Brewery Invests in Feature Film

Hereford’s Wye Valley Brewery is investing in A Stranger’s Smile. An independent feature film written and directed by Hereford born and based filmmaker Ian Hudson. The 90 minute film will be shot in HD Digital and go on national release in the autumn of 2010.

A Stranger's Smile is the story of our heroine Elicia, a photographer, who, while shooting a series of street portraits for an exhibition, encounters and photographs writer Aiden Dean. Intrigued by him she follows him to a cemetery where she sees him place flowers on a grave on which is the epitaph ‘Lizzie 1980 to 2008'. Elicia's curiosity draws the reclusive Aiden out of his private world, but by doing so she uncovers a haunting secret about the supposed suicide of his wife Lizzie. Elicia discovers that police detective Antony Myles is still investigating Lizzie's death, believing she was murdered. Also, a warning to Elicia not to get too close to Aiden from Lizzie's friend Martha, adds weight to her growing suspicions about Aiden's involvement in Lizzie's death. Elicia is determined to find out the truth, but her curiosity and her feelings for Aiden, places Elicia's life in jeopardy.

The film’s writer & director Ian Hudson: 'This is an important step towards getting the film made. I instinctively wrote the Wye Valley Brewery’s HPA and Dorothy Goodbody’s Wholesome Stout into the story. They are the drinks the central characters Elicia and Aiden drink on their first date. When I approached Peter Amor (Chairman of Wye Valley Brewery) and Vernon Amor (Managing Director of Wye Valley Brewery), to ask them if it was alright to name their products in the film I aroused their curiosity and they have brought the brewery on board as an official investor.’

Adding:
'I've been drinking Wye Valley Brewery beers all my adult life, they are the best beers I have every tasted. So this is a natural creative & business opportunity.'

Wye Valley Brewery Chairman Peter Amor: 'I have known Ian Hudson for over 20 years and have seen his career develop, always being impressed with his hard work and attention to detail. He is impressively dedicated to his craft. Having spent time with Ian discussing the project and learning of his vision for the film I am pleased to say that the Wye Valley Brewery is backing him in this venture; that I know will be a success.'

The films official website can be found at www.astrangerssmile.com.

Pictured left Peter Amor, right Ian Hudson.

Brewer for the Day

The Cross Inn, near Maesteg has stocked Wye Valley Brewery beers, specifically Butty Bach for many years. As the product is so popular in their pub, they decided to come to the brewery and brew it for themselves!

The day started early with a 6am meet in the brewhouse for mashing in! Dai and Gill helped Paul with all stages of the brew and look forward to selling 'their' brew of Butty Bach in The Cross Inn, in the not too distant future!

Pictured Gill & Dai Morgan with Wye Valley Brewer Paul.

Flavours of Herefordshire Winner

The Three Horseshoes Inn, Little Cowarne, recently won Pub of the Year at the Flavours of Herefordshire Awards 2009, this category was sponsored by Wye Valley Brewery.

Said Vernon Amor, MD of Wye Valley, ‘We are thrilled that The Three Horseshoes have won this award, it’s a great accolade for Norman, Janet and Phil. It’s an excellent pub serving top quality beer and food, well worth a visit. They have sold our beer since 2000 and it's still selling well today!’

Pictured left, Vernon Amor, MD of Wye Valley Brewery and Phil Whittall, Head Chef at The Three Horseshoes Inn, Little Cowarne, Nr Bromyard.

St Michael's Silver

Vernon with Geraldine from St Michael's Hospice. During September we brewed St Michael's Silver, to mark 25 years of St Michael's Hospice, Hereford. Geraldine visited the brewery this morning to collect over £400. We donated 5p from every pint sold, thank you to everyone who bought a pint of St Michael's Silver!

Great News!

Wye Valley Brewery are extending their shop opening hours for Christmas!

In addition to the usual Monday - Friday, 10am - 4pm, we will also be open:

Saturday 5th December 10am - 3pm
Saturday 12th December 10am - 3pm
Saturday 19th December 10am - 3pm

We have lots of Christmas gift ideas, as well as our full range of fantastic beers.

Visit our brewery shop in Stoke Lacy Herefordshire, HR7 4HG.

Brewer for the Day

Mike and James Herlihy spent Friday 13th November at Wye Valley Brewery as 'Brewers for the Day'. Mike was lucky enough to win the prize at Worcester CAMRA Beer Festival in August. Duty brewer was Jamie, and he really appreciated their help with brewing Butty Bach, which will later be bottled! Photo shows James and Mike with Wye Valley Brewer Jamie (centre).

Annual Wife Carrying Race

On Sunday 8th November at Hereford Racecourse it wasn't only the horses who were racing! The annual Wife Carrying Race, sponsored by Wye Valley Brewery, created much interest. It was a quite a spectacle, Oliver Milligan and girlfriend Christina Davies from Ebbw Vale were victorious, winning their combined weight in Wye Valley beer. Photo shows winners with Vernon Amor from Wye Valley Brewery.

Success for Wye Valley at Industry Awards

At the 2009 SIBA Brewing Business awards Wye Valley Brewery were delighted to come away, not only with Best Launch for their limited edition beer Morgan Centenary Ale, which celebrated Morgan Motor Company’s centenary year, but also Overall Winner for their continued commitment to the proactive marketing of their beers.

Well known beer writer Pete Brown presented Wye Valley Brewery with their overall award.

The following was announced by Pete Brown... 'In a departure from previous years, our overall winner for 2009 has not been chosen from one of the category winners alone. The winning brewery has indeed won a category with one of its entries, but the judges decided to combine that achievement with the undoubted quality of its other entries, in recognition of a wide-ranging and extremely impressive overall commitment to the proactive marketing that must be utilised to compliment the brewing of exceptional beer. This really does represent what the SIBA Brewing Business Awards stand for.'

In response to the awards Peter Amor, brewery chairman said, ‘It is incredibly pleasing and satisfying to know that 25 years of dedication from a wonderful team of people has resulted in recognition’.

Needless to say, we were really chuffed to win these awards!

Photo left to right, John Gardner, Wye Valley Brewery Sales Manager, Pete Brown, Beer Writer, Peter Amor Chairman of Wye Valley Brewery

Wye Valley Brewery celebrate growth and record sales

In 2010 Wye Valley Brewery will celebrate their 25th year of brewing, but for now it is toasting record sales. Said Vernon Amor MD of Wye Valley: ‘Cask ale is the star performer in the UK beer market and pubs which offer excellent cask ales are riding the current economic climate far better than those which aren’t. We have grown like for like sales by 24% so far this year. It’s all about quality and provenance, people nowadays are interested in where their food and drink is made, what goes in to it and how far it has to travel before it reaches them. At Wye Valley Brewery we use top quality locally grown hops and have recently teamed up with a local farmer to grow our own Herefordshire barley. We are looking forward to brewing a true Herefordshire beer for our silver anniversary next year.’ Wye Valley Brewery currently employs 30 people and produces over 4.3 millions pints of beer annually. Next year will see major investment to increase capacity and create more local jobs.

Dorothy Goodbody goes for Silver!

Dorothy Goodbody's Country Ale, not long after being awarded Gold at the SIBA Wales and West Competition, has now achieved SILVER in the International Beer Challenge 2009. It seems that quality runs in the family! In 2008 Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout was crowned CAMRA Bottle Conditioned Beer of the Year! Dorothy Goodbody's Country Ale is described by head brewer Jimmy Swan as a strong ruby ale bursting with rich malt flavours and hop bitterness. Dorothy Goodbody's Country Ale is available in bottle all year round, if you haven't tried it you really are missing out on a taste sensation!

Move to lightweight for Herefordshire Brewer

Less than a year ago, in November 2008, Wye Valley Brewery installed its own bottling line on site in Stoke Lacy. To become more environmentally friendly the brewery has now changed all bottled beer products over to lightweight bottles. The new bottles are 21% lighter than the previous format resulting in significant energy savings and will significantly lighten the load for delivery vehicles. There are other advantages of the lightweight bottle, the line is running faster than ever, at up to 3000 bottles per hour. In addition, shrink wrap weight has been reduced by 60% and cardboard and plastic recycling facilities are now in use across the site. Said Head Brewer Jimmy Swan, 'We are constantly looking for ways to improve our business and become more efficient. With our bottled beer sales increasing year on year changing over to lightweight bottles was an important move for us'. Two of Wye Valley’s bottled beer brands are available in Tesco regionally, Butty Bach and Dorothy Goodbody’s Golden Ale. Tesco’s Local Marketing Manager Enfys Fox commented… 'We are delighted to be stocking Wye Valley Ales which are extremely popular with our customers in our stores. It’s great to work with such an enthusiastic team at Wye Valley Brewery who are working very hard to progress their business'. Photo shows head brewer Jimmy Swan with our lovely new lighter bottles.