A very busy day...

On Saturday 20th August 2011 we opened our doors for a special Brewery Open Day to celebrate Herefordshire Food Week. Despite less than sunny weather, the crowds were not deterred and the local real ale brewery welcomed visitors from near and far on-site to experience a taste of Wye Valley Brewery hospitality.

Over 400 people experienced a free brewery tour to find out more about how they create their award-winning real ales. In addition, Head Brewer Jimmy Swan ran tutored beer tasting sessions featuring a taste-test of a pale smooth beer ‘Hop Stringer’ which has been brewed as part of a trial of a new local hop variety. Hop Stringer was brewed to a similar recipe as Wye Valley Brewery’s ever popular HPA, but substituted a new trial local hop variety so that the taste of the new hop could be compared to a known benchmark.

Local producers were also there to celebrate the creative use of beer in great local produce. Legges of Bromyard ran a gourmet sausage BBQ featuring special beer recipe sausages and showcased a new range of sauces and condiments featuring Wye Valley beers. Local craft bakery Loafers bought along special hand-made beer breads. The sausages and bread proved extremely popular – both sold out! In addition a competitive BBQ team, The Dean Order of Smokers and Grillers ran a demonstration featuring Legges meats in some of their award winning recipes.

There were 5 delicious Wye Valley Brewery cask-conditioned beers on the bar including Hop Stringer and their August special - Summer Sting - brewed with organic Herefordshire Nettles. Over 700 pints were served and enjoyed.

New real ale campaign puts real people back in the picture

Wye Valley Brewery is launching a distinctive new advertising campaign that celebrates the social context of real people enjoying a real beer together.

As Jennie Hermolle, Wye Valley Brewery’s Marketing Executive, explains, “When we reviewed current real-ale advertising we discovered a very lonely looking world. Virtually every advert we saw contained a picture of a solitary pint of beer, but rarely any human beings! At Wye Valley Brewery, a great pint is only half the story – enjoying great real ale in a proper pub is all the better when you’re in good company.”

The new campaign, created by Jeff Fuge of the design consultancy Objective Ingenuity, takes its inspiration from the special kind of ‘pub wisdom’ that is unearthed when you take time to sit down with a fresh, satisfying cask-conditioned beer and have a proper conversation with the people around you.

This has been turned into a series of ‘Wye’s Words’ – famous proverbs and sayings rewritten with a distinctive Wye Valley Brewery take on the world. They communicate a ‘real ale, real pub and real life’ message – but not without a good measure of humour. Headlines such as ‘All work and no HPA makes Jack a dull boy’ and ‘A pint in the hand is worth a queue at the bar’ show that the brand doesn’t take itself too seriously.

People respond warmly to the adverts and are keen to suggest their own Wye’s Words for future adverts – so it seems the idea has struck the right chord and will be prove itself to be a very ‘Wye’s move’.

Big Orange Quiz raises big total for charity!

A big orange thank-you to all those who got involved and took part in the Big Orange Quiz which raised over £1000 for Noah's Ark Trust!

4 pubs raised £100 or more including The Talbot in Ledbury; Cornewall Arms, Clodock, Longtown; The Morgan in Great Morgan; and The Barrels in Hereford.

A quiz team who called themselves ‘The Weakest Link’ proved their name was no limitation, winning not only the Big Orange Quiz at The Castle Hotel in Bishops Castle but also the overall prize draw of a team canoe trip down the River Wye and a case of Ark Ale for each team member. Team Captain Rhys Davies, who lives in Bishops Castle said they were 'Surprised and delighted to win the big prize' and has promised us a picture of the team on their canoe trip.

Everyone at Wye Valley Brewery and Noah's Ark Trust would like to send their thanks to the following pubs for their effort and generous donations raised:
Cornewall Arms, Clodock, Longtown
The Talbot, Ledbury
The Barrels, Hereford
The Morgan, Great Malvern
Bull Ring, Kingstone
The Garway Moon Inn, Garway
The Bell Inn, Tillington
The Castle Hotel, Bishops Castle
Red Lion, Woebley
The Hostelrie at Goodrich
Crown Inn, Oakengates
Harp Inn, Old Radnor
Green Dragon Inn, Bishops Frome
Bridge Inn, Kentchurch
Golden Cross Inn, Sutton Saint Nicholas
The Crown Inn, Cerney Wick
The Cross Inn, Eardisland
Bridge End Inn, Llyswen
Wye Knot Inn, Symonds Yat

Finalists in the IGD Food Industry Awards

Excellent news, Wye Valley Brewery has been named as a finalist in the IGD Food Industry Awards 2011, Morrisons Award for Outstanding Small Business.

We will be presenting to the judges in September and the awards dinner takes place in October. We are up against, Liberation Foods, Lincolnshire Herbs & Natural Balance Foods

Please keep everything crossed for us!

Wye Valley vs Hobsons

On the 24th July we played our annual sports match against Hobsons Brewery. This usually takes the form of a cricket match, but due to the number of injuries, this year we decided a rounders match might be a safer option.

The match turned out to be fantastic fun for everyone, with many rounders scored! Wye Valley Brewery, having lost the cricket for the last couple of years, were victorious, winning by just half a rounder!

Pictured is Tyler Davis (right), son of Hobsons Head Brewer Nick Davis, handing over the prize of the Golden Dipstick to Max Amor (left), son of Vernon Amor, Managing Director of Wye Valley Brewery.

Gold for Dorothy, again!

Dorothy Goodbody is quite used to winning gold medals for her beers, especially for her Country Ale!

Having already been awarded Gold at the SIBA Wales & West competition, the bottled beer has now been awarded gold at the International Beer Challenge 2011.

Managing Director, Vernon Amor said 'We are delighted to have won a gold medal at the IBC. It is a big pat on the back to our brewers and marketing team who combine their talents perfectly with our Dorothy Goodbody range'.

Dorothy Goodbody's Country Ale (6.0% abv) is a strong, full bodied ruby ale. You can buy it online at the Wye Valley Brewery shop.

For more information on the IBC awards visit www.offlicencenews.co.uk.

Summer Sting for August

We braved the nettle patch to bring you August's Monthly Cask Special beer - Summer Sting - back this year by popular demand. It's a lovely golden beer brewed with a late infusion of organically grown Herefordshire nettles, with a grassy aroma and sublte spicy aftertaste.

Photo shows Head Brewer Jimmy Swan picking nettles for his brew. Take care Jimmy!!

Success for Wye Valley employees

Product quality and a dedicated team of people are at the heart of Wye Valley Brewery’s values.

Val Williams, Quality Assurance Supervisor, has recently gained a Distinction grade in the Level 3 Award in HACCP for food manufacturing.

Since Val’s appointment in 2010 she has been responsible for bringing microbiological testing ‘in house’, and has strengthened Wye Valley Brewery’s commitment to maintaining the highest possible standards of product quality, and customer service.

Said Vernon Amor, Managing Director at Wye Valley Brewery, ‘At Wye Valley Brewery we make great beer using top quality raw materials, but our staff are the most important ingredient for success, investing in their training and development is essential.’

In addition to Val’s success, other members of the production team Sean Tobin, Matt Ingram and Jamie Craddock have achieved NVQ qualifications. Sean, Level 3 in Business Management, Matt and Jamie Level 2 in Team Leading.

Pictured is Val Williams with her certificate.