09-Jul-2009 By Roger Protz
Just because some ales are lower in abv, it doesn't mean they must be lacking in taste, says Roger Protz. On a day of blistering heat in London last...
01-Jul-2009 By MA editorial team
The scorching weather has sent sales at pubs soaring, according to licensees and brewers. As Britain bakes in temperatures as hot as the Bahamas...
Jumping to it?
27-Jun-2009 By Hamish Champ
To the untrained eye it could look as if brewers and pub operators have been falling over themselves to do right by their licensees in the wake of...
Brewers wary of calls for beer tie review
21-May-2009
Regional brewers have come out in force against calls by MPs for an investigation into the tie, fearing they would be hit harshly by any measures.The...
08-May-2009 By John Harrington
Plans to charge licensees deposits on kegs have "hit a brick wall" and brewers will now focus on other measures of preventing thefts.
Innserve: the verdict
01-May-2009
What general areas have you been advising the pubs on?"Dispense, energy saving and cellar safety."What key changes have you advised the licensees to...
2008 saw new dawn for beer
17-Mar-2009
Rock 'n' roll in 1956/57, the summer of love in 1967/68, punk and new wave in 1976/77, acid house and the dawn of rave culture in 1987/88… These...
Brewers with a taste for publicity
09-Mar-2009
A historic country hall in Derbyshire is home to an exotic band of brewers who together are a leading member of a new wave of micros innovating and...
27-Feb-2009 By Andrew Pring
Remove the tie, and you say goodbye to real ale and family brewers, Independent Family Brewers of Britain chairman Paul Wells tells Andrew Pring.
23-Feb-2009 By John Harrington
Independent brewers continue to outperform the overall beer market, with the local brewing sector up 10% in 2008 and brewers predicting a 15% rise...
13-Feb-2009 By Roger Protz
It seems obvious that rising prices and duty do no one any good in the long term — neither brewers nor Brown & Co — so why do they persist, asks Roger Protz.
31-Oct-2008 By Roger Protz
Modern techniques mean that true lagering is in danger of disappearing, says Roger Protz.
An ale of the highest order
30-Oct-2008
A few weeks ago Fuller's launched a new limited edition beer that had been four years in the making. After a lengthy process of experimentation,...
Pubcos absorb brewers' price hikes
25-Sep-2008
Major pub companies are pulling out the stops to help struggling licensees by absorbing the price hikes from brewers. Admiral Taverns and Punch...
The tie that binds
02-Sep-2008
It's understandable that many licensees see the tie as some malicious device invented by landlords to make their lives as painful as possible. But it...
29-Aug-2008 By Andrew Pring
Women have been the backbone of the pub trade for centuries. Their husbands and partners may have been the name over the door and played the...
The duty rise is a disaster, says Wells and Young's boss
08-Aug-2008
Nigel McNally is looking vexed. This might surprise some. After all, here is a managing director who has steered a company through a tricky merger...
Volunteers gear up for Great British Beer Festival
03-Aug-2008
What do an investment banker, a teacher, an IT consultant and a bus driver have in common? They are all part of the team of volunteers who helped...
Beer offers hit pub bank holiday trade
29-May-2008 By Tony Halstead THals22851@aol.com
Trade leaders say brewers also play part Trade leaders have slammed supermarket bank holiday beer offers, which saw premium lager on sale for just...
Pubco shares slide in wake of Budget
13-Mar-2008 By Hamish Champ
Shares in a number of listed pub operators and brewers took a hammering today as the cost implications of yesterday's Budget began filtering...
Something to shout about
28-Feb-2008
As the appetite for all things green grows, Kelly Smith discovers the brewers exploiting their eco-credentials reports Kelly Smith While saving the...
Coughing up for kit
27-Feb-2008
Who will fund dispense equipment for cask, as volumes shift from the national brewers towards a growing plethora of regionals? Noli Dinkovski reports
Some independent thinking
21-Feb-2008
Is the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) gaining a bigger voice in the industry?Former chairman Keith Bott raised the profile of the organisation...
Regulator may curb supermarket power
21-Feb-2008
Brewers may benefit from the Competition Commission's latest report on supermarket power. The commission has already cleared supermarkets of any...
Cask Beer: Moving on up
31-Jan-2008
Lat month I revealed a love of American political jargon. I suggested that the beer market needed some Barack Obama-style 'bounce' Well here's...
24-Jan-2008 By Andrew Pring
MA editor Andrew Pring considers the impact of the latest price rises
Opinion: Innovate to get ahead
10-Jan-2008
As the alcohol industry seeks to overcome the pressures experienced over the past few years innovation has become key for the industry.Brewers like...
15-Oct-2007 By Andrew Pring
MA editor Andrew Pring questions if the pubcos are willing to make changes to help struggling licensees
Growing real ale sales: the report you MUST read
04-Oct-2007
New research says it's a landmark moment for real ale. The MA teamed up with leading industry figures to discuss its potential for pubs. Noli...
26-Sep-2007 By Tony Halstead
Cask-ale volumes are predicted to return to growth within the next few years as regional and independent brewers continue to gain market share from...
Mighty marketing?
01-Aug-2007
Advertising is key to ale's growth - but are brewers getting it right? The dwindling marketing budgets afforded by some of the national brewers to...
25-Jul-2007 By John Harrington
Britain's brewers are supplying tankers normally used for the transport of beer to provide safe drinking water for communities affected by the...
MyShout
12-Jul-2007
In the trade's parallel universes, ensure revenue comes before volume, says Tony Jennings We all know there's an on-trade and an off-trade, and that...
21-Jun-2007 By Roger Protz
Hawk-eyed readers may recall that I wrote recently about beer and pubs living in two parallel universes. There's one inhabited by the global brewers...
THE AGENTS
10-May-2007
Konrad Szymanski Humberstones I have sold pubs in all sorts of markets, through the good times and the bad times. I was about when the brewers were...
Could the beer industry do more to help?
09-May-2007
The Dump the Deals campaign has been running for four months now and in that time a lot of attention has been drawn to the issue of supermarket...
Business Opinion
26-Apr-2007
with James Crawfurd-Porter Brewers must keep an eye on their kegs Casks and kegs must be the most enduring eco-friendly packaging of modern times....
North West Focus: brewers forum
23-Feb-2007
Adam Withrington, drinks editor of The Publican, chaired a discussion among brewers in the North West, including:Oliver Robinson - marketing...
What did the Beer Orders achieve?
23-Nov-2006
I wonder if, with the benefit of hindsight, Lord Young would still be "minded" to accept the recommendations of the Monopolies and Mergers...
21-Sep-2006 By Tony Halstead
Licensees could be charged a deposit of between £10 and £20 for each beer keg or cask delivered to their premises unless the trade finds ways of...
03-Aug-2006 By Andrew Pring
It was brave of Scottish & Newcastle to break ranks with rival brewers and publicly criticise the low-pricing policies of its biggest customers,...
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...
Comment: Legislation is needed to save local beers and brewers
26-Jun-2006 By Hamish Champ
In 1989 the UK's independent brewing community breathed a sigh of relief as the Beer Orders finally broke the stranglehold of the national brewers...
Drink talking
01-May-2006
Last night in Strangers' Bar, a regular haunt of many an ale-loving MP, I was pondering which real ale to choose from the guest ales on offer. After...
10-Mar-2006 By John Harrington
Angry family brewers say the Government must scale back the generous tax breaks that are helping smaller brewers steal their market share. They also...
Whitby fish pie nets prize
06-Oct-2005
in Brewers Fayre contest by Jo de Mille The national finals of Brewers Fayre's 'Design a Dish' competition took place at Whitbread Court in...
A seller's market
21-Sep-2005
Michelle Perrett takes a look at how the pub property industry has changed in the last 30 years.In 1975 Jaws hit our movie screens, Fawlty Towers was...
In good Company
08-Sep-2005
When the Beer Orders came into force in 1989, it was a real shake-up for the Worshipful Company of Brewers one of Britain's oldest trade bodies....
Are these the saviours of ale?
28-Jul-2005
As sales of cask beer continue to fall more brewers, most recently Ridley's, have decided to call it a day. But what does the future really hold?...
Budget gets frosty reception from hosts and brewers
17-Mar-2005
by John Harringtonand Ewan Turney Licensees and brewers have hit out at the duty rises on beer announced in yesterday's Budget. From 20 March, beer...