BeersManchester

In so much as I am not employed currently by a beer business, I am not within the beer industry. Merely an interested observer, looking from the outside in.

What I do for a living is Data Analysis. I find and receive information, research that information to assess its veracity, compare it with other information, then draw conclusions based on that information.

Which is why – unlike the bulk of the beer Commentariat – I wasn’t “blindsided” by the Government announcement on Small Brewers Duty Relief last week. The people behind the SBDRC (Small Brewers Duty Reform Coalition) and BBPA (British Beer and Pub Association) are ruthless businessmen and entrepreneurs, some self – identifying as the latter, rather than being beer people.* They are politically connected, savvy individuals. They employ – collectively – PR operatives. They care about money. And that the Micro Brewing sector is – bit by bit – making inroads into volumes.

Yes, some of these businesses are “generations old” family owned entities (Harveys, Lees, Holts etc), but several of the bigger players are formed over years of Merger & Acquisition Activity (a phrase that may be repeated later….) and themselves have been “acquired” (see Fullers and – more recently – Marstons) by Multi-National conglomerates.

But – despite the repeated spin coming from a number of angles – many of these companies (in a UK sense) cannot be described as “Small”, or even “Medium sized” breweries. They are big businesses. With profits in the £Ms – as you will see below. These companies – by dint of their additional membership of the BBPA – operate hand in hand with those Multi-National conglomerates that they (with their piteous and mendacious whining) claim are “squeezing” them. Think Asahi, ABInbev, Carlsberg, Heineken, Molson Coors….. List of members here

Now then. If you are going to complain about profitability and growth etc….. then don’t whine when you’re making 7 figure profits. It’s a SERIOUSLY bad look fellas. Especially when you’re screwing the Micro’s.

Anyway. Back to Rupert….

“We strongly condemn the current campaign of intimidation supporting the request, which runs against the normally friendly and collegiate nature of brewers…” It’s strange isn’t it. How people might be offended by attacks on the businesses and companies they hold dear… Hardly “collegiate” behaviour, eh Rupert.

Hogs Back made a profit in 2017 of £270,927. In 2018 they made £349,567, up £78,640 on the previous year. (Source here) I don’t personally know a brewery that wouldn’t envy being “squeezed” to such a profitable extent. All that whilst investing

More of that “struggle”, whilst conniving with their profitable friends to strangle Micros almost at birth. Forgive me if I shed no tears.

Now then. The British Beer & Pub Association (or BBPA). The organisation which comprises of the biggest brewers in Britain – mostly members of SBDRC – (with the exception of Brew Dog), cheek by fattened jowl with the International Beer Monoliths. ABInbev, Asahi, Carlsberg, Heineken & Molson Coors

Yes. Yes. I’m sure they will be celebrating…. But wait… “…. it hopes the measures announced today will BUILD on the success of SBR….” Errr….. And as for those “long standing distortions….” that’s the Duty relief Emma. That many of your members campaigned for, benefitted from and now want to have removed from others….. That was brought in to assist small brewers who didn’t have the economies of scale of – what are now – er…. YOUR MEMBERS! Jesus may weep……

Remember those profit figures from Harveys earlier? They would probably cover the profits from every Micro in the Greater Manchester area. And then some. Again, Crocodile tears. As for their “best intentions”? Worthless hypocrisy.

Right then. I’m done. This whole SBDRC thing has exhausted me. I’ve been ranting for almost 2 and a half years (not weeks….) into – what has seemed to be a void. Now that void has been filled by beer writers. Journalists if you will. With far greater profile and reach than I.

I haven’t the patience of Steve Dunkley – and you REALLY need to read his thoughts on this, he’s quite forensic. I’ve a full time job. And a (Virtual) beer festival to organise. I’ll remain an outsider. Looking in. With interest.

Go read. Go get organised. And save your Independent Breweries. And be kind to one another.

Back Soon. Jx

You don’t need me to tell you how brutal Lockdown has felt, eh?

Like many, I’ve been fairly cautious in stepping out and socialising. Looking for those businesses and traders who take seriously the health and safety of both their staff and customers. The best local businesses do precisely that.

Which is why, on my first venture – socially – into Manchester, I opted for Runaway. Knowing Mark, Sam, Oli & Josh, I knew that this would just BE right. That caution would be exercised appropriately.

AND the beer would be exceptional. Because that’s what Runaway do. Exceptional, consistent beer.

I met my dear friends Jock (and later Caroline & John) at Mackie Mayor for a beer at “Jack In The Box”, the Black Jack bar. And my first experience of ordering via apps.

The app was well designed with the ability to order from any of the food & drink vendors and have it delivered to your table. Swift service (we ordered food too) and excellent pints of Track Sonoma, Redwillow Weightless and a delicious Black Jack Pale followed.

All due protocols were followed and the service was superb. If this is the shape of things to come, bring. it. on.

Relaxed. Friendly. Service. Isn’t that what you want?

We got to Runaway just before opening time at 5 and were showed to our table (we booked a few days earlier) and I was quickly tucking into a beery crush of mine. A pin sharp and hoptastic Table Beer.

Mark and Sam & the team have done a great job with the Taproom, it has been my favourite in Manchester for some time. Plenty of tables and space on the mezzanine level, with a birds eye view of a working brewery.

However – aside from ‘one in, one out” access to the facilities, this view was denied its. All seating being outside on a balmy – if cloudy – Mancunian early evening.

A quite superb Mushroom Pizza followed – from the reliably excellent Honest Crust – sooooo tasty…… and the excellent Runaway beers continued to flow. With Pale (my favourite keg beer) and delicately delicious Rhubarb Spritz followed by a fabulous “Rise Like Lions” Chocolate & Chipotle Porter (which might just be the best keg beer I’ve had this year – being a sucker for the Dark Side.

With exceptional venues like GRUB nearby (again, booking required) and the excellent Beatnikz also on Red Bank, (with – hopefully – Black Jack Tap, soon) this little Green Quarter has its critical mass of excellence, with no real need to go elsewhere – especially with The Marble Arch reopening soon.

For now, start with Runaway. This unassuming little slice of beer heaven. For me anyway.

Back soon. Be kind to one another.

Jx

Sometimes, that light at the end of a tunnel is an oncoming train.

Over the last two years, I’ve written a number of posts regarding the machinations and dissembling of an organisation named the Small Brewers Duty Reform Coalition (SBDRC for short) – in order – Read here, here, here, here, here & (gasp) here. Yes, I became a tax nerd. But – at base – I detest underhandedness. Sneakyness. Envy.

All of which are hallmarks of the SBDRC.

To be honest, although silence worries me, I’d forgotten about the sneaky bastards. The pandemic can have that effect on you. You reach for positives. And after over 4 months of struggle for breweries (even more, when you consider how bad business in January and February can be for independent breweries and pubs), Green shoots were starting to peep through the concrete.

And just when you could begin imagine breweries – and pubs – coming out of enforced hibernation, this.

I’ve published the membership list of the BBPA elsewhere. It closely matches that of the SBDRC – with the additional “heft” of Heineken and the big Pubcos – to the extent that they are almost one and the same. But let’s nail one lie dead.

They – the BBPA – are decidedly NOT “the leading trade association representing Brewers….” that’s SIBA. An organisation that – speaking as an outsider – has started to talk the talk better, since the appointment of James Calder as CEO.

To make this change at ANY time will hurt breweries. To do it during a pandemic, when breweries have struggled for 4 months to find a way to keep their heads above water, when they’ve been tested – both creatively and mentally – like never before. It’s simply heedless. And destructive. The straw that breaks the proverbial back of the camel.

The SBDRC presented themselves – and their proposals – as reasonable…..

“Our proposals seek to restore progressive beer duty and promote growth in a sustainable way……………Yet the relief a brewer receives at 500hL is the exact same as the one ten times its size. This is not progressive and needs to be addressed. The current 50% threshold at 5,000hL also prohibits normal merger and acquisition activity…… “

And there we hit – to my eyes – the nub. That members (or at least some) of the SBDRC viewed the Relief as inhibiting them in buying competitors. For that is how they see successful Micros. Competition. To be absorbed into The Borg of Big Beer. Because – chip by chip – they eat away at the volumes of the Big guys.

I’ve covered – in more detail – the mendacity and the usage of the darker arts of PR of both the BBPA & SBDRC in those other posts. What – other than my opinion – is contained within those posts is public record material. Data supplied by members of the SBDRC themselves. So I’m not doing that here, I’m not calm enough.

I’m just hoping that the Crafterati love affair with the likes of Fullers, Lees & Timothy Taylor stops. Now. They are regiments of the enemy, be in no doubt. I haven’t touched a drop of their beers from first reading about the SBDRC. And recognising the threat.

Look at the lists of their members (SBDRC & BBPA).

Boycott their premises and products. And those of the companies that they own.

If you care enough, write to your MP. It isn’t difficult.

And, if you are a brewery – despite any reservations you may have – join SIBA. On your own, you have the voice of a mouse. Collectively however…..

It’s almost like I needed a reminder of what the inside of a pub looks like….

I’m not a religious man. The opposite is true really. But if I was, I’d describe organising The Independent Salford Beer Festival as my penance for past sins. Like a “slightly” more stressful “Three Hail Marys, Two Our Fathers and a wotsit……”

This year, that penance hurt me round about early March *Checks emails* (the 13th to be exact). That was the day that I sent out the initial invitations to supply what WAS to be #ISBF7. The replies started to arrive within minutes. And all were looking forward to the event…. But more than a handful had a suffix to the message. A proviso. A phrase that was repeated “…. if we survive”

Of course. Covid-19 has wrought profound sadness and grief. The loss of family and friends is a truly terrible thing. Of all people, of that I am perfectly aware. But from a business perspective, it brought home to me the fears of many associates and friends in this business. The entire hospitality sector was in state of fear. Pubs, bars, cafes, restaurants, all boarding up like Florida beachfronts in the face of hurricane season.

However, after a week or two, things – the feeling – started to change. There was a distinct sense of determination (in some quarters), like a survival instinct had kicked in. Fight or flight. And many businesses, breweries and bars in particular, started to think about adapting their MO. Sensing that not all was lost….

Breweries that package beer in bottle and can started to think about diverting production, getting beer out to independent Micro pubs – themselves adapting to an off sales and delivery ‘model’ – setting up direct Web sales, regulations compliant deliveries. But breweries that only produced cask ale were faced with the heartbreaking thought of pouring entire brews and cold store stocks down the drain. I speak as someone who – yearly – pours fabulous beer down the drain at the end of each ISBF. It brings real tears to these eyes.

Then I heard of breweries starting to “Bag in Box”. A common thing in Cider, but not so in beer.

The day that delivery (above) arrived, I danced like a fool. Pictish “Brewers Gold”. It felt (and tasted) like a dream. A classic session pale. And that night I slaked a month long thirst on one of my favourite beers. Nectar.

With breweries increasingly bottling & canning, actually BREWING again, it felt like Spring was on the way. OK, maybe not the end of this social winter, but the blizzards were now reduced to flurries.

There is an increasing feeling of positivity. That there is a light to reach out to. That survival isn’t just possible, but a realistic prospect for many, certainly in the area I call home.

And in my area, there are three businesses that I want to applaud. Three businesses that not only haven’t given up, but have maintained. And reached out to others. Helping. Sharing. Lifted.

Marble. In particular, the owner, Jan Rogers. In those incredibly dark early days, the reaching out on social media work advice on how to deal with “The Man”. With HMRC and other arms of Government. Advice on how to deal, entitlements, that all wasn’t lost. Brava.

Jason & Jules Bailey at GRUB. For keeping going. For advice. Help to small businesses. Small street food vendors might just get through this because of these two. For delivering draught beer and food across the area. And the most lovely Chicken Katsu from Sutikku..

Last – and buy no means least – Cloudwater. For being quick to reach out to smaller local breweries and availing them of the use of their well established and successful Web sales facility. That’s collaboration. And Mancunian.

Stay safe. Shop (and drink) independent. Shop local.

Be kind to one another. Jx

Like most people I know, I started drinking underage.

Memories of nursing two halves of Guinness, aged 14, at a Joy Division gig (08/04/1980 at Derby Hall, Bury), a sneaky (and squeakily ordered) half of Carlsberg at The Apsley Cottage pre my first ever gig (Damned, October 1979, Machine Gun Etiquette tour)

I have some very clear memories of my Real Ale adolescence too. They involved  guys I first met in a god forsaken prefab in Trafford Park. And those work colleagues introduced me to places I’d otherwise never have found (John Fishwick RIP – I owe that man),or have taken years to discover.

So we start with my first Xmas do. In 1984. The beer – and pub – landscape would be unrecognisable to most now. Beer in Manchester City centre was mostly Wilson, Tetley’s, Robinson’s, Marstons, some Boddingtons and – bizarrely, given the brewery location – no Holts. In short, variety was in short supply.

We started in The Hare & Hounds on Shudehill, a pub that – physically – has barely changed a paint flake. And it’s all the better for it. I adore the fact that I can drink in a pub first opened in the 1770s. Back then, it was a Tetley pub. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago that the ‘Huntsman’ logo was still on the exterior wall

The pub remains beautiful, with the most exquisite tile work across the bar area and the front room. The pub had – and almost uniquely in the city centre, still has – the feel of a “Local”. Back then, on that Friday evening, 35 years ago, it was rammed with people guzzling Tetley Bitter and Mild.

We moved on. To a Manchester landmark – but back then, it was “another pub” – The Marble Arch. It felt like a long walk up Rochdale Road, but in reality it’s less than 300 yards. There was no brewery back then (we were 10 years or so away from that historic installation). It sounds like heresy to say this, but – at that point – it was “just another pub”. Albeit, one that had recently been turned into a “freehouse”. At that time, “The Arch” was yet to bury her claws into my consciousness. The next pub was one that claimed an early place in my heart.

The Harp & Shamrock was one of the smallest pubs in Manchester. It was legendarily “tucked away” in the (then) warehouse district – what have since become luxury apartments. It was tiny, with two rooms (both ‘petit’) with the main bar in the room to the left, which, whilst itself small, still managed to accommodate a well used dart board. It was a Marstons pub. And that thing about being ‘tucked away’ meant that it didn’t get much attention when it stayed serving “after hours”.

The Harp & Shamrock was my first real “pub crush”. These days it would be regarded as a Micro Pub, given its size. It was always friendly, the beer was always excellent (Marstons almost qualified as “exotica” in those days). Later on, the pub was bought and renamed “The Pot of Beer”. It became locally known for its Polish bar menu – the food was ace. We’d travel as a team at lunchtime from Old Trafford to sample its delights.

I loved that place. Now long closed – the building, strangely (given the surrounding development of the Angel Meadow area) still remains functioning – the building is a bit of a fantasy of mine. Just give me an 8 figure lottery win and I’d get that pub back….

From there – and it had been a long day / evening – we were nearing the end. And, fortunately, it was a short walk along New Mount Street, left onto Ludgate Street then right onto Dyche Street to a pub that has gone through some changes in the intervening years – including two name changes. You’ll now know it as The Angel. But back then, it was The Weavers Arms.

According to the exceptional “Manchesterhistory.net” website, this pub has been called “The Weavers” since – at least – the 1850s

Before it’s “transformation” into the freehouse that was “The Beerhouse” (where it was created as an open plan pub, the Weavers was (technically) 3 roomed, with a small “Snug” type room at the rear, with a larger room to the front with an upstairs performance space. (On that night, the legendary Manchester Bluesman Victor Brox was playing upstairs)

We went in the Snug, which – despite its size – managed to accommodate a pool table (a rarity in the City Centre). That pool table ended up covering a “tired and emotional” colleague before we finished……

The Weavers was a straight up Tetley pub, bustling with Friday night custom and an excellent pint of Tetley Bitter. Pool was played – no doubt unsteadily – beer was further consumed and the evening, for me at least, ended here.

For me, I preferred the pub as The Weavers. But then, I love multi – roomed pubs. Yes, it had the “Robert Owen Brown” years of gastro pubbery as The Angel and the pub feels run down and an almost “awaiting an offer from developers” kind of feel, but that’s “progress”

This post is a bit of a love letter to people who’ll never read it. My first colleagues in the Civil Service. They introduced me to now long gone pubs like The Castle & Falcon, The Coach & Horses, The White House, places I may never have experienced if it wasn’t for Hig, Fish & Co.

I owe those fellas. Johnny Fish passed away a few years back (I only heard after the event) and the last time I saw Hig was wobbly at the bar of The Marble Arch about 6 or 7 years ago.

These fellas were my educators, both in work and in beer. And – like I said – I owe a debt.

And yes. Even after only a month, I miss pubs. I’ll be raising a glass, virtually, with friends, tonight. But it’s not the same. Back soon. Stay safe. Jx

I’ve been wracking my brain. I’ve been trying to figure out the span of years between this and my previous visit to Edinburgh, the most beautiful of the cities of these islands. And I have an actual date.

June 8th. 1985. Almost 35 years ago.

Shame on me.

But Edinburgh had its revenge. We travelled up on the weekend of Storm Dennis.

But not even the wind and rain could put this beautiful city in the shade. It shines whatever.

We (myself and TLO) travelled up on Valentines Day – not down to planning on my part – to be met at Waverley Station by Jock (more later) and Steve who guided us to our lovely Air BnB.

Not long afterwards, walkies. This was a a short stay. And there were bars and pubs to visit….

Six Degrees N. (24, Howe Street, EH3 6TG)

Just a six or seven minute walk from the apartment, we found ourselves here. An early peak.

Have enjoyed each beer I’ve had from this Aberdeen based brewery. Met some of the team at Leeds International a few years back and immediately asked them for a beer for #ISBF3. Delicious.

“Well the first thing I want to say is, Mandate My Ass…..”

The original “Beers Manchester” website started off as a blog about beers. In Manchester. A Ronseal Tin of a thing. But – as I’ve said on many occasions – my first love is music.

No. Fear not. There’s no chance of me ever playing an instrument. I’ve got all the coordination of a baby giraffe. The brain imagines sounds that the hands can’t create. But music is my drug (as I recently told Occupational Health).

Other than “Back Home” by the England 1970 World Cup squad, the first song that grabbed me was *gulps* “White Horses” by Pinky & Perky (look ’em up You Tubers!)

My first bought records were (in the same purchase) “What A Waste” by Ian Dury, “Jocko Homo” by Devo & “I Don’t Wanna Go To Chelsea” by Elvis Costello & The Attractions. I’m quietly proud of those. As I am of my first album, “Modern Music” by Be Bop Deluxe (an enduring musical passion)

“Well the way that we’re living, is all take and no giving. And there’s not much to believe in.

The loudest mouth will hail the new found way, to be king for a day…”

I’m in my 6th decade of music collection and – it’s fair to say – I’ve forgotten a lot of what I own.

I’m handicapped, in that I own neither a turntable nor a cassette deck. So can’t play a sizeable chunk of my hoard. I grab these albums or songs in retrospect on MP3 wherever I can, but still – even with CDs, I’ve no concept of my musical wealth.

But Phil helped.

Philip Wakerley was – and that past tense still hurts – one of the most genuine, gentle, loving and wise individuals you could ever meet. Possessing of a fierce intelligence and a ceaselessly enquiring mind, he almost single handedly reawakened my love of Northern Soul music. An avowed atheist, we fought a battle with our local priest to have him as Ciaran’s “godfather”. And – for a “lover, not a fighter”, he was in truth much closer to Vito Corleone than any Pope.

“… I heard they had a problem with some skinheads, at a show in a machine shop in Pomona…”

There are a thousand and one things that I have that I thank Phil for. Not the least of which is…..

He reconnected me with my music collection. How so?

He always wanted something new to listen to. So, one day, he asked me to burn him a CD. I still recall the joyous look when he first heard “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” by LCD Soundsystem….

Then he set me a task. A challenge. In giving me a theme for a CD. Something about each song needed to fit that theme. And he was (in his own words) a right bastard about that.

Some were difficult, “Lancashire” in particular…. But they were always a joy to make. And the brilliant side effect was that it reconnected me to what I owned. I’d search iTunes for a keyword and be amazed at what flashed up.

“Since I was very young I realised, I never wanted to be human sized….”

When Phil left us, I was asked by his children to record a playlist for his celebration. I’ve rarely felt so honoured. I still remember the riotous dancing to “Fiesta” by The Pogues, in many ways, he WAS “Francisco Vasquez Garcia”, he loved a brandy and a Half Corona did Phil…..

Anyway. After his celebration, I vowed that I’d continue recording “mixtapes”. In his memory. Then I stumbled on this….

Mixcloud.

The lovely Murph showed me an app/programme called “Virtual DJ” to record with. I flew into my CD collection, copying everything I could onto my hard drive. I ran out of space. So bought a new laptop. I was hooked.

Most of these playlists have been for myself. To lift my mood or just to “crate dig” and put something together that’s different from the lazy listening I had sunk into.

Recently, I’ve got back into “themes”. It’s like being with Phil all over again.

So here’s one. I won’t put these on the blog ordinarily, but I just got all emotional. And wanted to tip my heart and hat to Phil. He loved some weird shite, but shit do I miss him.

Here you go. (Tracklist posted as a comment if requested.

“Arrogance” – For Steve. (Feel free to try your luck with a theme. I might even try! Next one is “Communication” – For Jan)

(This is a draft that has been sat in my folder for a while. And I wanted to get rid. Because it’s a metaphorical splinter in my heel)

For me, this was the first (and at the time – hopefully – the last) example of an attempt to manipulate the discourse of the debate on Small Brewers Duty Relief. By the Small Brewers Duty Relief Coalition (henceforth SBDRC).

That cosy and mendacious coagulation of self – interested large breweries who want to line their own pockets at the expense of their smaller kin.

The above motion – rightly rejected by the 2018 CAMRA AGM – was drafted and proposed by a self-confessed admirer of family brewers and their traditional outlook on beer. He wasn’t a fan of Micros, it’s fair to say that about Brian Sheriden. As you can see….

If you want to see what “undercutting in the cask ale market” looks like, try Wetherspoon. A chain within which there are no lack of SBDRC member produced beers.

But. Just when you thought you were safe to think progressive thoughts…… We get this.

Now then. Curmudgeon is an opinion piece column that features in the Stockport and South Manchester CAMRA magazine “Opening Times”. And let me be clear, I am a fan of Opening Times. It’s an excellent read. Its editor likes to have a sense of balance – which is completely laudable.

But – after an amnesia inducing amount of beer the evening before – my goat was well and truly “got”. My piss was boiled. To put it mildly.

I ranted. Like you do.

And the editor – fair minded as he is – invited reply. So I did. And he published it…

And I was reasonable. And restrained of vernacular. But THIS is my space. And I can vent.

What I say on these virtual pages are MY words. I own them. For good or ill.

What boiled my piss was the apparent “cut and paste” nature of the comments in this piece above.

Cut and pasted from documents and statements vomited by the SBDRC themselves. And – in particular – Rupert Thompson, Co-chairman.

Let’s dissect…..

“The Squeezed Middle” (Predictive text remembered….)

A trope repeatedly peddled by the SBDRC to gain sympathy for their “plight”. They compare themselves with this phrase to the international behemoths that they are ACTUALLY in bed with in the British Beer and Pubs Association (henceforth BBPA). Think Heineken.

They’re NOT “The Squeezed Middle”. They are a coagulation of Britain’s largest breweries. Let’s get this straight.

Don’t forget, not long before they sold to Asahi, Fullers themselves swallowed Dark Star. The only UK brewery to make such a purchase… NOT the sign of a company on its uppers…..

“….however, as with many such well intentioned measures……it has had unintended consequences” (the words that I have italicised are the ones that hooked me in….)

(I’ll let you make your own mind up about THIS lift – from a letter from Rupert Thompson – co-Chair SBDRC to Philip Hammond MP, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer)

“Progressive Beer Duty was introduced by Gordon Brown………… to stimulate the number of small breweries…..”

(I’ll let you make your own mind up about THIS lift too – from the same letter from Rupert Thompson – co-Chair SBDRC to Philip Hammond MP, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer)

It wasn’t. It WAS introduced to enable small brewers to compete – price wise – with the likes of Fullers who could utilise their purchasing power and economies of scale and still beer at a lower price than Micros could.

And this worked. So well that it had the side effect of encouraging more people to set up small breweries. Resulting in the number that we have now. A number celebrated by all. Except the SBDRC, BBPA & IFBB (“Independent” Family Brewers of Britain)

Who are – almost all – members of each of those 3 bodies (with – in the BBPA – the addition of Heineken and the major Pubcos)

“In practice, some of the small brewers have used the duty relief not to bolster the finances of their business, but to sell beer more cheaply…..putting the “established” brewers at a severe price disadvantage.”

Jesus may weep for the SBDRC. But I won’t.

Firstly. To “sell beer more cheaply” (read “compete”) was the POINT of the original legislation. The above phrase is merely a matter of dark spin. What the SBDRC and their propagandists are most excellent at spouting.

Not that I’d call “Curmudgeon” a “corporate shill”. I’m not clever enough for such phraseology.

(Just for the record, that WASN’T written by me! I don’t hide)

“Curmudgeon” posts his columns on his blog (or the reverse into OT – I can never quite tell the order). I do read his OT column occasionally and – like the rest of OT – his columns are occasionally provocative, mostly personal to him and sometimes make unarguable points.

However, when you appear to spout the rhetoric of the SBDRC, appearing to quote (almost verbatim) their slanted mendacity, you are open to challenge. I don’t know what a “Corporate Shill” is. But I’ll check my dictionary. And if I’m right, I’l be only too happy to arrange a cap fitting session.

JC

PLEASE NOTE: All the information in this blog piece is either freely available on the internet or extrapolated from that information. Some of it is direct results from a Google search, some of it from Companies House, some of the harder to find information is from direct quotes to trade publications where the breweries concerned were happy to brag to journalists about growth in one article whilst complaining about competition in another.

Some of it of course – figures wise – is based on my own calculations!

I like audacity. But some instances just boil my piss.

Just when I thought I couldn’t GET more angry, I saw the above piece.

Why am I so pissed? Hogs Back Brewery. Launching beers. At Craft Beer Rising in London.

You see, Rupert Thompson, Director of Hogs Back is one of the main voices (if not THE) of the Small Brewers Duty Reform Coalition. You know, that cosy cartel of large and family breweries that are intent on making Micro Breweries less competitive. On getting them closed down.

So they can increase their collective share of the UK beer market. They see the “Craft” segment increasing in share, whilst the overall beer market shrinks.

They want a bigger piece of the pie.

To my uneducated eyes, it had all the appearance of Craft Cleopatra clutching the asp to her breast. Except in this case, Cleo has forgotten that the asp has poison in its teeth. And is desperate to bite.

You see – again, I’m a bit thick maybe – this invitation to the enemy into the centre of the “craft” camp, giving them (in Hogs Back’s case) a platform to launch a beer range…… I mean, there may be high level conversations backstage – within the event – that could bear fruit…..Bollocks. I’m not even kidding myself!

You see, Rupert Thompson and his co-conspirators don’t strike me as being about to negotiate with their prey. This is a bunch of hard headed businessmen..

Rupert (for instance) has been a Director – at various stages of a number of different beer companies (Note. I don’t say “breweries”) In his own words, he describes himself as…

“Developing and buying and selling companies….” Er…. OK.

As I said, Mr Thompson is arguably THE mouthpiece of the SBDRC. Note the signatories to this letter to the treasury. These names will come up again….

Now those companies that Rupert has (at various times) been a director of… Kind of read like a “Who’s Who” of Big Beer UK

Greene King, Marstons, Wychwood, Refresh UK, Thwaites (pre Marstons purchase), British Beer and Pub Association – we’ll return to that – Go look at Companies House, it’s all there….

Now, remember those signatories above?

Now then. The BBPA. The British Beer and Pub Association. And those mendacious representations of the 3 separate bodies (Inc the Independent Family Brewers of Britain) all making “common cause” on the subject of duty relief to small brewers.

Rupert Thompson – Hogs Back

Collin Wood – Theakstons

Co-Chairs of the SBDRC. Rubbing shoulders with Heineken. And Marstons. On a BBPA “Small Brewer Relief Working Group”

Like inverted Robbing Hoods, Stealing from the Small to feed the Big. And pretending that there are 3 separate bodies campaigning to reduce relief to REAL small breweries.

(please note : so far as I’m aware, CAMRA does not actively support the aims of the SBDRC)

Rupert is the fella who grew the Carling Mega Brand, marketed Old Speckled Hen as a “premium brand”. That’s what Rupert is. A marketer. Hence his incredibly skilful work at the helm of the SBDRC. And you have to tip your hat. He’s good.

He’s very “reasonable sounding” with phrases like….

“The coalition is fully supportive of SBDR itself and believes it has an essential role in the market….” yet then spouts the key mantra that…

“Smaller brewers are over compensated for economies of scale in the industry”

Let’s nail this ****** down, right now. I know lots of Micros personally. I KNOW how much beer costs. And how much it costs to make. And – at the smaller ends of the scales (ie Those below the vital mark of 5000hl) – it IS more expensive for a small “flavour forward” brewery to make beer, per HL.

Small Brewers Duty Relief allows Micros to compete for bar space. But while Big pubcos (some of whom, let’s not forget – Punch, Enterprise Inns, Heineken – are not exactly disinterested members of the BBPA!) control vast swathes of the market and drive down prices, that space is hugely limited

The SBDRC (and Rupert and his jolly chums at the BBPA and IFBB) can get their tame survey team to concoct and manipulate stats all they like. But their well funded, well oiled and well practised mendacity cannot be allowed to stand.

These people – for all their launches at CBR – are no friends of Craft. They are no friends of small brewers. They are no friends of beer diversity.

They are the enemy. And they need to be recognised as such.

This. The attack on Small Brewers Duty Relief is the existential threat to what is on the lines at your favourite bars and pubs, that choice that you have.

That “Golden Age”.

Because if these people get their way. They will go in a flash.

Get informed. Get involved.