It has become a known trend that over the last few years the love for craft beer is rising (almost fivefold in four years from 164,000hl in 2011 to 625,000hl in 2015) and is showing no sign of disappearing anytime soon. And British brewers have proved their significance in this market with an increase in craft value of 76% in 2015. With cask drinkers visiting the pub twice as often as the average person and spending almost...
The Innis & Gunn BeerBond seems to have hit a note with investors with the brewery announcing that it has raised £2.5 million with its crowdfunded beer bond. Innis & Gunn launched the funding drive at the end of April seeking to raise £3 million to build a new brewery. Whilst crowdfunding is seemingly all the rage for craft breweries with ambition Innis & Gunn have taken a different route. Rather than offering shares in the...
Take away craft beer growlers are all the rage at the moment and yet another thing imported from our craft beer brewing friends in America. We first introduced growlers in an earlier post about our craft beer trip to Vancouver. Intrigued by the idea of take-out beer we decided to write more on the subject and find out what the potential benefits are to UK brewers. But first lets establish exactly what a growler is? You can look up some definitions...
It’s been another busy quarter for the craft beer market and this is our round up of key developments. The biggest news was that South African brewing giant SAB Miller acquired Meantime Brewing. The deal for an as-yet-undisclosed sum will reportedly see Meantime develop new beers for SAB as well as helping it grow its exports. Much of the media speculation has been on the impact among craft beer fans. Perhaps more important is whether this is...
This morning saw news that US brewing giant SABMiller had purchased UK craft brewer Meantime for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will see Meantime operate as an independent brewery with SABMiller looking to drive expansion and exports of Meantime’s award-winning brews. With the craft beer market booming, is this a one-off purchase or is it the start of a wave of purchases of nimble, profitable craft brewers by ‘big brewing’? Craft brewers are an attractive target for acquisition Craft...
A recent trip to Vancouver was full of surprises. Great food, lovely people but more importantly amazing craft beer. For a city that’s half the size of Birmingham it’s blessed with 16 craft beer breweries. So when in craft beer heaven it’d be rude not get a taste for the city. Where to start? On a recommendation from a bartender in Gas Town we headed from downtown to East Vancouver AKA brewery central. Our cab pulled up on Commercial...
It’s been a busy start to 2015 for the craft beer sector. We’ve picked out some of the key developments in the craft beer market in the first of our sector reviews. The sector’s confidence and growth are evident and our highlights reflect this optimism. The Guardian toasts the health of the European craft beer market emphasising the benefits the sector brings. Chief among these is that Europe’s 5,000 craft breweries account for almost 2 million jobs across...
Craft brewer BrewDog has won many plaudits for its approach to brewing, its iconic packaging and its fantastic PR, social media, and its overall marketing. Last week saw the brand launch its revamped branding and packaging. The feedback from its legion of devoted fans was decidedly mixed. It would appear that the normally confident brewery has made its first big marketing mistake, one compounded by its handling of the response. BrewDog is no stranger to controversy. Its...