Grant, who is leading the case for the Society for Independent Brewers (SIBA), estimates that there is more than £1m worth of cask beer sitting in Waverley depots.
Grant’s concerns lie in whether administrator Deloitte is selling the stock and in return will be paying the brewers for the beer. Brecon Brewery is owed £5,500, which was to be used to set up a bottling line.
He said: “There’s a huge amount of stock from big and small breweries tied up in Waverley’s depots. Waverley were trading up until the point of administration. It’s unclear what administrators are going to do with the stock. There is a significant concern that stock may not have been paid for.
“We are owed a substantial amount of money. It’s not going to put us under but we will have to tighten our belts. I have five casks in Gateshead (Tyne and Wear), but the costs of recovering them is more than the beer is worth. That money was to have been used to set up our bottling line.
“I expect the industry to lose a couple of breweries. There’s probably over £1m worth of cask beer sat in the depots, from what I’ve heard from other SIBA members.”
Grant added: “I understand that the administrators have been selling some beer yet it is not clear whether the brewers are going to get paid for this. We don’t know exactly what’s going on.
“There are also concerns about the shelf-life of the beer. If we could get to the stock quickly, we could regain some of the money.”
A Deloitte spokeswoman said: “We are in discussions with various interested parties to sell the stock. We are also dealing with a great number of suppliers who have claimed retention of title over the goods supplied. In both instances we are prioritising the goods with short shelf-life.
“The extent to which suppliers (including brewers) are able to recover the stock they have supplied is dependent upon the existence and validity of retention of title clauses. These are being considered on a case-by-case basis.”