Beer

Hall & Woodhouse profits up 63% after soft drinks sale

01-Sep-2006 By The PMA Team

Brewer and retailer Hall & Woodhouse has seen a 63% rise in pre-tax profit in the year to 28 January 2006 after the sale of its soft drinks...

Brewers hit out at guest beer push

31-Aug-2006

Family brewers are fighting back against a campaign aimed at giving licensees the right to serve guest beers in their pubs.The Campaign for Real Ale...

Ale lovers 'will pay for quality'

25-Aug-2006 By The PMA Team

Pubs need to recognise the opportunity that now exists to charge more for high-quality, premium cask-ale brands, according to Wolves & Dudley...

Bottled brands

25-Aug-2006

Every summer there is a drinks brand that becomes a must-have on the nation's bar tops. This summer saw pubs clamouring to stock Magners - the cider...

A canned history of Carling...by Roger Protz

24-Aug-2006 By Roger Protz

I returned home from work to find four cans of Carling in the fridge. "What are they doing in there?" I asked, close to hysteria.

Punch licensees ignoring right to jettison beer ties

17-Aug-2006 By Tony Halstead

Fewer than 50 Punch licensees have exercised their right to jettison the beer tie which would enable them to negotiate lucrative free-trade prices...

Greene King to lower ABV of premium ale

11-Aug-2006

Greene King is lowering the alcoholic strength of Old Speckled Hen from 5.2 per cent to 4.5 per cent in a bid to boost sales.The change comes...

A familiar festival of colour for ale lovers

10-Aug-2006 By Andrew Jefford

The Great British Beer Festival may have moved home, but

Heineken signs for Chelsea

10-Aug-2006

Heineken has signed a four-year deal to be the official beer of Chelsea Football Club. The deal kicked off on Wednesday at Chelsea's first home...

Bobby's golden rule

10-Aug-2006

After 50 years as chairman of Shepherd Neame,

Brands Briefs

10-Aug-2006

Booker goes for Pinot Grigio Malt House Vintners, Booker's range of beers, wines and spirits, has extended its Caifornian River Wild brand to...

NEWS OF THE BREWS

10-Aug-2006

Dark Smooth aims for sweet spot Cheshire-based brewer Robinsons is currently trialling a new 3.7% abv stout. Dark Smooth is currently available in...

Toast to an iconic Aussie brewer - by Roger Protz

10-Aug-2006 By Roger Protz

The mood in the industry is that the family brewing sector is doomed. The gloom-mongers point to the recent disappearance of Gale's and Ridley's as...

Poll points way to wine sales success

10-Aug-2006

Nearly a third of all wine drinkers will not buy the tipple in a pub, according to new research by wine giant Constellation Europe. In a poll of 700...

Record numbers for beer festival

08-Aug-2006 By Iain O'Neil

The 2006 Great British Beer Festival has been hailed as a tremendous success by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). NEW COMMENT

Young's sells Wandsworth brewery

03-Aug-2006 By Iain O'Neil

London brewer Young's has sold its Wandsworth brewery to property agent Minerva for £69million. Young's announced in May that it was to merge its...

Sussex brewer buys S&N depot

02-Aug-2006

Sussex brewer Harveys has purchased the former Scottish & Newcastle UK Distribution Depot in Lewes. The 2.35 acre site, with 36,568 square feet...

Crouch Vale Brewers Gold is Champion Beer 2006

01-Aug-2006 By Iain O'Neil

Crouch Vale Brewers Gold has been named Camra's Champion Beer 2006

Champion Beer of Britain 2006 announced

01-Aug-2006

Brewers Gold from Crouch Vale in Essex has been crowned the 2006 Champion Beer of Britain at the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) for the second...

Budweiser BE runs out of energy

31-Jul-2006 By Rosie Davenport

Anheuser-Busch is axing its Budweiser BE beer and energy drink off-shoot after failing to recreate the same buzz with UK consumers as it achieved in...

Trade rubbishes 'LSD safer than beer' study

31-Jul-2006 By John Harrington

Trade leaders have rubbished a new report that ranks alcohol and tobacco as more harmful than LSD, ecstasy and cannabis. MPs argued for alcohol and...

Brewer warns over cheap supermarket booze

31-Jul-2006 By Iain O'Neil

Scottish & Newcastle has hit out at cheap supermarket booze - which it says encourages irresponsible drinking. The brewer made the complaint to...

Brewers call for TrenStar keg inquiry

28-Jul-2006 By Graham Ridout

Pressure is mounting for an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) inquiry into TrenStar, the country's largest keg supplier.

In Session... with Ben McFarland

27-Jul-2006

Beer sales are supposed to be solar powered. Aside from England winning the World Cup (it seems laughable now doesn't it?), there's nothing that the...

Wine supplier urges staff to boost sales

27-Jul-2006

Wine supplier Constellation Europe sent an email urging staff to buy the company's wine in JD Wetherspoons to help them win a supply contract to the...

Beer festivals - the US way

25-Jul-2006

For someone who just about earns a living penning beer-related tat for drinks magazines and newspapers, the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) is a...

Shepherd Neame ages 150 years overnight

25-Jul-2006

Kent family brewer Shepherd Neame may have to rethink its entire marketing strategy, after newly discovered documents pushed the date of the historic...

Choosing the Champion Beer

24-Jul-2006

It is the revered highlight of the Great British Beer Festival (GGBF), but the Champion Beer of Britain (CBOB) is dogged by as many conspiracy...

Three brewers pull out of GB Beer Festival amid cost fear

20-Jul-2006 By Tony Halstead

Three prominent cask ale brewers have pulled out of next month's Great British Beer Festival in London. Adnams, Batemans and Woodforde's confirmed...

Brewery boss quits pub in beer-tie row

20-Jul-2006

A brewery boss is to quit his pub after new owner Young's banned him from selling his ales there. David Roberts and his wife, Ruth, will call last...

The future is Foster's unless we act - says columnist Roger Protz

20-Jul-2006 By Roger Protz

A leaflet the size of a tabloid newspaper, printed in full colour, fell out of my local free sheet last week. It was from the supermarket group...

Bathwater beer warning as temp soars

19-Jul-2006 By Iain O'Neil

The surprisingly warm British summer has prompted beer inspectors to issue a warning about 'bathwater beer' being served in too many pubs. Inspectors...

ASA upholds Spitfire Italian surrender complaints

18-Jul-2006 By Iain O'Neil

A complaint about ads for Spitfire Ale which showed Italian footballers surrendering with cries of 'don't shoot' have been upheld by the Advertising...

Beer guts aren't cheap say British men

14-Jul-2006 By Iain O'Neil

British men spend an average of £1,144 a year cultivating their beer guts according to research. Private medical insurer PruHealth commissioned...

Licensees need to be inventive over beer pricing

13-Jul-2006

Licensees need to be more inventive with how they price beer in their pubs, according a senior figure at one of Britain's biggest brewers.Steve...

InBev: Pubs can afford to charge more for beer

13-Jul-2006 By Lucy Britner

Pubs can afford to charge higher prices for beer and should adopt a more flexible policy, according to Stella Artois brewer InBev. InBev's managing...

Leffe builds on quality image

12-Jul-2006

InBev has launched a new advertising campaign to support Leffe, its increasingly popular speciality beer brand.The campaign, which will run for 10...

Beer Lao launches in UK

12-Jul-2006

Beer Lao, a new import from the south east Asian country of Laos, has been launched exclusively into the UK on-trade. The beer is being imported by...

Young's can taste success with brewery move

11-Jul-2006

Young's is convinced pub customers will not be able to taste the difference when its beers move from their traditional home in Wandsworth to the...

Real ale fan saves local from bulldozers

07-Jul-2006

A Camra award-winning village pub and its gardens have been saved from becoming an executive housing estate - thanks to a villager buying it and...

Adams' new eve for ales - Feature

06-Jul-2006 By Rosie Davenport

Greene King Brewing's MD is on a mission to turn around the fortunes of ale. In his first interview since stepping into the top job last September, Justin Adams shares his vision with Rosie Davenport

Thwaites profits in decline

06-Jul-2006 By The PMA Team

Brewer Daniel Thwaites has reported a decline in pre-tax profit after record regulatory costs in the year to 31 March 2006. The brewer saw pre-tax...

Why I'm crossing swords over Young's - Roger Protz

06-Jul-2006

Crossing swords with a fellow columnist is a dangerous course of action. The dispute could rumble on, turn and turn about, until we both disappear up...

New brewery seeks to educate

06-Jul-2006

A microbrewery with a difference has opened its doors in West Yorkshire. Paul Simpson and Tony Gartland spent £500,000 on developing the Saltaire...

Deuchars IPA rolled out to Massive

03-Jul-2006 By The PMA Team

Deuchars IPA, the award-winning beer and flagship brand of the Edinburgh based Caledonian Brewing Company, is being rolled out in 30 of Massive's 40...

Beck's gets lemon aid from new extension

30-Jun-2006 By Rosie Davenport

InBev UK is testing a citrus-flavoured, half-strength version of Beck's lager in a handful of independent on-trade outlets in Glasgow. Beck's Green...

Beer prices threatened as UK keg costs double

29-Jun-2006 By Ewan Turney

Beer prices could face a substantial hike after Britain's major keg supplier doubled its charges. TrenStar owns more than 60% of the nation's beer...

Cider flourishes while other drinks flounder

29-Jun-2006 By Ewan Turney

The "Magners halo effect" helped the cider market grow in the past year, in contrast to cask ale, which continued its decline. Figures from market...

When Paul Clerehugh took on the Crooked Billet in Stoke Row, Oxfordshire, the pub was on its knees, but he's made it a £1m turnover outlet by dint of sheer hard work, sticking to basics and listening to his locals