News: October 2009

The first British lager week is scheduled to kick off on Monday, 12 October, and run through to Sunday, 18 October.

The event is promoted by a new trade body, LOBI (Lager of the British Isles), set up to spread the word to bar owners, the British public and, indeed, the world that they can sell and drink hand-crafted British lagers with confidence.

The history of British lager is not a proud one, thanks to decades of production of inferior copies of European lager styles, but today breweries such as Freedom, Cotswold, Hepworth’s, Harviestoun, West and Rebellion are turning out properly lagered, artisan beers that hold their own on the world stage.

Freedom’s Mike Knight, spokesman for LOBI, explains the turnaround: ‘The last few years have seen an increase in sales for many independent British lager brewers and this hasn’t been through expensive advertising campaigns, but simply by producing a high-quality, home-grown product the consumer wants.

‘It’s because we respect that the process of brewing lager is long and slow. Many commercial brewers are not prepared to bear the costs of doing it properly. This is not the case with smaller British lager brewers who have to make a quality product in order to survive. Anything less can mean the end for the independent brewer.’

Centre of activities for the British Lager Week is The White Horse, Parson’s Green, London, which will be hosting a number of themed activities, including a press, trade and consumer tasting session, lager and food matching and consumer giveaways.

For more information see the LOBI website.