers and drinkers and realised that we wanted to look back as well as forward. We’re fiercely independent and proud to call ourselves both Welsh and British. We are a small producer and we feel it’s so important that we continue to fly that flag and educate the trade and drinkers about authenticity, true craftmanship and independent breweries. We’re not some global giant with an army of workers and machines. We’re a handful of local people grafting doing something we love. That’s why we decided to support the SIBA ‘Assured Independent British Craft Brewer‘ initiative. Every Vale of Glamorgan Barry Brewery cask beer pump clip or bottle will carry the SIBA Independent Craft Brewer logo.”

But whilst there is a nod to the past, the

just over two years, we were delighted, very proud and humbled by the Gold award we have received from SIBA East for our fruit gose, Mangoes Into A Bar. On to the Nationals!”

Bowlers started brewing in October 2020 following a decision by two friends, John Bowyer and Dave Gowler (using their surnames to create the brewery name) to do something a bit different following long careers in banking and IT respectively.

Find out more at www.bowlersbeer.com

brewery is also very much focussed on the future as well. In 2022 the team introduced new beers (and branding) to reflect the changes, celebrate their Barry home (through Hotel Barrifornia and Barrybados Pale Ale) and their love for all things 80s (Maverick and Saaz Wars). 2023 will see more of the same.

So it’s very much about balancing the new with the old, or the old with the new.

Find out more at www.vogbrewery.co.uk

Welsh brewery Magic Dragon has Great Taste

Magic Dragon Brewing, based just outside Wrexham, North Wales, has had great success in the Great Taste awards 2022.

Four bottled beers from the brewery won an award including 2 Stars for their Eyton Gold (4% ABV). Out of 14,205 entries only 1,237 products received a 2 Star award which means that the beer is outstanding.

The judges described the beer as “well balanced,

well presented and an elegant golden ale. The honey noted are equalled by the finesse of grassy floral flavours making for a satisfying finish”. The award-winning beer was served at the World Cheese Awards dinner last year, an event that brings together cheesemakers, retailers, buyers and food commentators worldwide to judge over 4,000 cheeses from over 40 countries. In 2022 it was held at the International Convention Centre in Newport, South Wales.

Magic Dragon’s Old Magic (3.6% ABV) dark mild and Border Bitter (3.8% ABV) also won 1 Star in the competition.

Liz Lever from Magic Dragon Brewing said: "We are delighted to have won a 2 Star Great Taste Award for our golden ale and a Star each for our mild and bitter. I am so proud to be adding the iconic black and gold Great Taste logo to our bottled beers."

Barney’s Beer focuses on barrel-aging project For 2023

Barney’s Beer, recently named Best Small Brewery in Scotland, has seen great success with its latest barrelaging project, Post Mortem, and is planning on regular new releases in 2023. These special edition beers - named after the space used to produce and mature them, the former Post Mortem Room at Summerhall - are all limited production and form the breweries most experimental range to date.

From mixed fermentation and gueuze-inspired brews to new Imperial stouts and barrel-aged versions of some of recognisable Barney's Beer classics you can expect intriguing expressions, bold styles and big flavours.

The Post Mortem Project exists to allow the team to dissect and examine unique styles of beer and experiment with unusual processes or ingredients in the brewing process. With six beers already available in the range, and over 30 casks currently maturing in the warehouse waiting for release it’s fair to say that you can expect some very exciting new beers from the Edinburgh-based brewery.

Operations Manager Aly Mathers said that the brewery had been working on the project since lockdown: “We’d always wanted to experiment more with barrel-aging, and the quiet spell during Covid allowed our brewers the time needed to do the research and put the work in. Some of the beers we have resting in casks at the moment have been aging for nearly two years and we’re really happy with where they are at.”

For more information go to www.barneysbeer.co.uk

Rooster’s Brewing Co. marks milestone anniversary with pub-focussed magazine

Harrogate-based Rooster’s Brewing Co. is celebrating its 30th Anniversary in 2023 and has published Thirty Years, a 56-page magazine to mark the occasion.

The publication dives into the brewery’s history, as well as allowing readers to get to know the team behind the beer. Designed for pubgoers and craft beer enthusiasts to pick up and thumb through over a pint or two, 4,000 copies have been printed and are being distributed to independent pubs, bars and beer shops across the north of England.

Renowned beer writers Emma Inch and Matthew Curtis have contributed feature articles that explore the ground-breaking, familyowned brewery’s past, as well as looking ahead as Rooster’s enters its fourth decade of brewing under owners Ian Fozard and his twin sons Tom and Oliver.

The brewery originally blazed a trail in the early 90’s when it began creating pale beers with new and exciting hops from the USA that ultimately lead the way for what later developed into a seismic shift in British brewing culture around 20 years later.

Rooster’s moved back to its original hometown of Harrogate following an £850,000 investment in a new, state-of-the-art brewery

and on-site taproom in the summer of 2019 and brews over 1.5 million pints of its highly acclaimed beers each year.

The magazine is also available to order via Rooster’s website and includes a guide to some of the outlets the brewery delivers its beers directly to on a regular basis, as well as shining a spotlight on other independent businesses.

Features include recipes from Paradise, a Mexican-inspired street food and craft beer venue local to the brewery and Skosh, one of York’s most highly rated restaurants, designed to try at home with along with suggested Rooster’s beer pairing. A beer and cheese pairing in collaboration with The Cheeseboard, Harrogate’s iconic cheesemongers, is also included.

To further commemorate its milestone year, Rooster’s will also be releasing a number of limited release beers brewed with friends from other breweries in the UK, Sweden and the USA as part of a 30th Anniversary Collaboration Project. Breweries involved are profiled in the magazine and include Odell Brewing Co. the 20th largest brewery in the USA, Crooked Stave from Denver and Elusive Brewing, based in Finchampstead.

For more go to www.roosters.co.uk

As we look forward to the new year and all it brings, albeit at time of writing with the odd economic headwind on the horizon to navigate, we at Croxsons remain optimistic for the year ahead and will meet its challenges with a sense of purpose and resilience. We believe that the experiences of the past three years have helped create a more adaptable and enterprising mindset that is more able to embrace change and quickly pivot as required - an encouraging dynamic that we’d all do well to follow.

As a business, there is seemingly always so much to do. As the title of this article suggests, it’s just not possible to tick every box all the time, but being able

to do something is key. To put that statement in context, we’ll be updating you on our sustainability news as we move ever closer to achieving carbon neutrality - an exciting and significant milestone!

Following on from our 150th-anniversary celebrations last year, we look forward to further expanding our team in 2023 and completing the much anticipated move to our new ‘very cool’ premises - more about this shortly.

As ever, we are always mindful of the ongoing custom from SIBA members; thank you for your business - your patronage is always appreciated. If you have recently become a Croxsons’

customer, welcome and thank you for your trust in us. We look forward to supporting you and providing you with the service you need to grow your business.

Enjoy our update. We are always delighted to hear from SIBA members, particularly with assistance in diversification and the need to improve efficiency and profitability. If you are considering your options, don’t forget that Croxsons can provide all types of primary packaging, originated by an award-winning design team to help maximise your brand in a unique and distinctive way. Please contact us to discuss your ideas.

SUSTAINABLY PIONEERING BRITISH PACKAGING FOR 150 YEARS

In our 2022 update, we said that we were looking at all opportunities to make our business more sustainable, including working towards a commitment to achieving carbon net zero at some stage in the future.

We made the decision to complete a number of environmental initiatives last year, one of which was to fund the planting of 150,000 new trees to mark our 150th anniversary

CLIMATE POSITIVE WORKFORCE

We haven't wanted to stop there though. We decided to extend our partnership with Ecologi further, and are pleased to announce that we are now a Climate Positive Workforce This means that, as a team, we offset more carbon emissions than we collectively emit.

This will see the business contributing to a variety of projects that meet 15 of the 17 United Nations Sustainability Development Goals. The projects are the blueprint to achieve a better and

more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we all face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. Some of these projects include:

• Senegal – reforesting degraded land

• Morocco – saving diverse genetic specialist tree species

• Uganda – reforesting degraded land

• Mozambique – mangrove restoration and reforestation.

through Bristol-based environmental services company, Ecologi. Planting trees is proven to be one of the most effective tools to tackle the climate crisis, reportedly helping to undo over 30 years of carbon damage and keeping temperatures from rising above 1.5°C. Croxsons currently sits in the top 50 of Ecologi’s tree planting leaderboard for businesses.

• Kenya – forest restoration

• Ethiopia – reforesting degraded land

• Amazon – conserving the rainforest

• Brazil – a methane capture programme from landfill and converting it into electricity (methane is 34 times worse than CO2)

For us, many of the projects we get involved in are not just about reducing carbon, they are also about helping communities and improving lives - this is key and something that we feel very strongly about.

AS A BUSINESS, WE CAN’T DO EVERYTHING, BUT WE MUST DO SOMETHING!

MOVING TO A FUTURE-READY OFFICE

It’s good to be heading back to Sutton and it feels appropriate to be moving into a very wellknown building within the area, the old post office. There is a lot of heritage there, and we plan to continue that in our own way.

Tim Croxson, CEO

WELCOME MARTIN BOYLE

A big welcome to Martin Boyle, who joined Croxsons as a sales manager in December. He will be covering the North of England. Martin has a wealth of experience in the industry in both a sales and technical capacity. He has worked closely with clients throughout the customer journey, supporting their requirements through design to final production. Contact Martin at: martin.boyle@croxsons.com

In our 2022 round-up of news, we mentioned that we would be moving the business from our home for 37 years at Alpha Place in Morden, to a purpose-built workspace in Sutton. That move has now come to fruition and we will be in our new place in April this year.

Being the conclusion of a five-year plan, the new office will provide a collaborative space for our team, providing us with the ability to host our clients and make meetings bespoke to them. It will provide a modern and relaxed creative space, allowing customers to imagine how their brand will look - it even has a bar!

The appeal of the new office reflects the Croxsons’ culture throughout - one team, a big family that works together, moves forward as one and is high performing and aspirational. We have created an environment to help foster that.

Look out for an official date for our opening. We’ll be eager to show off our new space to as many of our customers as possible. So if you are passing, please come and say hello and we’ll show you around.

CROXSONS SHOP

Just to remind you that our online shop is available for brewers to purchase closures. The shop, which is at www.croxsons.com/department/beer/, provides customers with the added flexibility of being able to order closures to suit their own timeframe as and when their busy schedule demands.

Online ordering also means a reduction in our minimum order, which will allow more customers to benefit from our wide UK-held stock. Crowns include the popular Union Jack and the SIBA Assured Independent crown, launched in conjunction with SIBA to help beer drinkers identify genuine independent craft beers from massproduced global brands.

Equipping the Nation’s Craft Breweries

ROTARY & LINEAR CANNING

CIMEC Rotary & ABE Linear Canning Lines

We are delighted to announce the addition of CIMEC rotary canning lines to our canning range. Having supplied CIMEC bottling lines for 19 years now, the natural transition to include their rotary canning lines in our canning equipment range will enable breweries requiring counter pressure filling, and/or higher throughputs than those in our ABE open-fill range, to benefit. If you’re thinking of upgrading your line or starting canning for the first time, please call us on 01404 892 100 to discuss canning.

keg format growth

BREWHOUSE

Expanding your market

The percentage of beer output in kegs, has grown significantly in the last 8 years and is expected to grow further, as outlined SIBA’s Craft Beer Report 2022. Packaging by keg, compared to small pack, is quick and easy and the keg washers/ fillers we supply and install, manufactured by patentholders Malek, can be set up to handle both one-way and standard keg variations.

Function & Showcase Utopian Brewing South Hams Brewery Tel: 01404 892 100 Email: sales@vigoltd.com rawlingsgroup.co.uk

CIMEC rotary canning lines added to our range ...

energy efficient chillers

With energy saving features to help reduce power consumption & operational costs.

We supply and install Quantor chillers, which include utilities to save energy and reduce CO2 footprints by means of higher efficiency and optional heat-recovery features (e.g., reversible via heat-pump for producing hot water). Modular units are incorporated by our engineers into complete systems, via bespoke ringmains, for controlling product and/or air temperature.

SERVICE CONTRACTS EVEN MORE SUPPORT

Extra peace of mind for your ABE canning line

Support is our watch-word and Vigo wouldn’t be here today, 39 years on, without it. Our team of 9 engineers provide a range of services to our customers, including full installation, on-site training, and the servicing and repair of equipment supplied by us. We have fully kitted workshops, encompassing fabrication (incl. hygienic), electrical and electronic engineering (incl. PLC programming), and a fleet of vans, which enable us to offer comprehensive engineering support, bespoke design and applications, whether at base or on-site. We’re now offering an even higher level of support for customers of ABE canning lines through Vigo Service Contracts. Designed to bring optimal line efficiency and cost-savings, whether you are an existing customer or considering ordering a canning line from us, please call 01404 892 100 to enquire.

bottling capacity

Introducing the Rizzolio fully automatic counter pressure filler.

In addition to CIMEC automatic lines, we are now offering Rizzolio’s fully automatic lines which are a good stepping stone between Rizzolio semi-auto fillers and CIMEC fully automatic fillers. Rizzolio’s auto fillers with capping function have an output of 700 to 900 bottles per hour and are installed in line by our engineers. We can also provide labelling, depalletising, case packing and date coding functionality.

stand out, on-brand packaging from rawlings:

For traditional or contemporary beer brands, we’ll find the best bottles for your business. We work with some of the most revered UK brands who trust us to provide an expert and professional service. If you’re just starting out, we can help bring your products quickly to market. Call 0117 960 4141, email hello@rawlingsbristol.co.uk or visit www.rawlingsbristol.co.uk

www.vigoltd.com

Gold sponsors

A Vigo installation

A Vigo installation

Just what goes into creating quality hops?

The team at Loughran Brewers Select offers some insight into how the best quality hops are cultivated…

At Loughran Brewers Select we’re fortunate enough to work with some of the world’s top hop suppliers like Crosby Hops, Indie Hops (both in the Pacific North West USA), and Hop Revolution (New Zealand). Brewers and appreciators of great beer know what quality hops bring to beer, but what they might not know is just what goes into creating quality hops. So we thought we’d share some of our insights from our experience in the industry.

Growing conditions play a key role in creating quality hops. Hops are intimately affected by their soils and environmental factors (terroir). The same hop, grown in a similar region of the same continent, can exhibit different aroma characteristics. These can even vary from field to field, so it’s important for growers to keep track of individual lots.

Pest management is vital, including which hop varieties to grow or even develop. Indie Hops Strata, for instance, was developed to be very resistant to downy and powdery mildew. Hops can be protected from pests by many means, but it’s essential for that protection to be both effective and sustainable – through a Salmon-Safe program or similar. Progressive growers utilise natural beneficial predators to eliminate pests, avoiding the use of traditional pesticides. Hop producers must select their partner hop growers and farms carefully, utilising the experience of experts, committing themselves to quality assurance programs like GlobalG.A.P for best growing practices.

Brewers will be familiar with the allimportant ‘pick window’ when it comes to harvesting. Hops harvested too early or too late will exhibit ‘off’ aromas – too washed out and ‘grassy’ (early pick), or pungent and pongy (late pick). Picking the right time to harvest hops is an art, informed by science (alpha acid and oil analysis), as well as gut feeling – all-important sensory analysis in

the field. Creativity plays a part here too –working alongside brewers, Hop Revolution in New Zealand has been able to offer the same varieties of hops harvested at different points in the pick window to suit the needs and style of the brewery. Effective planning by growers is also essential in hop harvesting. Hop pick windows are notoriously short, so it’s essential to harvest quickly, bringing an extensive fleet of specialised machinery to bear to get harvested in time.

Growers must also ‘weed out’ undesirable plants (rogue male varieties) and harvest from lots with fewer seeds, which offer little brewing value. The best ‘hop harvester’ machines will ensure that hop cones are effectively separated from leaves and stems. After harvesting, hops are kilned to dry and remove moisture. A quality hop producer should kiln just right – not too hot (high temperatures reduce hop oils) and without over-stacking the hop bed (resulting in uneven drying and over-drying). Hops due for pelletising are then ‘squashed’ into hop bales but should first be conditioned to balance out moisture content for consistency. Bales need to be stored frozen to prevent degradation, and carefully analysed for quality (both sensory and in the lab) before they’re ‘processed’.

Processing is again all about timing – some hop varieties are incredibly susceptible to degradation even when stored properly, and need to be processed ASAP (like Centennial and Idaho 7®). Ideal pelletising temperature is under 50°C as temperature control is essential to prevent loss of essential hops oils. Squeezing hop powder through a die into a pellet generates lots of heat, and a good hop producer will have methods in place to keep temperatures down. Hop pellets exposed to high temperatures have a glassy, shiny, or even burnt appearance. Contact with oxygen should be minimised at all points throughout the process too.

Pellet consistency is another ‘just right’ aspect of quality hop production. When hops are blended, they must be carefully

analysed. Pellets also need to be the correct consistency. Dense pellets sink to the bottom of the tank without enough contact with the beer to impart flavour. Not dense enough, and they crumble in packaging, or float on top of the beer in dry hopping. The perfect pellet will break up into plant matter when ground by hand, and will sit perfectly suspended in beer, allowing flavours and aromas to disperse. Crosby Hops™ as a producer has invested a great deal of time and care into the perfect pelletisation process, creating incredible quality pellets which really are a wonder to work with.

Even after they’re pelletised, hops are fussy about how they’re stored. They should be packed in light-resistant nitrogen or CO2 flushed bags to avoid hop ‘spoilers’ – light, oxygen and heat. A hop supplier should work hand in hand with an ingredients supplier to ensure hops are stored as cold as possible –from when they leave the merchant, to their transport, and then warehouse storage before they reach the brewer. Properly stored and sealed hop pellets can remain good for over half a decade. Once they’ve arrived at the brewery, there’s still a lot of work to ensure hops retain quality. Much of this involves storing hops as cool as possible, ideally using the whole hop pack once it’s opened, or flushing it with Nitrogen or CO2 then resealing and freezing. Again, hops must avoid light, oxygen, and heat! When pulling hops out of brewery storage, common sense evaluation always applies – do they smell right, and do they look right?

Ultimately, selecting the right hops comes down to a series of complex series of decisions – some subjective, and some objective. A brewer should learn about the processes which have gone into creating the hops they are adding into their beer. Hops represent one of the greatest ingredient costs in the whole brewing process (and certainly the biggest outlay in terms of proportional volume), so it’s well worth investing in quality hops to guarantee a superb pint at the end!

Find out more at www.brewersselect.co.uk

(left) James Loughran (Managing Director, Loughran Brewing Stores & Loughran Brewers Select) & (right) Will Avery (Commercial & Marketing Director, Loughran Brewing Stores & Loughran Brewers Select).

low c olou r

Looking to create beers with huge flavour?

Muntons Super Pale Ale Malt is ideal for brewers looking to create low colour, high gravity ales.

Create super pale beers that allow your hop and fruit flavours to sing. This malt also pairs exceptionally well with crystal malts in making vibrantly coloured ales as the super low colour allows the red, amber and orange hues to shine through.

Contact the Muntons sales team to find out more.

MUNTONS. MAKE IT HAPPEN.

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vat

UK maltster Muntons partners with Suntory on sustainable new approach to growing barley

Showing true pioneering spirit, a collaborative team of forward-thinking companies in the food and drinks industry are radically changing the way that barley, one of the main ingredients of beer, is grown. The project aims to cut CO2 emissions from barley production by 50% in five years.

The Suntory Group, headquartered in Osaka and with a diverse global portfolio of drinks brands, has signed up to an innovative regenerative agriculture trial with Suffolkbased maltster Muntons, to explore how barley can be grown in a more sustainable way to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and protect water.

The trial is a collaborative effort between Suntory, Muntons, supply chain consultancy Future Food Solutions and Norfolk-based barley farmers, lead by Dewing Grain. In the first year of this sizeable pilot, which began with the 2022 autumn crop-sowing campaign, 16 farmers are dedicating around 400 acres specifically to the trial producing over 1,000 tonnes of barley from spring and winter varieties. This will be made into malt by Muntons and be used in Suntory’s beer and whisky production from 2024. The project will start by baselining all

crop-related emissions, which will inform an innovative nature-based programme of interventions that seek to reduce emissions, enhance soil health and protect water, while maintaining crop performance and grain quality. The ambition is to produce barley with 50% lower GHG emissions within five years.

Adrian Dyter, Head of Procurement & Technical at Muntons, said: “Muntons sees the importance of taking a practical and holistic view to reducing GHG emissions and we’re proud to have been the first maltster to develop a carbon calculator to help identify where the biggest impact of reductions can be made.

“Malted barley contributes 39% and 41% to the carbon footprint of beer and whisky respectively. So, the success of this trial could pave the way for reducing the overall value chain of production by 20% in a single leap.

We have invested heavily in reducing Scope 1 & 2 emissions and water conservation and have decarbonised our maltings by 83% since 2007. We are now looking to Scope 3 and collaborations with forward leaning farmers and drinks producers to help achieve ambitious net-zero goal of 2030 and vision to make a real difference.”

To discover more visit www.muntons. com/practical-sustainability

Evolution BPS, specialising in innovative bottling and packaging equipment for beer, have taken a stand at this year’s BeerX in Liverpool.

With 18 years’ experience in delivering bespoke packaging line solutions, Evolution BPS is recognised for its expertise in providing state of the art equipment combined with first class customer service.

In particular, bottling represents a critical stage in the life cycle of beer, and for this reason it must be managed with competence and accuracy. Evolution provides quality, innovative machinery for all parts of beer bottling lines, maintaining product integrity at every stage, and in particular during the delicate stage of filling. Evolution works in partnership with MBF for rinsing, filling and capping machines. MBF is an expert in the careful management of delicate products through the filling process. In addition, the Evolution portfolio includes TMG for depalletisers, palletisers, case-packing machines and all end of line machinery; Robino & Galandrino for all capsuling and wirehooding machines; P.E. Labellers for labelling machines; Logics & Controls highly advanced inspection systems for fill level, label, empty bottle and closure inspection.

In partnership with their suppliers, Evolution provides quality, innovative equipment to secure the correct solution for any project, creating a proposition that can offer full line turnkey solutions or individual machines for all your bottling and packaging needs. The equipment is installed, commissioned and maintained by their UK based team of field service engineers, complemented and supported by their manufacturers every step of the way.

Visit the Evolution team on Stand 90 at BeerX 2023 or go to www.evolutionbps. co.uk

Whisper Pumps completes Milestone project

Newark-based Milestone Brewery has been a regular Whisper Pumps’ customer for several years, choosing the Ebara CDX pump fitted with its special brewery seal.

After identifying many years ago that mechanical shaft seals in many pumps used for hot wort transfer were failing due to the sugars crystallizing on their faces, Whisper Pumps found a solution in a high temperature seal that prevents the sugar from adhering to its mating surfaces, consequently reducing leaks, downtime in the production

process and excessive purchasing of spares. Whilst most commonly supplied to breweries for hot wort, Rob Handy, Head Brewer of Milestone Brewery, explained how this pump solution specified by Whisper’s technical team also plays an important role in cleaning their casks before reuse. He said: “The pump, which was turned around within 24 hours, has also been integrated into our cask washer system with great help over the phone by Whisper Pumps’ technical team.”

Able to handle temperatures up to 110°c,

the special seal fitted in-house at Whisper Pumps enables the CDX pump to efficiently tolerate the hot caustic solution used to clean Milestone’s casks of beer without premature wear and leaking. Its hydroformed, smooth stainless steel body ensures high corrosion resistance, low friction losses and high efficiency. Its compact design also makes it ideal for retrofitting to existing breweries where there is limited space for large pump installations.

Find out more at www.whisperpumps.com

Supplier Case Study

Vigo launches service contracts for canning lines

Vigo, UK agents of ABE canning lines, has launched new service contracts for canning lines. Having supplied multiple lines to craft breweries in the UK/ Ireland and supported the projects through its engineering team, Vigo (now part of the Rawlings Group) is offering service contracts to customers for optimal line efficiency and additional peace of mind. There are three different service contract plans to choose from, offering varying levels of service and/or breakdown cover from their team of nine engineers.

Martin Gillard, Engineering Manager at Vigo, said: “We are proud of the relationships we have forged with customers we have supported over the years and aim to continue to do so into the future. We offer servicing, maintenance and repair for all the equipment we supply and we provide phone support, help and advice. These service contracts offer an even higher level of support and are designed to keep lines in optimal condition, minimising downtime." For more information go to www.vigoltd.com/beer

BFBi Events: Calendar for 2023

Sure Purity presented with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise

Ms Lucy Winskell OBE, His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear, presented North East manufacturer Sure Purity Limited with their Queen’s Award for Enterprise recognising excellence in International Trade.

Sure Purity manufactures carbon dioxide polishing filtration systems used by the beverage industry to prevent product contamination.

Speaking of the award and future growth plans, Gary Robson said: “It’s a very proud moment for the Sure Purity team and we’re on an exciting growth trajectory. Having had a brilliant experience taking on our first apprentice, we are looking to implement a growth strategy whereby for each new hire we also offer an apprentice role. As a former apprentice myself and having recently relocated to a premises on the site of my own initial apprenticeship, I’m passionate about helping to support young people into work and offering an alternative to traditional higher education.”

Find out more at www.surepurity.com

9th February - Tour of Butcombe Brewery, Bristol

23rd February - Joint IBD/BFBI Midland Technical Lecture, Burton

2nd March - Northern & Scottish Section Annual Lunch, The Edwardian, Manchester

15th March - BFBi Evening @ The Pumphouse, Liverpool

28th March - Tour of Lost & Grounded, Bristol

30th March - Eastern Section Annual Dinner & Casino Evening, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge

19th April - Tour of Bateman’s Brewery, Lincolnshire

7th-10th May - CBC 2023, Nashville, USA

24th May - Tour of Purity, Warwickshire

16th June - Western Section Cricket Social, Worcestershire County Cricket Club

19th September - Eastern Section Badminton Tournament, Debenham Sports Centre, Suffolk

17th October - Eastern Section Indoor Cricket, Debenham Sports Centre, Suffolk

7th November - Eastern Section Quiz Night, Greene King, Bury St

Edmunds

28th-20th November - Brau Beviale, Nuremburg Messe, Germany

Contact jessica.brindley@bfbi.org.uk for more information on the above events.

Enterprise Tondelli installs bottling line for Irish Kombucha producer

Enterprise Tondelli recently supplied and commissioned an automatic Kombucha bottling line for the SynerChi Kombucha Brewery in the district of Gweedore, Donegal.

SynerChi is Ireland’s original Kombucha brewery established in 2012 and based in its own custom, state of the art, BRCGS A++ facility in Gweedore, Co. Donegal, since 2013. Kombucha is a fermented tea product that is ‘live’ and is generally made from green tea that is fermented with a ‘SCOBY’ - an acronym for ‘Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast’. The product is then enhanced with natural flavours such as ginger, raspberry, apple etc. There are purported health benefits from the probiotic bacteria in the product and this market continues to grow rapidly.

The bottling line from Enterprise Tondelli consists of a de-palletising station feeding a rotary three station labeller. The labeller from BRB Globus in Italy is fitted with servo motor driven bottle platforms so that any future labelling combinations can be accommodated. The bottles are labelled before filling as the

drinks are carbonated and filled cold. This strategy avoids labelling on to bottles with condensation and allows more accurate labelling and better product presentation. A packaged carbonator supplied by Enterprise Tondelli is used to carbonate the final drinks with fine bubbles giving a velvety mouth feel. The carbonator uses an in-line with flow meter control for accurate CO2 dosing and a stabilisation tank prior to filling all mounted on a stainless-steel skid.

Mr Seamus McGowan, factory manager of SynerChi, said: “We are very happy with the line supplied and commissioned by Enterprise Tondelli. The result of our collaboration together has been a bottling line to be proud of, giving us gains in efficiency and consistent high-quality production.”

Mr Garry Wilson, senior project manager for Enterprise Tondelli, said: “It has been a pleasure working with Seamus and his team on this small but interesting project. By good cooperation the very best outcome has been achieved.”

Find out more at www.enterprisetondelli.co.uk

Sustainable drinkware for summer events from Cupapeel

With spring on the way, consumers' thoughts turn to longer, warmer days spent outside enjoying the warmer weather, great drinks and good company.

However, with this brighter season comes the challenge of lowering the impact on our environment. Plastic waste from the hospitality sector remains a major issue. Only a fraction of it is recycled and much infiltrates the environment, including the ocean, where it causes a host of problems for humans and wildlife.

Cupapeel’s paper cups are made from innovative Delipac board which is manufactured using aqueous-coated materials eliminating the need for plastic linings. This means that the cups are compostable, biodegradable and recyclable in any waste stream. The cups are also the only Flustix No Plastic accredited paper cups which are UKCA marked in the UK.

The range includes UKCA-marked 10oz and 20oz paper cups, but also a wide range of other single and double wall cups. Being manufactured in the UK also means they have a lower carbon footprint compared to cups made overseas.

As well as providing a more sustainable solution for single-serve drinks, Cupapeel is providing brands with fantastic branding opportunities, with all the paper cups printable in full colour. Find out more at www.cupapeel.co.uk

Brewers Select joins Loughran Brewing Stores to become Loughran Brewers Select

Loughran Brewing Stores was set up by James Loughran, the seventh generation of his family to have farmed barley in Dundalk on Ireland’s East Coast.

sustainability pledge through the KeyKeg recycling network.

Brewers Select has joined the Loughran family to become Loughran Brewers Select, with a new website and branding.

Brewers Select has been a ‘one-stop-shop’ pioneer, supplying brewing ingredients since its formation back in 2013, and has been a firm supporter of the microbrewery and craft beer scene ever since.

Brewers Select has now joined forces with Loughran Brewing Stores. Based in Ireland,

The new Loughran Brewers Select will continue to operate from its Peterborough warehouse in the UK, harnessing the knowledge and the expertise of the experienced and wellestablished team there to serve UK brewers, with Loughran Brewing Stores in Dundalk catering for breweries in Ireland.

At the close of 2022, Loughran Brewers Select also announced an exciting new partnership with KeyKeg to deliver brewers the industry’s gold standard in circular lightweight kegs. They will also be supporting KeyKeg in its

James Loughran, Managing Director of Loughran Brewing Stores, said: “We were really excited to bring KeyKeg on board as a partner to complement our selection of industry leading suppliers and farmers. We’ve got exciting plans for 2023, and we want brewers to know that we’re totally committed to being by their side every step of the way. We’ll continue to bring them more of what they need to create fantastic beer – and that’s going to include adding more brilliant ingredients from even more of the world’s best suppliers and producers.”

Find out more at www.brewersselect.co.uk

Pentair Haffmans to introduce the new Oxy-2Go at BeerX 2023

Smaller breweries need a costeffective, reliable, dissolved oxygen (DO) content measurement device, and Pentair Haffmans has launched Oxy2Go to fulfil this need.

Pentair Haffmans Oxy-2Go is a portable device that measures the complete range of DO content in beer wort, beer, and other carbonated beverages.

Developed using Pentair Haffmans known and trusted optical technology (incorporated into its long- established O2 Gehaltemeter, in-line, and laboratory quality control devices), the Oxy-2Go ensures brewers don’t run the risk of DO content becoming too high or too low.

Pentair Haffmans Oxy-2Go enables smaller breweries to measure their DO content without significant hardware investment. The device’s lightweight portability allows measurement throughout the entire brewing process line, reducing overall batch losses due to more regular monitoring.

Maintaining the correct levels of DO during the complete brewing process is crucial to the taste and stability of beer’s shelf life. The built-in optical technology of the Pentair Oxy-2Go provides reproducible and reliable DO content level readings.

Visit Pentair Haffmans on stand 178 at BeerX 2023 or visit www.foodandbeverage.pentair.com

Bag In Box Shop UK launches VITOP Real Ale 20L Bag

The Bag In Box Shop UK is has announced the launch of its new 2023 VITOP Real Ale 20L Bag for UK breweries.

The new bag has been in development for 18 months, and allows Bag In Box UK to be the only genuine supply of a VITOP Beer Bag compatible with VITOP S-Connectors for use with hand pulls.

The new product comprises of a three-layer bag which an inner film with an oxygen barrier keeping beer fresh and an outer layer which reduces the ballooning effect commonly seen with breweries using Bag In Box. This allows Bag In Box to be supplied direct to customers allowing breweries to market fresh beer deliveries or pick-ups to customers. The new bag is supplied with updated EVOH material and with a standard neck, meaning current closing devices and filling machines will work with the new bag.

The genuine VITOP Beer Bag is also supplied with the new 2022 VITOP Natural Tap which further improves the environmental benefits and further enhances the recycling systems it can be processed through. Find out more at www.baginboxshop.co.uk

Gold members Silver members

Loughran Brewers Select Ltd

Will Avery sales@brewersselect.co.uk

Charles Faram & Co Ltd

Any of the Team sales@charlesfaram.co.uk

Close Brothers Brewery Rentals

Reem Mohsen Reem.Mohsen@closebrothers.com

Croxsons

Tim Croxson

Tim.croxson@croxsons.com

Murphy & Son Ltd

Frances Maud frances.maud@murphyandson.co.uk

Premier Systems Ltd

Sam Williams Sam@premiersystems.ltd.uk

Thomas Fawcett & Sons Ltd

James Fawcett james@fawcett-maltsters.co.uk

Vigo ltd

Sales Team sales@vigoltd.com

Alfa Laval

Rebecca Halpin rebecca.halpin@alfalaval.com

Anton Paar Ltd

Tertia Rimell tertia.rimell@anton-paar.com

Beatson Clark

Lynn Sidebottom Lynn.sidebottom@beatsonclark.co.uk

Beer Box Shop

Simon Hulse sales@beerboxshop.co.uk

Breww Ltd

Max Andrew max@breww.co.uk

Crisp Malting Group

Rob Moody rob.moody@crispmalt.com

Festival Glass

Kelsey Cheesbrough sales@festivalglass.co.uk

Framax UK Limited

Elizabeth Smith esmith@framax.co.uk

IGC Engineering Ltd

Chris Hamlett chrishamlettigc@onetel.com

Kegstar

Oliver Baldwin oliver@kegstar.com

Konvoy UK

Christian Barden christian@konvoykegs.com

Lemon Top

Creative

Andy Mogg hello@lemontopcreative.com

Muntons Plc

Vanessa Makings vanessa.makings@muntons.com

Napthens

James Allison James.Allison@napthens.co.uk

Pentair Food & Beverage Solutions

Debbie Larkin debbie.larkin@pentair.com

Rankin Brothers & Sons

Jim Rankin sales@rankincork.co.uk

Saxon Packaging Ltd

Mike Impson mike.impson@smurfitkappa.co.uk

Sure Purity Ltd

Gary Robson gary.robson@surepurity.com

Vale Labels Ltd

John Riches john@valelabels.co.uk

Willis Publicity

Carl Andrews carl@willispublicity.co.uk

BREWERY START -UPS & EXPANSIONS ON-SITE OR REMOTE Q.A. SURVEYS

TECHNICAL SUPPORT & TROUBLESHOOTING ON-SITE TRAINING, RESIDENTIAL & VIRTUAL TRAINING COURSES NEXT COURSE: 26 29 MARCH 2023

Rob Smith, Hayley Young & David Smith

Rob: 07966 693097 / Hayley: 07855 326144 enquiries@brewingservices.co.uk www.brewingservices.co.uk

SIBA Head Office: 01765 640441

SIBA Team

Andy Slee

Chief Executive andy.slee@siba.co.uk

Sara Knox Company Secretary sara.knox@siba.co.uk

Rachel Harriott

Head of Membership Services rachel.harriott@siba.co.uk

Neil Walker

Head of Comms & Marketing neil.walker@siba.co.uk

Barry Watts

Head of Public Affairs & Policy barry.watts@siba.co.uk

Will Lockwood Public Affairs & Policy Officer will.lockwood@siba.co.uk

Jenna Barningham

Membership Services Administrator jenna.barningham@siba.co.uk

Louise Henley

Membership Services Administrator louise.henley@siba.co.uk

Elle Spencer-Blanchard

Membership Services Assistant elle.spencerblanchard@siba.co.uk

Charlie Docherty

Business Development Officer charlie.docherty@siba.co.uk

All General Enquiries contact office@siba.co.uk

Board of Elected Directors

Existing members wishing to contact your regional representatives can use the relevant regional e-mail addresses listed below. For individuals, just type firstname.lastname@siba.co.uk

Chairman of SIBA Richard Naisby

Vice-Chairman of SIBA Anthony Hughes

East east@siba.co.uk

Chair Richard Naisby Milton Brewery (Chair of the Board)

Ian Rydings Leigh on Sea Brewery

Marcus Beecher Elgood & Sons Ltd

Midlands midlands@siba.co.uk

Chair Anneli Baxter Loose Cannon Brewing Co Ltd

Anthony Hughes Lincoln Green Brewing Co Ltd (Vice-Chair of the Board)

Tom Fownes Fownes Brewing Co

North East northeast@siba.co.uk

Chair Ian Fozard Rooster’s Brewery Ltd

Joe Joyce Harrogate Brewing

Alex Balchin Wold Top Brewery

North West northwest@siba.co.uk

Chair William Mayne Bullhouse Brewing Co

Paul Jones Cloudwater Brew Co

Scotland scotland@siba.co.uk

Chair Christie Slater Consolidated Craft Brewers

Jamie Delap Fyne Ales

Fiona MacEachern Loch Lomond Brewery

South East southeast@siba.co.uk

Chair Andy Hayward Thames Side Brewery

William Harris Wild Card Brewery

South West southwest@siba.co.uk

Chair Paul Arrowsmith Isca Ales Ltd

Darren Batten Palmers Brewery

Alan Collyer The Exeter Brewery

Wales & West west@siba.co.uk

Rich Tidy Vale of Glamorgan Brewery Ltd

Rob Lilford Tomos & Lilford Brewery

Glenn White Brew Monster

PO BOX 136, Ripon, North Yorkshire, HG4 5WW