SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers, has announced that this year’s BeerX was the biggest the trade association has ever organised, with a record 1,644 trade attendees, a 40% increase on last year’s figures.

Nick Stafford, SIBA’s Operations Director said,“The number of delegates increased massively this year and it was great to see so many brewers taking time out of their busy schedules to attend the UK’s biggest brewing event – with a huge 950 attendees from British breweries at BeerX this year. The key note speakers, seminars and international meet-the-buyer sessions, for those looking to export British beer to other countries, were extremely popular and the feedback from attendees has been excellent.”

The trade-show exhibition element of BeerX showcased 124 Supplier Associate member companies – more than a 20% increase compared to 2015 – from hop merchants, to mobile canners, brewery manufacturers and bottling companies, all aspects of the brewing industry were on show.

Launch of new Insight Research highlights the potential market for independent craft brewed beer in the hospitality market

SIBA’s used BeerX to launch the findings of their new Insight research project: The Brewery Untapped – potential growth for British Beer.

SIBA commissioned MCA to provide them with insight into consumer knowledge of and interest in British and locally brewed beer, and to identify how SIBA can leverage its position in the industry to better educate and inform customers.

The report is full of exciting results for the independent craft brewer, but one area SIBA will focus on in the near future is opening new markets for their members’ beers by offering solutions to the hospitality industry not usually associated with selling a range of British beer.

Mike Benner, SIBA’s Managing Director said, “The pub trade will always be the key market for our members to sell their beer but with the beer and pub industry evolving at such a fast pace we felt it was important for SIBA to commission research that would supply us with evidence to help us sell more of our members’ beer. The research clearly shows consumers will visit all sorts of hospitality outlets more often if they offer a range of craft brewed British beer. This is good for both the independent brewer and our prospective retailer customers.”

The new research showed that beer drinkers would visit more restaurants, bars, social clubs, coffee shops and nightclubs if they sold a range of craft brewed British beer.

SIBA to review Cyclops Beer tasting note scheme 

SIBA is to review their use of Cyclops tasting notes following a motion at their AGM, a key part of BeerX in Sheffield.

The motion, proposed by SIBA’s South East Region, asked that ‘The use of Cyclops will immediately cease to be required for Beerflex, and SIBA/Beerflex will only use beer descriptions supplied by the breweries themselves’.

The motion was debated by SIBA’s brewing members and the decision was to refer the motion to the Board of Directors.

Tony Jerome, SIBA’s Communications & Membership Director, who also represents SIBA on the Cyclops Board said: “The Cyclops Beer tasting note scheme has had its successes and is liked by a number of retailers but both SIBA’s members and the Cyclops Board recognise that it is time for a full review of the scheme to make sure it is relevant and fit for purpose in the future. I spoke on the motion to inform the membership that the SIBA board had already planned to review Cyclops in 2016 and as a result it was referred back to the board to conduct a review within the next six to twelve months. We will work very closely with our members, consumers, the pub industry and the Cyclops Board to see if we can adapt the scheme to make it work for all of the different parties.”

An Award-Winning BeerX

Scottish and Welsh breweries beat England to the top spots in SIBA’s National Beer Awards competition, which took place at BeerX.

Loch Lomond Brewery’s Southern Summit took home Gold in the cask Supreme champion category of the competition, seen by many as the pinnacle of brewing excellence in these ‘brewers choice’ awards, with Wales’ The Waen Brewery Lemon Drizzle winning Silver and Harbour Brewing Co Pale Ale in England’s South West in Bronze position.

“Loch Lomond are deserved winners of this hugely coveted beer award, seen as the epitome of brewing excellence in the UK. The beer proved a huge hit with judges and can now be tasted by hundreds of brewers, beer buyers, journalists and publicans from across the UK who come to BeerX to taste the best of the best.” Guy Sheppard, SIBA Chairman.

SIBA’s separate Business & Industry Awards also threw up winners from across the UK, with Welsh Brewery Tiny Rebel winning the top prize of ‘Brewery Business of the Year’, chosen by competition judges from all the other categories. Tiny Rebel also took home the Best Independent Craft Beer Bar or Pub prize for their Urban Tap House.