Local heroes

The Society of Independent Brewers has presented

its first Local Brewing Business Awards in London.

Adrian Tierney-Jones met its innovative winners

On the evening of 31 October, members of the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), with various supporters, sponsors - including Lloyds TSB and the Morning Advertiser - and assorted media, gathered in the plush surroundings of the Institute of Directors in London's Pall Mall to toast the winners of the first SIBA Local Brewing Business Awards.

These awards are seen as a new and bold initiative from SIBA. Their aim is to demonstrate that the society's members are innovators in the business of marketing and selling their products, and brewing award-winning beers.

"When the idea was first suggested it was about how to improve members' professionalism," says SIBA chairman Keith Bott, who runs Stoke-on-Trent's Titanic Brewery. "It was also our response to Union Pub Company's boss Stephen Oliver's controversial challenge at this year's SIBA conference. He made some good points about beer quality and marketing, even if they didn't go down well with members. Poor quality beer and marketing downgrades beer across the whole sector."

Eight award categories, plus an overall winner, were judged by a panel of six, including Bott and Morning Advertiser editor Andrew Pring. The judges were looking for a commitment from competitors to increase their commercial results, being creative in reaching that aim, demonstrating excellence in implementation and the quality of the submitted entry.

"I am delighted with the way it turned out and we are looking forward to an even more successful award programme next year," says Bott. "There were over 50 entries for all the categories, which worked well given our intention to highlight SIBA members' professionalism. We always concentrate on the beer side of things, but getting the share of market is achieved through good business and marketing as well."

Best Innovation

Sponsor: DAS Brew

Isle of Skye, Uig, Isle of Skye

All businesses need innovation to survive and brewers need it more than most, given today's keen competitive climate.

The Best Innovation category recognised this issue by inviting entries exemplifying new and original ways of dealing with brewing processes or going one step further regarding quality. This is where Isle of Skye's introduction of a cask container measuring half the size of the traditional nine-gallon vessel impressed the judges.

The Isle of Skye brewery is in an area where real-ale sales are seasonal. Sales drop in winter and licensees can be reluctant to accept a nine-gallon cask knowing their chances of selling it in three days are slim.

"Following customers' queries, we started looking for smaller containers but the traditional 4.5 gallon pins were in short supply," says brewery owner Angus MacRuary. "We came across some old-style concentrated syrup containers made of stainless steel and once used by Britvic. So we stripped down two and spent time working out how they could be adapted. When we were happy we bought 50, thinking that would be enough. Now we have 700."

Isle of Skye's innovation has evolved as a real response to a customer request - something every successful brewery should be able to do. Its containers offer pubs and hotels the chance to stock real ale in the lean winter months and have been developed to make licensees' lives easier. Their double-skinned construction helps with insulation; they leave a small footprint as they can be fitted behind the bar and have clip-on and clip-off connectors.

Best Packaging

Sponsor: HCT

Winner: Wye Valley, Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire

When a brewery decides to change or smarten its branding imagery, it encounters the risk that some customers won't like the new image or even that the trade will reject it. Happily for Wye Valley, their recent corporate and image rebranding has led to plaudits combined with increased industry recognition.

"Having started upgrading the brewery and moving out of Hereford into our current home, we knew some money had to be spent on marketing," says brewery chairman Peter Amor. "We had Butty Bach, the Dorothy Goodbody range and other beers, but not all our products were branded as Wye Valley.

"We needed to look at it as a whole concept and identify a clear self-image. So we spent a lot of time and effort picking the right type of people to do the work and then selling it to the trade."

The brewery met with some resistance from drinkers who had always appreciated Wye Valley's concentration on their

Herefordshire roots.

But in reality, selling within a 50-mile radius of their location would take them into places such as the West Midlands. They wanted their beer to be relevant to this larger area.

"Winning the award was lovely," says Amor, who is also SIBA's vice-chairman. "When we moved in 2001 we made the decision before Progressive Beer Duty (PBD) was introduced, so it was a risk, but now we have one of the finest breweries in the country and have doubled our growth. We put the emphasis on quality. When that had been sorted out we looked at packaging.

"These business awards are excellent and I congratulate the team for putting them together. This event has set a high standard from the word go."

Best Promotion

Sponsor: Small Beer

Winner: Everards,

Enderby, Leicestershire

Not content with winning Best Support for On-trade Retailer, Everards also took this award with their groundbreaking Cyclops beer classification system, launched back in the summer. Alongside a colour, smell and taste guide, a scale of 1 to 5 is used to measure sweetness and bitterness of ales. According to the judges, this was an "outstanding idea, combining simplicity and comprehensive implementation", and praise was also directed at promotional material.

Everards quality assurance manager Mark Tetlow says: "Cyclops is about demystifying beer. It's a system that brewers have used for years, but we needed to get rid of all the technical brewing terms and make it easier for drinkers and bar staff to understand. When you start communicating to the customer and they grasp it, you have a buy-in. It's also about designing it so people selling the beer have confidence."

Cyclops has been developed at an opportune time as the brewing industry recognises the need for the language and image of beer to be made more relevant.

"We don't talk about the floral notes of a Fuggle, for example," says Tetlow. "People wouldn't know one if it bit them on the nose." Malt and hops are mentioned, but that's secondary.

Best New Launch and Overall Winner

Sponsor: Lloyds TSB

Winner: Hawkshead,

Staveley, Cumbria

Alex Brodie is a former BBC journalist who swapped the microphone for the mash tun back in 2002 when he set up Hawkshead in the Lake District. Not content with just having this brewery, he opened another one at Staveley, where the bulk of his ales are produced. Along with the brewery came an enormous, modern visitor centre, which he calls the Beer Hall. It was this new building that impressed the judges with its

professionalism and distinctive interior, moving beer away from the tired old clichés of smoky rooms full of men.

"The Beer Hall looks down into the brewery to let visitors view the brewing process. It also gives us a considerable retail outlet and acts as a showcase for our beers. We have spent a lot of money to create a very modern environment here with new wood and leather sofas, and an atmosphere that communicates the fact that we take beer seriously.

As well as providing a state-of-the-art outlet for Hawkshead's excellent beers, the Beer Hall is also home to Hawkshead's own training centre, where full-day courses on beer production and shorter courses on cellaring take place. This is Brodie's way of answering the need for those involved in brewing or dispensing to acquire more knowledge and control.

"This sort of thing requires a serious site,"