Siba to fight against encroachment of craft beer by Big Brewers

Market research seems to suggest that to many drinkers the company behind the pint does not matter. However, the Society of Independent Brewers (Siba) begs to differ. The usually good-natured trade body for Britain’s smaller brewers “has turned from mild to bitter”, writes the Guardian newspaper on 11 July 2017, following Carlsberg’s takeover of the London Fields brewery.

Deals such as these, said Siba’s chief Mike Benner, are “made in the hope of capturing the original customers and target market of an established, previously independent craft beer brewery”.

Mr Benner reportedly added: “Consumers deserve to know that what they are buying is a genuine craft-brewed beer as research clearly shows that most beer drinkers believe craft beer to be produced by relatively small, independent brewers.”

Siba hopes to build a fence around the craft label with the launch of a new kitemarking system, the Assured Independent British Craft Brewer seal.

Its criteria are that brewers must produce less than 200,000 hl beer a year, abide by Siba’s standards of ingredient quality and be fully independent of any global beer company, says the Guardian.

The kitemark campaign will be a major feature of the Great British Beer Festival in London this August, with “independent breweries ... highlighted on bar banners and in the festival programme”, according to the Independent newspaper.

London breweries: Crafty or craft?

• London Fields – bought by Carlsberg for perhaps GBP 4 million in 2017

• Camden Town Brewery – sold to AB-InBev for GBP 85 million in 2015

• Meantime – bought by SAB Miller for USD 191 million in 2015, then sold to Asahi