By Kaleigh WattersonThe UK's brewing industry is "in real crisis" due to soaring costs and consumers having less disposable income, an MP has warned.
The government said support included an alcohol duty freeze and assistance with business rates and energy bills. Mr Barrett does not own his own kit so he is making his beer at another brewery about 25 miles away in Chorley, Lancashire.Saying he was now working with a 700-litre kit as opposed to the previous 3,200-litre version, he said: "It's a lot, lot smaller"."I think the next six-to-12 months are going to be tough for everybody - hopefully if I can sell enough beer to keep everything going we can re-evaluate in a year and if we can grow, we'll grow.
Manchester-based beer writer Matthew Curtis agreed the UK's once buoyant beer industry was really struggling, with "very few breweries opening".
Ballykilcavan
Brexit?
Marketing is key.
Making it drinkable would be a start. Most of it is abysmal.
Oh please.. I really can't drink any more
'...people expect especially cask beer to be quite cheap and it's no longer cheap to produce - it's actually very expensive' Yet when it was cheaper to produce, it didn't stop the prices sky rocketing. Prices have been a problem long before now for consumers.
So does that guy’s heart in a few years
There's an awful lot of these small brewers churning out identical over-hopped IPAs - the only difference being cool name / packaging.
Maybe time to change their business model of brewing insipid beer with jokey names to put in fancy cans sold at exorbitant prices?
People are looking for a lower price point at the moment, craft beer brewers need to read the room and produce a product people can afford and spend less time being hops snobs.
such a shame. i do fear that pubs are a gonna.
How much she getting paid to speak up for this industry
These same challenges face every small business. Presumably this MP spends a lot of time drinking beer from a small brewery. He should try talking to other small businesses and then he may have a balanced rather than biased view on small business challenges.
Making decent beer is their biggest challenge.
Definition of craft beer?