A WOMBWELL brewery’s first pub at Barnsley has been given a top slot by boozers.

The Acorn Brewery’s historic Old No 7 pub has been voted the town’s best drinking venue by real ale fans.

Just months after it relaunched as a cask ale specialist, the Market Hill pub won the Campaign for Real Ale’s local pub of the year award.

Pub owners Dave and Judi Hughes ploughed £180,000 into restoring the Grade II-listed property, and re-opened it last August.

The Old No 7 had been closed by Enterprise Inns in 2010.

“It’s been a real learning curve over the past seven months,” said Dave, who hasn’t ruled out a second pub.

There are nine hand pumps on the wooden bar. The pub dates back to the eighteenth century.

This summer’s London Olympics is supposed to be a celebration of all that’s great about Britain.
But strict sponsorship rules during the Games mean anyone wishing to toast some home-grown success at venues will be denied a selection of the country’s real ale.
The only beer permitted to be sold under its brand name across all grounds and stadia will be lager produced by a Dutch brewer.

‘Tier Three’ sponsor Heineken is thought to have paid around £10million for ‘sole pouring rights’ at all Olympic venues.

‘As a grand spectacle showcasing everything that is great about Great Britain, it is hugely disappointing that attendees inside Olympic venues won’t have access to a range of British real ale,’ Mike Benner, chief executive of the Campaign for Real Ale, told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser.
He added: ‘Such a move represents a major missed opportunity to show off one of Britain’s historic industries.’

And that deal has seen British brewer Marston’s skittled at that most quintessentially English location, Lord’s Cricket Ground, which is hosting the archery competition.

The major UK independent brewer has the beer concession at the home of English cricket.

It is also the official sponsor of the national team.
But it will have its handpumps removed during the Olympics.
And the portraits of cricketer Matthew Hoggard – Marston’s ‘beer ambassador’ – will even be covered up during the Games, under the deal.

Organisers will be able to circumvent the ban and offer those who like a more traditional pint by selling John Smith’s under the banner ‘British Bitter’ while Strongbow will be called ‘Cider’.
A Heineken spokesman said that many venues are not suitable for cask beer as they are either temporary bars or lack the necessary cellar facilities

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2130143/London-2012-Olympics–10m-sponsorship-deal-means-branded-ales-sold-venues.html#ixzz1sBeL4haY

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2130143/London-2012-Olympics–10m-sponsorship-deal-means-branded-ales-sold-venues.html#ixzz1sBddwNa7

It’s now a month since the launch of SmartBeer, the new beer labeling system designed by YourRound – the British brewing industry’s leading online and mobile promotion system.

In the often confusing world of real ale names, it’s not always easy to instantly decipher what style a beer is without trying it first. Take the wonderful ‘Proper Job’ from St Austell for example. A fantastic light, hoppy beer, but for an uninformed drinker browsing the bar, the clue is not really in the name.

This is where SmartBeer comes in.

Designed to help Britain’s beer buying public in finding their favourite style, with a single glance of a SmartBeer Label a customer can instantly recognise the colour, character, strength and type, all the information one would need to be able to spot their beer of choice.

PLUS: All SmartBeer labels have a QR code link to a unique mobile page for the beer where they can share it with friends on Facebook and link direct to brewers full range and to special offer pages.

AND: If the drinker provides a postcode and e-mail address, YourRound can even alert them the next time it is on sale locally!

Since it’s launch, over 100 brewers have logged onto their account and generated their SmartBeer Labels, but with 850 UK Brewers on the system representing 9500+ different real ales, beers and ciders on the YourRound system, there are still brewers yet to make the ‘Smart Choice’ to help pubs and retailers sell their products.

Eddie Gadd of Ramsgate Brewery in Kent was quick to take up the new idea saying that, “SmartBeer represents a fantastic opportunity for brewers, publicans and drinkers to communicate quickly and easily using modern technology, and it’s good fun too; we’re fully on board!”

SmartBeer in the CAMRA Award Winning Cheltenham Motor Club

Other established names including Abbeydale, Arkell’s, Box Steam, Cairngorm, Caledonian, Cotswold Spring, Elland, Hereford, Hewitt’s, Monty’s, Oakleaf, Purity, Quantock, Salopian, Severn Vale, Springhead, St Austell, Waen, Wibblers and Wye Brewery have declared themselves SmartBeer Launch Partners, brewers that are keen on a change and are fully on board with YourRound’s new system.

About SmartBeer: SmartBeer labels for British beers can be viewed at www.smartbeer.co.uk

Brewers can create and edit their own SmartBeer labels at www.yourround.co.uk

Point-of-sale kits for pubs, shops and festivals include SmartBeer label systems for bars, pumps, bottles and shelving and are available at www.yourround.co.uk or email beer@yourround.co.uk or telephone 01242 262121

BOTANIX concentrates work on Paddock Wood, Kent

Eardiston Site will be closed during 2012

Botanix, a specialist in the supply of hops and hop products to the global brewing industry, will concentrate its work on one site.

John E A Moss, CEO of Botanix: “The declining demand for certain products and the significant pressure on prices coupled withthe extremely difficult hop market don’t allow for any other decision than closing the Eardiston site (Tenbury Wells Worcestershire, England).  All operations will be re-centred on the Paddock Wood site.”The closing process will be a phased withdrawal and completed at the end of 2012.”

All of the 21 employees in Eardiston will be given significant assistance in the search for new employment.  Some of them can apply for new jobs in Paddock Wood. There will be further measures e.g. enhanced redundancy payments, funds for retraining and practical help with job search and interview preparation.

Botanix will continue its successful work in the extraction and processing of hops, and in the creation of advanced hop products for the brewing industry.  Botanix maintains its status as centre of manufacturing and technical excellence within the Barth Haas Group for PHA® aroma products and LipoHop fermenter antifoam products.  The European Technical centre for the Barth-Haas group (Barth Innovations Ltd) is also located at the Paddock Wood Site.

Enquiries to:

John E A Moss, CEO Botanix

Hop pocket Lane, Paddock Wood, Kent, TN12 6DQ UK.

Mail: john.moss@botanix.co.uk

The Beer Academy has appointed Nigel Sadler, operations and commercial manager at Essex-based brewery Wibblers Brewery, to its board.

The academy, an educational body designed to help people understand beer, runs a range of courses and qualifications – from a 90-minute tutored introduction to beer, through to a two-day advanced course for connoisseurs.

Sadler, who is also a Beer Academy beer sommelier and vice-chairman of SIBA, said: “I have seen from personal experience how being a Beer Academy beer sommelier has helped meet the needs of my customers. There is a fantastic opportunity for brewers and pub owners to use the Beer Academy to inspire people to discover more about beer. Beer is a great product and we all need to do more to shout about it.”

A petition calling for the beer duty escalator to be scrapped has hit close to 28,000 signatures.

The petition put forward by brewer Hobgoblin has the backing of major trade associations including the British Beer & Pub Association, SIBA and CAMRA.

Despite the failure of the Government to provide support to the industry in the Budget on March 21 the petition is still gaining support – hopefully in time for the next Budget.

The aim of the petition is to collect enough signatures to force the Government to devote parliamentary time debating the issue. Petitions gaining more than 100,000 signatures could lead to a debate in the House of Commons.

Go to: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/29664

The Campaign for Real Ale is pressing the Government for a response to its consultation on pub sales.

The organisation has fought hard against restrictive covenants, which have been used by big pub groups when they sell an outlet to protect their other properties locally. Such a covenant prevents the buyer from running a pub at the site.

The consultation was launched last August by Communities Minister Bob Neill and ended in October, but there has been no outcome.

So Camra chief executive Mike Benner has written to him asking for a timetable for one and any action to ban restrictive covenants use in the sector, arguing they deprived local communities of pubs.

The Communities Department said it would be sending its response to Camra soon.

Article taken from This is money

In an effort to deter growing levels of binge-drinking in the UK, the government is proposing the introduction of a minimum price for alcohol. But its implementation has come under fire from the drinks industry, which claims it violates EU law.

­The debate over the Tory government’s announcement to slap a minimum price on alcohol of 40 pence (60 cents) per unit is in full swing in the UK. They also plan to ban supermarkets from offering multi-buy offers, which they say promote the binge-drinking culture.

The new measures are aimed at tackling the country’s rampant boozing, which costs the UK health service 2.7 billion pounds (US$4.3 billion) a year according to the latest figures.

The alcohol industry has challenged the government initiative, saying it goes against EU legislation which stipulates that there should be no discrimination between imported goods and domestic goods.

The UK government has said that it will not introduce the measures until it is totally sure of their legality.

“It’s easy to say it’s probably illegal but it’s never been done and there’s no test case so far. Scotland has had fairly positive conversations with Europe about it,” said a spokesperson from 10 Downing Street.

The EU commission has said that it would favor raising taxes on alcohol in Britain as a measure for curtailing consumption as it “puts all products on an equal footing from a market perspective.”

“Minimum prices can increase the profit margin of products with the lowest production cost,” said a spokesperson from the EU commission.

Key members of parliament have also voiced doubts over whether merely lifting the price of alcoholic goods will affect binge-drinking culture.

Earlier this year, Health Minister Anne Milton said that excessive pricing alone would not deter binge-drinkers and that a change in cultural mindset is needed to bring the problem under control.

Gavin Partington, a spokesperson from then UK Wine and Spirits Trade Association, said that the policy seemed “very unfair and a policy that is not actually going to be successful in tackling the problem drinkers.”

“What in fact a minimum unit price would do, is raise the price for millions of ordinary consumers, and if there is a section of society likely to be hardest hit, it’s the poor, those on lowest incomes,” he told RT’s London-based correspondent, Ivor Bennett.

Whatever the consequences are for the heavy drinking culture in the UK, it seems undeniable that the drinking industry stands to make a profit from the new measures.

British think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated that the implementation of a floor price for store-bought alcohol could bring an 850-million-pound ($1.35 billion) annual windfall for the industry.

Moreover, the organization suggested that it would be more advisable to implement the minimum price through the duty system thus sending revenues to the national treasury as oppose to the alcohol industry.

In Britain it is estimated by the National Health Service that 11,500 people die every year of liver disease, a 25 per cent increase over the last decade. Most of these deaths are thought to be linked to excessive alcohol consumption.

“Binge-drinking isn’t some fringe issue, it accounts for half of all alcohol consumed in this country. The crime and violence it causes drains resources in our hospitals, generates mayhem on our streets and spreads fear in our communities,” said British PM David Cameron upon announcing the new minimum price initiative on March 23.

Artivle taken from RT News