Brewer to include drinking guidelines on bottles

A Scottish independent brewery is leading the charge on sensible drinking by including new government alcohol consumption guidelines on all its labelling.

Cawdor-based Sinclair Breweries, which operates the Orkney Brewery and Kinlochleven's Atlas Brewery, is believed to be one of the first in the country to include the alcohol unit information on its bottles.

The brewery said studies have shown that most people are aware of units as a measure of alcohol consumption, but only a small percentage actually keep track of how much they drink.

The government and drinks industry have teamed up to introduce a voluntary labelling scheme, which displays a drink's unit content alongside recommended drinking guidelines and the website address of alcohol advice charity the Drinkaware Trust.

The labelling information will be supported by a major cross-government campaign on alcohol from 2008, a large part of which will be about raising unit awareness.

The new labels being introduced by Sinclair Breweries - producers of award winning beers such as The Red Macgregor, Dark Island, Nimbus Blonde and Latitude - also include detailed tasting notes.

Norman Sinclair, managing director, said: "I think it's important that the drinks industry takes a more responsible attitude towards the issue of alcohol consumption and we were very keen to lend our backing to this new voluntary agreement.

"Not only do we feel that the new labelling will help encourage a sensible approach to alcohol consumption, we also think it will enhance enjoyment of quality products which are, after all, designed to be savoured."