CAMRA: Big beer is ‘fooling’ consumers into drinking ‘craft’

“Big beer” companies are not only trying to dominate the independent brewing sector, but also “fooling consumers into thinking they are still drinking ‘independent’ or ‘craft’ beer”, according to beer writer and editor of CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide, Roger Protz.

Roger Protz, beer writer and editor of Camra’s Good Beer Guide 2018

His comments follow a swathe of take overs by big beer companies in the UK of once small, independently owned breweries, in response to dwindling demand for mass market lager brands.

Last year Camden Town Brewery was bought by brewing giant AB InBev for £80 million, leading to the opening of a new £30 million brewery for the brand in Enfield to boost its capacity in a bid to turn Camden Town into the biggest brewery in London.

That same year, AB InBev bought rival SAB Miller for £71 billion, effectively taking control of 30 percent of the world’s beer production and sales. This year, London Fields was bought by Carlsberg for £1 million.

“First Big Beer buys up a swathe of independent breweries. Now it’s attempting to control the natural ingredients used to make beer. The power of these global behemoths is frightening and has to be vigorously resisted,” said Roger Protz, Editor of the Good Beer Guide.

“CAMRA was first founded to challenge the handful of national brewers that had phased out good cask beer in order to promote fizzy keg beer, the quality of which would be laughed to scorn today.

“I believe we are seeing a real threat to a return to those days – on a global scale. Big Beer is on the march, and we risk losing our wealth of choice to merely the illusion of it. Not only are consumers being misled, but these global brewers are changing the very character of the beers they buy and driving genuine independents out of business. It is most certainly the biggest single threat to consumer choice.”

The Good Beer Guide warns that “Big Beer” is squeezing small and medium-sized brewers from the market. Because of clever marketing tactics and few labelling restrictions, global brewers are able to market these beers as locally produced even when they are no longer made by the original brewer.

Their scale also means that they can sell beer more cheaply, thanks to low production costs, but of greater concern is the potential for such brewers to monopolise the supply of raw materials to make beer. Global brewers can afford to buy up global malt and hops supplies at 40% lower than even big and medium-size brewers, and have recently been condemned for seeking patents on materials such as barley and hops. Carlsberg and Heineken were recently granted patents that cover two varieties of barley, along with a third patent that will allow the two varieties to be used together.

“While many consumers will not be aware that their favourite local beer has changed from looking at the bottle, the taste will invariably differ,” added Protz. “Brewing changes under new ownership – whether this is due to long-term contracts with suppliers leading to grain or hop substitutions or because production methods are changed to maximise profits at the expense of taste.”

Recently, the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) set up an accreditation scheme to help inform consumers about what they are drinking, with a mark that clearly indicated a beer brewed by an independently-owned brewery.

“The global brewers are seeking to capitalise on the growing consumer interest for flavoursome, independent craft beer, by buying out previously independent breweries or launching their own beers marketed as ‘craft’,” said Mike Benner, SIBA chief executive.

“However it is vitally important that beer drinkers are not misled, and are able to easily differentiate between beers produced by the Global brewers and those that are crafted by truly independent British breweries, in order to choose how and where they spend their money. SIBA’s ‘Assured Independent British Craft Brewer’ campaign was launched to do exactly this, with a specially designed logo for bottles, cans or pump clips making it crystal clear the beer was brewed by a genuine British independent craft brewery.”

Previously independent brewers that have been sold to global brewers:-

London Fields – bought by Carlsberg for about £1m in 2017

Lagunitas – Heineken completed takeover in 2017

Meantime – bought by SAB Miller for £50m, then sold to Asahi in 2016

Camden Town Brewery – sold to AB InBev for £85m in 2015

Goose Island – bought by ABInBev in 2011 for $40m

Sharp’s Doom Bar – owned by MolsonCoors since 2011