We Are Beer

We Are Beer co-founder Greg Wells contributed to this excellent piece on low and no-alcohol drinks from The Caterer. CGA figures show that the low and no category grew 1.4% by volume in the on-trade in the year to March 2024, compared to an overall wet sales volume decline of -3.3%. Over the same period low and no sales grew 1.8% by value in the on-trade, compared to an overall value decline of 0.6%. See what Greg had to say about the emergence of more low-alcohol beers. Read the article in full👇

We Are Beer co-founder Greg Wells joined a panel of industry experts for a discussion about the latest industry trends at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair last week. He joined Blake Gladman at KAM Insight, Lucy Britner and Robyn Black to chat about the next big thing in drinks. When asked whether he would launch a new, regular strength beer today, he jumped straight in with a resounding ‘yes’. Why? Because beer in the UK is a £20bn industry, dominated by 4-5% lagers, ales and stouts. According to the new HEINEKEN Beverages report, it's still the largest category by volume and value in the on trade, and super premium world and craft is where the action is.🍻 Thank you again to the Speciality & Fine Food Fair for inviting us to participate on the panel. It was a pleasure to be part of this exciting conversation.

We Are Beer co-founder Greg Wells will be speaking at the 25th anniversary edition of Speciality & Fine Food Fair next week. SFFF is one the UK’s leading showcases of artisanal food and drink running from 10-11th September at Olympia London. Greg will be joining a panel to delve into the latest industry trends live on the Drinks Uncovered stage from 11:15 - 11:45 on the 11th September. If you haven’t already, be quick to register and join him. See you there! Register here: https://lnkd.in/eYYbbHkv #SFFF24 #25YearsOfSFFF

That’s a wrap on London Craft Beer Festival!🍻 Thank you to all of our amazing partners that joined us at this year’s festival. It was bigger and better than ever in 2024. This year, we had: · 170 brewery partners · 50 further partners · With 500,000+ samples poured! We poured some cracking beers throughout the weekend, including many of this years’ We Are Beer Top 50 UK beers in 2024. It was great to have some brilliant cider, whiskey, tequila and rum pouring this year too. We also handed out certificates and specially printed 'trophy' cans by NOMOQ to our We Are Beer Top 50 UK Beers winners during the trade session. A massive thanks to all of the incredible breweries and partners that joined us, including Timothy Taylor's Brewery, Tiny Rebel, Budweiser Budvar UK, Brixton Brewery, St Austell Brewery, Froth Distribution Ltd, Verdant Brewing Co, DEYA Brewing Company, CLOUDWATER BREW CO LTD, NORTHERN MONK, Crescent Moon Craft Beer , Pernod Ricard, Rémy Cointreau and Proximo Spirits.

We Are Beer Top 50 UK Beers Special Award for Gipsy Hill’s Swell Lager 🏆 We’re chuffed to announce this special award for a game-changing beer brewed by South London’s The Gipsy Hill Brewing Co. Swell Lager is the World’s first offset-free carbon negative lager — and that deserves special recognition from the industry. The Gipsy Hill team have worked tirelessly to make this beer happen, conscious that it would pave the way for other breweries to reach important sustainability goals. Each pint of Swell sequesters as much CO2 as a tree does in a day. How? They’ve committed to using regenerative barley, which is grown in collaboration with farmers who implement regenerative practices that sequester carbon. This process of farming the barley traps more carbon in the soil than it releases into the atmosphere. In addition, they’ve invested in a hop recapture programme, an initiative that reduces the beer’s carbon footprint even further. Swell produces -30g CO2e per pint versus a standard pint, which creates >350g CO2e. In 2024, this will add up to 26.4 tonnes CO2e sequestered compared to 308 tonnes CO2e emitted for the same volume of regular lager. That’s a serious difference to the environment and to the planet. We applaud the Gipsy Hill team for this innovation and will be presenting them with this special award during the London Craft Beer Festival. You’re invited to join us in the Little Gallery on Friday at 2pm to celebrate this achievement!

Check out the LCBF festival beer 🍻 For this year’s London Craft Beer Festival beer, we collaborated with The Goodness Brewing Company and NOMOQ to bring you Tangled, a 4.5% grapefruit and pineapple radler. We worked with the incredible artists Matt Martin and Benny Payne on two different can designs, one of which is the first anaglyph can in history. Come check out the beer, can art and experience the anaglyph effect with 3D glasses during LCBF. Tangled will be available to try at the Goodness Brewing vault and NOMOQ will be showcasing it in the brewers lounge. Hear more from the artists here about the inspiration behind these fantastic designs.

We're delighted to be working with Sellar as our first-ever official trade sales partner at London Craft Beer Festival 🤝 Sellar offers its users trade ordering direct from the UK’s best craft breweries, including many that will be in attendance at LCBF, such as CLOUDWATER BREW CO LTD, The Gipsy Hill Brewing Co, Siren Craft Brew, Tiny Rebel and Vault City Brewing. Sellar offers an important avenue for craft breweries to create their own route to market. Each of Sellar's suppliers will have a QR code visible on their stand during our trade session on Friday the 9th August. These QR codes will increase business done during the session and allow attendees to scan and buy directly from suppliers. In addition, The Sellar team will be available at their stand to discuss their platform and sign you up on the day. Plus they'll have a fully-stocked Sellar beer fridge with a selection of some of the delicious beers from their suppliers that aren't attending the festival. Be sure to stop by and have a chat with them!

Reminder for our industry friends: join us at Mother Kellys on Wednesday the 31st July from 5pm for the big reveal of the London Craft Beer Festival beer! Join us, The Goodness Brewing Company and NOMOQ to try Tangled and get the first look at this stunning can design.

Check it out: the winners of our Top 50 UK Beer Awards featured in Time Out Group plc London.🍻 From Greg Wells, We Are Beer co-founder: "Truly great beers from lesser-known British craft breweries, such as the DEYA Brewing Company, as well as great British classics such as Timothy Taylor's Brewery’s Landlord, have emerged triumphant and proves the skill and craftsmanship that lives on in the UK brewing scene." Read the full feature here 👇

The London Craft Beer Festival beer revealed🍻 We’ve collaborated with The Goodness Brewing Company and NOMOQ to bring drinkers a delicious beer that both tastes and looks great. Tangled is a 4.5% grapefruit & pineapple radler that’s perfect for enjoying in the sunshine at London Craft Beer Festival. We’ve worked with two talented artists to design two different cans for this beer, Matt Martin and Benny Payne. One of the can art pieces is being transformed from 2D to 3D and printed using NOMOQ’s innovative process - the first anaglyph can in history! This beer will be available during LCBF at the Goodness Brewing bar. If you want a sneak peak, you're invited to join the We Are Beer team at Mother Kellys in Bethnal Green on Wednesday 31st July from 5pm for its launch.