News

National brewer Marston's is spending £1 million on rebranding some of its key brands. It says it needs to reach out to new and younger drinkers but will such curious names as Saddle Tank and Pearl Jet achieve the aim? And why is iconic Pedigree pale ale now called amber ale?

Added: Wednesday, November 2nd 2016

The new "safe drinking"guidelines of 14 units per week for both men and women are not only bad science but have no scientific validity at all, says Paul Chase, who has studied alcohol policies for many years. The Chief Medical Officer only listened to bodies with a long track record of opposition to alcohol, including the temperance movement, and ignored evidence that moderate consumption can be beneficial

Added: Tuesday, May 17th 2016

AB InBev is to dispose of the Meantime craft brewery in Greenwich, South London, as part of the deal to take over its former rival SABMiller. SAB bought Meantime in May this year but now it's up for sale again. There's speculation that Molson Coors, Carslberg or Heineken could be interested in building interests in the fast-growing craft beer sector

Added: Thursday, December 3rd 2015

Greg Mulholland, the LibDem MP who chairs the Parliamentary Save the Pub Group, says the draft Pub Code put forwared by the government breaches the legislation agreed by parliament before the general election. The code's interpretation of the Market Rent Only option means, he says, that tenants will find it impossible to trigger MRO and go free of the pubco beer tie

Added: Monday, November 30th 2015

Guinness has sparked controversy and debate following its decision to phase out isinglass finings as a clearing agent in its beer. With as many as 11 million vegetarians in Britain -- Guinness's biggest market -- the brewer is aware of the growing number of people who avoid fish and meat. Now other brewers are looking at alternatives to isinglass -- and the noble hop may be able to help

Added: Thursday, November 19th 2015

Only a handful of British brewers entered beers for the annual Brussels Beer Challenge. More than 1,200 beers came from 30 countries and such great British stryles as IPA, ESB, Porter and Stout went to brewers far from the British Isles. Brewers in the UK are missing a golden opportunity to grow sales abroad.

Added: Monday, November 9th 2015

CAMRA chief executive Tim Page stresses that if a pub is given ACV -- Asset of Community Value -- status is doesn't mean the pub can't be sold on as a going concern but would remain a pub. ACV means that pub owners can't turn pubs into flats or other busnesses against the wishes of local communities

Added: Monday, October 19th 2015

SABMiller has finally succumbed to a £68 billion bid from AB InBev and the new merged group will control 30% of world beer production. The deal is aimed primarily at building bigger market share in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, but successful craft brewers in the west should not sleep easily in their beds.

Added: Tuesday, October 13th 2015

Pubs are closing not just as a result of changing lifestyle, the smoking ban and cheap supermarket alcohol. Giant pubcos, saddled with crippling debts, are selling pubs to property developers who turn many of them into retail outlets and even knock them to the ground without planning permission. Carol Ross (pictured) runs the Roscoe Head in Liverpool, one of 158 Punch outlets sold to a company that specialises in turning them into convenience stores

Added: Wednesday, September 9th 2015

As the British Guild of Beer Writers prepares to hold its annual reception on the eve of the Great British Beer Festival, guild founder Roger Protz recalls its early days, its associations with the late Michael Jackson and the long struggle to get greater media support for Britain's historic drink

Added: Saturday, August 8th 2015