While Heineken’s recent 100% buyout of London’s Beavertown Brewery has brought despair from many quarters of the craft brewing scene, many commentators regarded it as inevitable. The Guardian’s Rob Davies said that, with Heineken owning a 49% stake since 2018, it “was always going to happen”, while beer writer Melissa Cole described it as “no big surprise”. Clearly they weren’t taking Beavertown owner Logan…

Heineken UK has fully acquired London’s Beavertown Brewery, four years after it purchased a minority stake. As part of the agreement between the two companies, Beavertown founder Logan Plant will step down as CEO and take on a new advisory role. Jochen Van Esch, Heineken’s craft development director, will take on the new managing director role at Beavertown. Heineken said Beavertown will…

The trade organisation for beer and pubs has called on the Government to act, after a major supplier of CO2 to the industry announced a temporary closure. The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said today that CF Industries, which is the UK’s last fertiliser plant, would halt production. According to the BBC, the company said rising energy costs made production “uneconomical”…

The International Beer Challenge is now open for entries. The competition, which is in its 26th year, welcomes all beers from across the world. With the ever-growing interest in the beer category, the IBC has set out 80 different categories to reflect the diversity in brewing. The blind tasting event is judged by panels of respected and experienced industry experts, ranging from retailers, importers, publicans,…

AB InBev’s Budweiser Brewing Group has launched Beer Masters, a Prime Video show designed to find the best amateur brewer. The show, which first aired on November 11, is hosted by singer and beer aficionado James Blunt and head judge Jaega Wise, a brewer and industry expert. The competition will pit teams from the UK and Europe against one another, for the chance to be…

Around 20 years ago, I was asked to contribute a chapter on British lager to Beer Glorious Beer, a collection of essays collated by the British Guild of Beer Writers. I started the essay provocatively with the sentence: “Do you ever get the feeling that you’ve drawn the short straw?” An essay on British lager for a book called Beer Glorious Beer? It had to…

Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I has appointed Sunny Mirpuri to the role of sales director for convenience and wholesale. Mirpuri replaces Jessica Markowski, who has left the company. His new role commenced on 6 September. Mirpuri joined BBG UK&I in 2008 and has held several senior roles across the off-trade sales, finance and category management teams. His most recent position was as a commercial director, where…