BrewDog behind new craft brewer initiative
Despite its impressive rise over the last few years, craft beer still occupies a tiny share of the UK beer market: less than 1 percent, says BrewDog. The Scottish brewer is behind a new initiative – United Craft Brewers – a group which was launched in early May 2015. The founder members are Camden Town Brewery, Magic Rock Brewing, Beavertown Brewery, distributor James Clay and BrewDog. The association’s mission is to “respect, promote and educate the British drinking public about craft beer – a joint promotion of beer, irrespective of delivery method.”
United Craft Brewers will officially launch in July, when other craft beer producers will be invited to join: once its definitions and values have been finalised, the founders want all breweries which tick the boxes and share their beliefs to become involved in this association.
For starters, the group has thrown into the discussion a proposal for a definition of a UK craft brewer. It reads: A craft brewer is authentic (brews all beer at original gravity; owns and operates a craft brewery headquartered in the UK); honest (the place where the beer is brewed is clearly listed on the label of the beer; all ingredients are clearly listed on the label of the beer; all the beer is brewed at a craft brewery) and independent (less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled – for equivalent economic interest – by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer).
Except for the ownership paragraph, which reads very much like the Brewers Association’s formula from across the Atlantic, “authentic” and “honest” clearly represent a novel take on the controversial issue.
