Ale & Stout

Pricey: expensive alcohol drives booze value up

Pricey booze steadies wet sales in pubs

By Nicholas Robinson

Expensive alcohol is helping pubs, bars and restaurants to increase or maintain profits from wet sales as consumers look for more premium experiences.

A plan: Cask Marque will launch a training scheme for pubs

Cask Marque’s first bar staff training plan

By Nicholas Robinson

Real ale champions at Cask Marque have revealed plans to produce the pub trade’s first comprehensive training scheme to help the sector serve cask ale at its best.

Bad beer: where's the best place to go for a pint?

Where are the ‘dirtiest’ pints in Britain?

By Nicholas Robinson

Operators in the south-west of England have been called out by this year’s Beer Quality Report as the most likely in the UK to pour pints from unclean lines.

Damning: beer quality at a low

Bad beer puts pubs at risk of ruin

By Nicholas Robinson

Pubs face potential ruin if they do not improve the quality of their beer, especially in an environment of increased costs and competition from the likes of coffee shops and fast-food outlets, sector experts have warned.

Motion proposed: CAMRA will discuss the term 'craft beer' at AGM

CAMRA tables motion to 'accept' craft beer

By Nicholas Robinson

Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) members are set to discuss the future of the organisation, the potential to reduce restrictions on labelling and whether the term 'craft beer' will be accepted.

Future Trends: Beer and Cider event launches

Future Trends: Beer and Cider

Top beer and cider launches of 2017

By Nicholas Robinson

Beer and cider producers are taking advantage of healthy on-trade sales and have already launched dozens of new products this year; here we look at just a few of the biggest so far in 2017.

Unveiled: North Brewing Co has added Volta sour to its portfolio

North Brewing Co unveils new sour beer

By Nikkie Sutton

The Best Brewing Pub Company winner at this year's Publican Awards – North Brewing Co – has revealed a new sour beer, among a flurry of other launches.

Almost here: Beer Day Britain is set to launch on 15 June

Four big pubcos commit to Beer Day Britain

By Nicholas Robinson

Punch, Fuller's, Shepherd Neame and the Ei Group will take part in the national celebration Beer Day Britain, which was founded three years ago to support British brewers and pubs.

BrewDog hits back at pub name debacle

BrewDog hits back at pub name debacle

By Nikkie Sutton

BrewDog pleads “please don’t steal our trademarks” in a blog post following the dispute over a Birmingham pub name that left the brewer and pub operator criticised by consumers.

Funding: Joseph Holt is an independent, family brewer, founded in 1849

Joseph Holt secures £25m refinancing deal

By Nikkie Sutton

Joseph Holt has agreed a £25m deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland to support further growth plans to the brewer's pub estate, brewery and developing new products.

Exporting: Andrea Leadsom with First Chop Brewing Arm

Gluten-free brewer is DEFRA’s exporter of the year

By Nicholas Robinson

Independent Manchester brewer First Chop Brewing Arm has been recognised as the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs’ (DEFRA) exporter of the year at its Food is Great event, hosted by environment secretary Andrea Leadsom last night (20 March).

Tim Martin: price cuts will demonstrate potential effect of VAT cut on hospitality sector

JD Wetherspoon to slash 7.5% off food and drink at 900+ pubs

By Daniel Woolfson

JD Wetherspoon (JDW) chairman Tim Martin will hack 7.5% off all food and drink prices for one day across his 900+ pub estate later this year to demonstrate the effect a VAT cut could have on the hospitality industry. 

Partnership: Martin Dickie (left) and James Watt created BrewDog 10 years ago

A timeline: how BrewDog became what it is today

By Nikkie Sutton

From its conception with two employees and a dog in 2007 to its global success of today, The Morning Advertiser sets out the history of BrewDog – warts and all.

Rising sales: ABI performed well in 'difficult' year

ABI: Budweiser, Stella and Corona sales up

By Nicholas Robinson

Sales of AB InBev’s (ABI) three global brands Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona grew by 6.5% last year and by 2.8% in the final quarter of 2016.

To the future: Camden Town's Jasper Cuppaidge is intent on remaining a craft lager brewer

Big Interview

Camden Town boss on criticism, investment and innovation

By Nicholas Robinson

Camden Town Brewery faced criticism of ‘selling out’ when it agreed to a takeover by AB InBev in 2015, but founder Jasper Cuppaidge reveals the brewery always had plans to expand as the company moves into a bigger brewhouse 10 miles from its original...

New brews: Charles Ireland of Guinness is excited about the new beers

Exclusive

Guinness ready to extend range of new beers

By Nicholas Robinson

Guinness’s Open Gate Brewery Project in Dublin, the initiative that launched Hop House 13 and Dublin Porter, will release new beers over the next three years, The Morning Advertiser (MA) can reveal.

Growth: BrewDog is opening its first US pub

BrewDog to open first US pub

By Nikkie Sutton

BrewDog will open its first US pub at its brewery and headquarters in Canal Winchester, Ohio, later this month (February).

The gin boom: make way for Tequila?

2017 drinks trends: what to stock

By Nicholas Robinson

Gin will give way to Tequila and more consumers will seek to buy only locally-made alcoholic drinks, including craft beer and spirits.

Hop off the press: craft brewer set to expand Taproom business

Beer

Hop Stuff Brewery kicks off £1.5m expansion

By Nicholas Robinson

Hop Stuff Brewery will expand its brewhouse, open four new bars, hire 40 people and increase its smaller pack offering after raising £750,000 via Crowdcube within three weeks.

Off the wagon: men aren't supportive of women's choice to drink less

Health

Men push women off #DryJanuary wagon

By Nicholas Robinson

Men are more likely to push their female partners off the #DryJanuary wagon, goad them into breaking healthy drinking plans and consume more alcohol than the other way round.

Getting better: Alcohol-free beer is progressing

Designated driver

Revisiting ‘near beer’ category

By Pete Brown

Are brewers finally managing to create no and low-alcohol beers that are genuinely palatable, rather than the curate’s egg we have endured for so many years before?

New boss: Phil Whitehead appointed UK and Ireland MD for Molson Coors

Breaking

New UK MD for Molson Coors

By Nicholas Robinson

Molson Coors has promoted its former European chief supply chain officer Phil Whitehead to managing director of its UK and Ireland businesses, The Morning Advertiser can exclusively reveal.  

On the lookout: Marston's seeks new business opportunities

Beer

Marston’s future: acquisitions, partnerships and microbrewing

By Nicholas Robinson

Marston’s will flex the full potential of its five breweries by partnering with international and UK beer brands and snapping up other beer companies, if they fit with the brewer and pub group’s proposition, The Morning Advertiser (MA) understands.

Beer trends for 2017 predicted

Beer

Beer trends for 2017: what will you be serving?

By Nicholas Robinson

Sour beers, porters, stouts and barrel-aged strong beers are just a few brews identified as key trends set to hit the UK hard, according to fanatics from the annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF).

Seven Bro7hers: Seven Bro7hers: opening their own bar in just over two years in business

Craft beer

Seven Bro7hers Brewery to open first city bar

By Nicholas Robinson

Craft brewery Seven Bro7hers is to open its first Manchester city-centre bar, following a £245,000 investment through crowdfunding and a Government-backed loan.

The beers are in: world's best beers according to the IWSC

Beer

16 of the world’s best beers revealed

By Nicholas Robinson

A staggering 16 beers have been recognised by the International Wine and Spirit Challenge (IWSC) group as the world’s best.

New products and alternatives (l to r): Bombardier, Sharp's pale ale, Citadelle, Ciroc and Wry

New Products

Charles Wells’ new Bombardier

By Nicholas Robinson

Charles Wells has produced a new lighter variant of its classic Bombardier Burning Gold and Glorious England cask variants, in an attempt to tap into craft ale drinkers and lighter, lower-ABV beer drinking consumers.