Keith Bott, boss of the Titanic Brewery in Stoke-on-Trent, has been elected chairman of SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers, the body that represents most of Britain's craft breweries.
Boot took over the helm at SIBA's annual meeting in Stratford-upon-Avon this week from outgoing chairman Peter Amor of Wye Valley Brewery, who was in post for the past three years. Keith Bott has been SIBA chairman before, from 2002-2005, and helped mastermind the campaign to introduce Progressive Beer Duty for smaller breweries. He said: "SIBA today is a very different organisation to the one I chaired three years ago. Since then we have appointed our first chief executive, Julian Grocock, who has steered SIBA through a period of change and enhanced our standing with government, trade bodies, the media and other stakeholders.
"This is an exciting time to be taking on the chairman's role and I look forward to working with Julian and SIBA's trustees and directors, to ensure the continued success of the UK's thriving quality beer sector."
Bott will stand from his current role as SIBA President and will include that role's lobbying elements within the chairman's remit.