Leeds based Microdat, the UK’s leading brewing and manufacturing company, are pleased to announce that David Hallas has been appointed as Business Development Manager. David takes responsibility for driving sales of Microdat quality Keg and Cask brewery range.

David joins from Pyraid8 where he most recently held the role of Senior Recruitment Consultant handling a high-profile, blue chip portfolio of clients and working to broaden the company’s client list.

Commenting on the new appointment, Microdat CEO Maitland Hyslop said, “We welcome David Hallas to Microdat as Business Development Manager. David brings more than a decade of sales and marketing experience to the business and we look forward to working with him. David will be leading on the sale of our mainstream products.”

David’s passion for the business, his knowledge and sales experience is a welcome addition to the Microdat team.

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Cyclops Beer, the industry body which provides simple descriptions of cask and bottled ales, has now tested and accredited over 1500 British beers. The organisation, formed in 2006, aims to demystify beer making it easier for drinkers to choose a beer based on its appearance, smell and taste as well as its bitterness and sweetness rating. In the last 18 months the number of beers accredited by Cyclops has grown by nearly 20% to 1505.

Mark Tetlow who manages the testing process explains that accreditations are carried out at a laboratory based at Everards brewery:
“We measure the sweetness and bitterness of each beer in the lab, taste it and then carefully select words to describe the look, aroma and taste. We produce tasting notes for breweries using the eye, nose and mouth symbols and descriptors and have around 400 words to choose from. Breweries can use the Cyclops tasting notes on their websites and on pump clips, glasses, beer mats and other point of sale.

“It’s important to use words that people drinking beer in the pub can easily understand rather than anything overly technical or flowery. At Cyclops we want to encourage more drinkers to enjoy their beer and we believe that their choice is made easier by using simple tasting notes and a standard measure of bitterness and sweetness.”

The Cyclops scheme has recently been taken up by retailers such as M&B and Morrisons who find it helpful for their customers. Morrisons has made it a requirement for any bottled ale in their stores to be accredited by Cyclops and the Cyclops tasting notes are used on shelf edges, with beers being organised by colour rather than by brewery in a number of stores so that shoppers can find similar beers to ones which they already know they enjoy. It is also used by distributors such as NDD in their customer brochures for pubs.

Full details of all the beers and breweries can be found at www.cyclopsbeer.co.uk. The most recent beers to have been accredited by Cyclops are from Black Sheep and Box Steam Breweries. The total number of breweries who have signed up for accreditation is 240. Recent research by the Campaign for Real Ale found that 40% of young adults, aged 18-24, who have never tried real ale before would be willing to try it if simple tasting notes explaining what a beer looked, smelt and tasted like were available at the point of sale.

Below is the link to Butcombe Brewery’s new quarterly e-magazine Butcombe Bytes, you can sign up for your own copy at http://butcombe.com/

The magazine includes news, giveaways and details of Butcombe events for publicans – there is a consumer version too.

If you would like any further information or high-res images from the magazine please do let us know.

We hope you enjoy it.

Butcombe Bytes May trade final

Don’t miss the opportunity to enter the Best Cask Beer Pub or Best Cellar awards in the Great British Pub Awards 2013, organised by pub trade newspaper the Publican’s Morning Advertiser.

The closing date for entries to the awards is Friday, 31 May. Six finalists will be shortlisted in each category across six UK regions. Winners will be announced at the Great British Pub Awards on 12 September at the London Hilton, Park Lane.

For more information and to download an entry form  visit www.greatbritishpubawards.co.uk

Clarence & Fredericks brewery raised a glass to their local MP, Steve Reed, after their Golden Ale was picked to guest in the Strangers’ Bar in the House of Commons this week.

Head brewer, Duncan Woodhead, and his business partner, Victoria Barlow, received a certificate from the Croydon North MP on Wednesday evening when they met to celebrate their beer’s guest slot.

The couple – who named their 10 barrel brewery in Croydon after the road where they live in Sutton and their young son, Frederick – have been brewing since October 2012 and mainly distribute across London and the south east.

Their Golden Ale is a 3.8% ABV pale, gold in colour with citrus hop aroma and flavour.

Victoria said:

“We’re thrilled to have our Golden Ale guest in the Strangers’ Bar in Parliament, and give our thanks to Steve Reed, his team, and Will Conway, bar manager for making it happen.

“Although Clarence & Fredericks has been open just seven months, our brewery marks the culmination of a long-standing passion for real ale and local pubs for our head brewer, Duncan Woodhead.

“Guesting in the Strangers’ Bar is a unique opportunity to promote the growing real ale business to decision-makers, and to talk to the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group about the importance of pubs in the community and supporting small breweries.”

For more information in Clarence & Fredericks, visit www.cfbrewing.co.uk or follow @cfbrewing on twitter

The 2013 European Beer Bloggers Conference takes place July 13-14 in Edinburgh, Scotland http://beerbloggersconference.org/europe/ The conference offers industry representatives and members of beer media the opportunity to get together for a few days to talk and learn more about beer and the beer industry. There are over 1150 non-industry related beer bloggers in the world. We expect 120 of the most enthusiastic “new media” beer influencers to attend in 2013.

This is the number one event in which you can meet, learn from, and make connections with beer bloggers – the “citizen” influencers who write about beer on a regular basis on the internet. The content is also geared towards using social media in the beer world, which is a huge part of today’s industry marketing.

You or someone at your brewery may use social media to promote your beer events or your latest brew. Good idea. If you want to learn about using social media more effectively attending the conference as a participant is also a good idea. You or they can register here: http://beerbloggersconference.org/register/

CEO, Dr Maitland Hyslop

Leeds based Microdat, the UK’s leading brewing and manufacturing company, are pleased to announce that Dr Maitland Hyslop has been appointed as CEO. With over 20 years experience running and growing business in companies such as Tetra Pak, The Onyx Group and the NHS, Maitland brings fresh new leadership to Microdat. His main roles will be to improve processes, identify new markets and grow market share.

Microdat founder Stephen Midgley says, “We are delighted to have Maitland join our team. He brings a vibrant approach and a wealth of new ideas to the company. His appointment means I am free from the day to day running of the business and can concentrate on designing and developing the next generation of brewery process and packaging products.”

Maitland said, “I am delighted to be joining the team at Microdat. I will be working closely with Stephen and David Midgley to develop the business in a number of areas. I look forward to meeting our customers as soon as possible”.

Maitland’s knowledge and experience will prove invaluable in the next phase of growth for Microdat.