Quizzers battle it out

On the 17th April the best brains in the county battled it out in the Wye Valley Brewery Knockout Final at The Barrels in Hereford!

Pub teams have been competing in the Knockout Cup and Plate competition since the quiz league kicked off in October. Competing in the Cup Final were The Dog from Ewyas Harold and The Angel from Grosmont. The Dog were victorious with an excellent score of 83 out of a possible 92, The Angel were respectable runners up with a score of 67.

The Bell at Tillington and The Travellers Rest at Stretton Sugwas competed in the Plate Final. The Bell won with a score of 71 to The Travellers Rest's 64.

A great competition, we look forward to seeing the teams back for the 2011/12 season!

Pictured: Cup Winners The Dog from Ewyas Harold collecting their trophy from Quizmaster Peter Amor from Wye Valley Brewery

Beer tax rise is ‘kick in the teeth’ says Wye Valley Brewery

The increase of two per cent above inflation in beer tax, announced in today’s Budget, is ‘ruinous’ to the nation’s thriving local brewing sector, ignores its contribution to the economy and puts thousands of jobs in breweries and pubs in jeopardy, says Vernon Amor of Wye Valley Brewery, Herefordshire.

Vernon said, “This is a real kick in the teeth to the local brewing sector, one of the few British success stories of recent years. Local brewers are just the kind of business this government says it wants to see prosper: they create jobs for local people and contribute to the local and wider British economy by using home-grown ingredients. Yet the current beer taxation regime is killing off our main route to market – the British pub.”

He continued, “The Treasury claimed before the Budget that their beer duty escalator is ‘baked in’. We say it is half baked! Continuing to increase taxes on draught beer, drunk in the socially responsible environment of the pub, will serve only to increase purchases of cheap vodka for unsupervised home consumption. We fail to see how this policy can help tackle binge drinking.”

Wye Valley Brewery is a member of the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), which represents around 450 craft brewers across Britain. SIBA, and its members, have campaigned vigorously against the Government’s ‘duty escalator’, which increases beer duty by 2% above inflation every year.

Cardiff CAMRA Pub of the Year

Congratulations to the Gwaelod y Garth Inn who have just won Cardiff CAMRA Pub of the Year. A well deserved accolade for Richard and Barbara and their lovely welcoming pub. The pub enjoys lovely views and serves great food and great beer - including Wye Valley Bitter a permanently on the bar - and we warmly recommend a visit.

Campaign Ale gets brewing with local CAMRA

To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of CAMRA on 16th March, we have created an all-time classic IPA in association with our local CAMRA branch.
The CAMRA members chose a generously hopped recipe with a characterful bitter flavour and Bramling Cross and Celeia in the Hopback for a pronounced floral hop aroma. In addition, to make this recipe more special, further Celeia hops are added in a muslin bag into the fermentation vessel to diffuse even more essential hop oils for a superbly developed hop profile. CAMRA members were onsite at the Brewery to participate with the mashing-in.
Campaign Ale will be available in Cask as our monthly special in March at 5.0% ABV.

Ark Ale Launched for Noah's Ark Trust

Wye Valley Brewery has launched a premium amber ale to support Noah’s Ark Trust – a local charity that provides grief support service for children,
young people and their families after the death of mum, dad or someone else close.

Cask conditioned Ark Ale will be available in good pubs across the region during February with Wye Valley Brewery donating 10p for every pint sold. In addition, a special bottle-conditioned Ark Ale is being launched to be on sale for 2011 from Wye Valley Brewery shop and other selected stockists, with Wye Valley Brewery donating 5p for every bottle sold.


Vernon comments, “Noah’s Ark Trust does such important work supporting bereaved families in the local area, we wanted to support them as our charity partner for the brewery this year. We thought we should start our fundraising with the thing we do best – so we’ve brewed them a special beer, amber in colour to match the charity’s characteristic orange.”

2010 CAMRA West Midlands Beer of the Year Awards

Wye Valley Brewery rounded 2010 off in style collecting 4 medals at the 2010 CAMRA West Midlands Beer of the year awards.
Dorothy Goodbody's Golden Ale, Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout and Wye Valley Bitter all came away with Bronze medals in their categories and Dorothy Goodbody's Country Ale scored a Silver for Bottled Beer of the Year.

‘Moreish’ Wye Valley Brewery Wins at the BBC Food and Farming Awards!

At a star studded awards ceremony taking place at the BBC Good Food Show, Birmingham NEC, Wye Valley Brewery, has been awarded the inaugural Best Drinks Producer award at the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2010. This was the first year a Drinks Producer category had been included in the awards and it received a flood of entries but it was cask beer that took centre stage as Wye Valley Brewery was recognised as Best Drinks Producer from all types of drink producers nominated from across the country.

The BBC Food and Farming Awards have been described as ‘the Oscars’ of the food world. The awards ceremony was presented by Sheila Dillon, from the Radio 4 Food Programme. Chefs Raymond Blanc and former Blur member turned cheese maker Alex James also made guest appearances. However the real star of the show were the fantastic food and drink celebrated at the event and the passionate producers behind them.

Vernon Amor, Wye Valley Brewery Managing Director accepted the award from Oz Clarke. Vernon commented ‘We are really thrilled to receive this prestigious award. Our brewery is a traditional family business and this year we celebrate our 25th anniversary. Receiving this award in recognition of all our hard work and care producing great beers for real ale lovers in our region is definitely the highlight of a great year!’

The judges were impressed by Wye Valley Brewery’s commitment to selecting local Herefordshire hops, their dedication to quality through traditional production methods, plus their support of pubs and links with the local community. Showing that cask ale is every bit as complex in flavour as fine wine, the judges commented that you could taste the local terroir in Wye Valley beers and also praised their ‘moreishness!’

The awards programme will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 9am on November 26th. For more information about the BBC Food and Farming Awards, see www.bbc.co.uk/foodawards.