December 2009 Archives

The Campaign for Real Ale has launched an electronic alternative to carrying a copy of its bestselling pub guide in your back pocket.

Information compiled for the 2010 edition can now be downloaded straight into your mobile phone. The service costs £10 per year, but you can enjoy a free seven-day trial (full details here).

The first edition of real ale journalist Jeff Evans' newsletter Inside Beer was launched yesterday afternoon, just days after Jeff was presented with his second gold tankard by the British Guild of Beer Writers.

Topics this time around include recommended winter ales and Marks & Spencers' new beer range. You can read it online here.

Congratulations to the Woodman's Rest in Union Road, Shirley, which has just been named most improved pub of 2009 by Solihull CAMRA.

The official presentation takes place on Wednesday evening at 9pm.

Save Our Boozers is a new reality tv show following the efforts of five rural communities as they strive to preserve their local pub.

The first of the five-part series premieres on the new cable channel Blighty this coming Tuesday at 8pm.

Presenter Jay Smith, himself an experienced pub owner, said: "These boozers are the backbone of British society. Lose them and we lose our identity. I want this series to really inspire people to get on board with my passion - to bring back the great British boozer."

He hoped the programme would provide viewers with both an insight and an inspiration.

"By showing viewers how these five communities get their own pub up and running, I hope others will be inspires to do the same. Of course, there is the risk that it could all go horribly wrong, in which case it may end up being an example of how not to do it!

"But if we can get communities working together to get their British pubs back, it will be good for our communities, good for tourism and good for the great British boozer."

More information can be found here.

The Campaign for Real Ale is holding its annual members' weekend at the Villa Marina, Loch Promenade, Isle of Man, on 16-18 April 2010. The event will also include a Viking- and Celtic-themed beer festival.

Further details are available here.

A controversial beer with a staggering strength of 18.2% ABV can no longer be sold by British bars, clubs and shops following a ruling by the brewing industry's own watchdog, the Portman Group.

The ruling came in the wake of complaints that Fraserburgh-based BrewDog was encouraging excessive drinking with its current packaging.

Labels on the Tokyo* brand - which sells at £10 per bottle - suggest people must, from time to time, enjoy excessive behaviour, adding: "This beer is for those times."

Portman Group chief executive David Poley told the BBC: "We don't regulate the alcohol content of drinks, but we do control how they are promoted. It's obviously unwise for any company to urge consumers to drink to excess.

"We won't allow any irresponsible marketing, whether it's for a big brand or a niche product. That's why we're taking action to restrict future sales of this beer."

BrewDog's co-founder, Martin Dickie, was unrepentant: "The Portman Group's decision to ban Tokyo* highlights the misdirection of their organisation.

"Like all of our specialist beers, it was only available online at our website and in five specialist beer retailers throughout the UK.

"They should perhaps concentrate their efforts on targeting the brands selling 24 cans of lager for £7 - where literal excess is contributing to Scotland's problem with alcohol."

The brewery followed up Tokyo* with a low alcohol beer called Nanny State, but made headlines last week after it launched an even stronger beer, Tactical Nuclear Penguin, with an ABV of 32%.

The Campaign for Real Ale today called on Chancellor Alastair Darling to end the special tax treatment of spirits and to support the British brewing industry.

Following last year's Pre-Budget Report, taxation on beer, wine and cider was increased by 8%, whilst spirits were let off lightly with a rise of only 4%. Brewers are likely to come under further pressure when VAT is increased in the new year.

CAMRA wants duty on spirits increased and the cash used to reduce the general duty on beers and allow the zero-rating of lower strength ales, 2.8% abv or below.

CAMRA's chief executive, Mike Benner, said "UK beer duty has been increased by 52% since the current Government came to power in 1997, whilst spirit duty has increased by only 19%.

"The 4% duty concession given to the spirits lobby following last year's Pre-Budget Report should be withdrawn to fund a fair deal for beer and pubs. In the longer term, the difference in the duty rate for spirits and lower alcohol categories should be restored to the levels that Labour inherited when they came to power in 1997.

Beer was the mainstay product of community pubs, he added, and licensees could not survive afford further price increases.

"Community pubs provide a safe and social environment for people to relax with a drink and play a major role in community life. Community pubs should not be made to suffer as a result of unfair rises in beer duty, while spirits get off lightly.

"Any reductions in beer duty must be fully passed on by pub-owning companies to their tied publicans and therefore the consumer. Government should make it clear that it will stamp down hard on profiteering, through new competition legislation if necessary.

"There is a common misconception in the UK that spirits are synonymous with whisky. In fact, whisky accounts for only about 10% of spirit sales in the UK; with alcopops and white spirits (vodka, white rum and gin) making up the lion's share of sales in pubs."

The UK pub chain JD Wetherspoon has unveiled plans to open 250 new pubs over the next five years, increasing its outlets by nearly one third.

This move bucks the current trend, but is scarcely turning the industry around: the British Beer and Pub Association estimated in July that more than 50 pubs were closing each week.

City analysts point to JD Wetherspoon's move into such markets as breakfasts and evening meals as key to the chain's success. The company says it now serves 1.5 meals per week, including 254,000 breakfasts and 75,000 curries.

Wetherspoon chair Tim Martin, who opened his first pub in 1969, yesterday told The Independent: "I think cappuccinos and breakfasts have been very important, as has a big concentration on real ale. Volumes of real ale are up around 17 per cent in the last few months."

The chain reportedly sold nearly three million pints during Wetherspoon's 19-day, bi-annual international real ale festival, which ended on 15 November. Martin cited brewer Greene King's Ruddles County Premium Ale as selling particularly well, adding: "We are also doing a range of micro-brewers' beers from all over Britain, and also from New Zealand and Canada."