BEER NEWS - June 2009

Cricket season

It's cricket season in more ways than one as, amongst the usual crop of seasonal summer beers, Hall & Woodhouse hope their new 'Lemony Cricket' cask ale will bring to mind "the aroma of cut grass and the hum of crickets." Lemony Cricket is described as being "well hopped with a depth of character complemented by harmonious notes of lemongrass," and suggested food matches are barbecued tiger prawns or Thai curries. The water used in all Badger beers is Dorset Spring water that has been naturally filtered for up to a century through the Jurassic chalk downs and drawn up 120 feet from the brewery�s own wells. Lemony Cricket cask ale is available until September at most Hall & Woodhouse tied-pubs throughout England.

Amp it up

Carlsberg UK�s brand Tuborg is gearing up for the summer music festival season, having added Glastonbury to the line up of music events at which it enjoys Official Beer status. Tuborg is now the official beer at the Download festival, Escape into the Park, Glastonbury, Hard Rock Calling, Wireless, Global Gathering, Latitude, Leeds, Reading and Bestival. Over the course of the summer, the lager brand will be exposed to over one million festival goers, and around three million pints will be sold. To celebrate, Tuborg has developed the 'Amp It Up' campaign supported through relevant music media. At Download, Wireless, Leeds and Reading, festival goers will be given the chance to 'Amp It Up' on camera and enjoy 10 seconds of fame on the Tuborg 10 foot Amp It Up video walls.

Chalky bites back

Chalky�s Bite, a beer named after Rick Stein�s beloved terrier, has beaten a line-up of international brews to be crowned Beer of the Year 2009 by Men�s Health Magazine. The beer was produced by Stuart Howe, head brewer at Sharp�s Brewery in Rock after the famed chef challenged his local brewery to create a beer to match with seafood that would rival the best in the world. The result was named Chalky�s Bite after the faithful dog which waited patiently during the development sessions for the brew.

Just one Henetto?

Still on the awards theme, Greene King's 'Old Speckled Hen' has scooped a gold medal in a prestigious international drinks competition - the Monde Quality Awards 2009. The annual competition is open to brewers from over 70 countries and an international judging panel sampled hundreds of entries. Greene King brewer Craig Bennett (right) collected the award at the ceremony in Venice. He says: "I already thought I had one of the best jobs in the world, but when I was asked to go to Venice to collect the Gold Medals on behalf of the brewing team, it got even better! What an opportunity! It�s fantastic to be working for a brewery where taste and quality are top of the agenda, and where the whole workforce is passionate about the beers � and it was great to represent them in Venice.

Eco Otters

The first underground 'eco cellar' to be built in the South West of England has just been completed by the small regional Otter Brewery in Devon. Descend the steep staircase and the journey into this 21st Century cave begins. Its state of the art design will save the business over 6.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, streamline production and pave the way for future environmental innovations. The underground building uses the earth's core temperature to naturally cool the lower level of the cellar to 12�C - the ideal temperature for storing cask ale. Inner and outer doors at the front of the cellar prevents any human activity from affecting this. The whole structure has been crowned with a living sedum roof - the water this captures is then used to wash vehicles and for future domestic maintenance.