Beavertown refuses to rule out refunds for Extravaganza festival
Following Beavertown’s decision to sell a minority stake to global brewing giant Heineken, a number of breweries have pulled out from the Extravaganza festival, which is scheduled to take place in London this September.
UK brewers Cloudwater, BrewDog, Brew By Numbers, Buxton and Verdant Brewery have all made public statements stating that they will no longer be attending the festival, while US breweries The Veil and Jester King have also pulled out.
However, The Morning Advertiser understands that the actual number of breweries that have pulled out is much higher, and that the brewery might cancel the event completely.
Everything on the table
When asked if the brewery would be considering refunding those who had bought tickets to the festival, Beavertown’s brand & communications manager Sam Milliard said that “everything is on the table” and confirmed the brewery would be making a public statement “in the next few days”.
The brewery contacted all of the breweries that were confirmed to take part in the festival following the announcement of the Heineken deal, and said that it was awaiting responses from all of the brewers before making any announcement about the event.
“We don’t want to leave people hanging on, so we’re hopeful of being able to make an announcement in the next couple of days,” Milliard added.
£40m brewery build
Last month, Beavertown revealed that it had accepted an offer by Heineken to invest an undisclosed figure in the craft brewer to help it build a state-of-the-art £40m brewery and visitor experience, which will open in autumn 2019.
The new 125,000sq ft site will feature a fully automated 150hl brewhouse and will have a total on-site capacity of 450,000hl. It will be within the M25 and is scheduled to create around 150 jobs, the brewery stated.
The brewery's founder, Logan Plant (the son of Led Zeppelin singer Robert) and his wife will remain majority shareholders in the business, and the exact stake that has been sold to Heineken has not been revealed.
The Beavertown Extravaganza has been billed as a "the greatest celebration of Craft Beer London has ever seen", featuring 90 breweries from around the world. Tickets to the festival are £65 and include unlimited pours throughout the six-hour session.
