Barracuda Pub Group Crown 2012 as the year of the beer

The Barracuda Pub Group, a national pub operator who run over 160 Smith & Jones pubs across the UK, are looking to extend Christmas cheer by making 2012 the year of the beer.

Throughout January, Barracuda will be offering Greene King’s Tolly English Ale, a lower strength beer which, at 2.8% (abv), qualifies for a 50% reduction in the rate of duty payable to the Treasury, for £1.29 in the majority of its pubs. Pubs based in Scotland will be offering Caledonian’s Deuchars IPA and those in Wales will be offering Brains Bitter.

Richard Stringer from the Barracuda Pub Group said; “2012 is the perfect time to showcase all that is good and great about the British pub, with the Olympics, the Diamond Jubilee and all the visitors that these events will attract.

The pub is the only place to truly enjoy a pint of excellent ale and we want to encourage all those visiting the country to sample Britain’s national drink. We’ll be starting our commitment to cask ale with our January offer and throughout the year we will be creating activity to positively promote cask ale in our business. We will also be delivering further training to our managers to ensure that every pint of cask ale served in our business is in perfect condition and leaves our customers with nothing but good things to say about cask ale.”

To find your nearest Smith & Jones pub, please visit: http://www.smithandjonespubs.com/

The Dan Kane Award for Brewing

CAMRA is seeking nominations for the Dan Kane Award 2012.

The award is named in honour of former CAMRA Scottish Regional Director and National Executive member Dan Kane, who tragically died in 1992. The award commemorates his interest in technical aspects of brewing and beer and is awarded annually for a technical innovation in the brewing or pubs industry with a positive impact on beer quality. The award can be made either to an individual or an organisation for research, an original technical innovation or commercial development.

Past winners of the Award have included the Isle of Skye brewery for a novel small recycled container for sales of cask beer to pubs, CypherCo of Hereford for their plastic cask innovation and Charles Wells brewery for their Bombardier mini-cask system, created to allow beer fans the chance to enjoy fresh real ale at home. In earlier years two brewers received the Award as individuals - Ian Hornsey, for his technical writing on brewing and use of novel ingredients at Nethergate brewery, and Paul Bayley of Marston’s Brewery for retaining and enlarging the Burton Union sets for production of Pedigree Bitter. Wye College won the award for its pioneering work on dwarf hop varieties.

Originally the award was aimed at research students. The first winner was Peter Fox, a biomedical student who analysed proteins in beers and showed the breakdown of protein as beer ages. Later the scope was extended to include technical innovations and commercial developments.

Nominations are invited from students conducting beer-related research, or from anyone involved in the brewing or beer retailing industry. There is no application form and making a nomination is very easy. Just send in details of the innovation or research and how it can improve beer quality.

Please send your nominations to Technical Advisory Group, CAMRA, 230 Hatfield Road, St Albans, Herts AL1 4LW or e-mail to camra@camra.org.uk. Supporting information can be submitted but is not essential.

Closing date Friday 16th March 2012

111205 - roundup

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Birkenhead Brewery Wins Top Awards

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Frothy Moustache Month

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Herefordshire Pub Wins Best Local at National Awards

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SIBA Locals Signs 100th Member Pub

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